I’ve been really thinking about a lot of things in the last couple of days. I received a comment on one of my blog posts this past week that really got me thinking but it also made me feel heartbroken as well. I’ve also been reading other comments and posts in groups for people living with loved ones with disabilities. I’ve had a really hard time trying to decide how I was going to do this blog post because this is really important for me but others like me and family members who have loved ones with disabilities. It really makes me feel heartbroken to hear that there are still people out in our world who don’t know how to treat people like me and many others living with disabilities. I remember growing up being bullied or being picked on because I was different than others. I remember growing up people would talk about me behind my back and say mean things to me. I was lucky that I had a few good friends who would always have my back no matter what and I’m so lucky that I’m still great friends with them today. One thing that has helped me over the years is doing horseback riding. I started doing therapeutic horseback riding when I was 4 ½ years old. Whenever I’m having a bad day or a bad week I really look forward to going to the barn once a week getting to volunteer and also getting to ride always makes my day or even my week better. It really makes me very sad that people still treat us differently. We may look different or some of us might have a disability that’s hard to see. One last thing that I want to leave you all to think about is this. I can tell you one thing for sure that my friends and other people with disabilities would agree with me. All any of us want is to be treated with respect, loved and included.
