Who Am I?

 have been taking college classes for MANY years.  A few years here, a few years there.  In one class, were given an assignment entitled Who Am I? In this assignment, we had to describe who we were: Father, son, mother, daughter, etc. I thought this would be a relatively easy assignment, after all, it was just me describing me. I started by saying that I was a 47 year old adult male with Spina Bifida. I had used this same line for other classes. I didn’t think too much more about it and I just went on telling thing about myself like I was on disability, I used to work at a school for and with disabled children. Most of my initial description revolved around my disability and disabilities in general.

When the teacher returned our papers, she asked us if we would mind sharing some of the information we shared in our papers. I volunteered. I started reading what I had written in the paper, “I am a 47 year old male with Spina Bifida.” The teacher stopped me right there. She asked me why I put that first. I said I had put it because that was who I am. She proceeded to ask me a series of questions like:  Is that all you are? No. Are you a son? Yes.  A student? Yes. Are you a brother? Yes.  Then she asked if I was more than a male with Spina Bifida. I said yes. Her whole point in the line of questions was for me to see that I am more than just my disability. This assignment stayed with me throughout the rest of the semester, and as you can see by my writing about it, it is still something I think about. In fact, I just noticed that is how I started my profile information in my blog with the same information. I did, however, go on to explain other aspects of my life. I am someone, I have hobbies and interests, I am an active person who just happens to have a disability.  Has anyone else experienced anything like this?  How do you identify yourself? I hope that after reading this that those who feel like I did will examine yourself and see that you are move than a disability.