I volunteered to volunteer at a shelter at the YWCA building. I went and when I got there I could not get through the front door. The door was locked and no one new which key it was. I was in the freezing cold for 20 minutes and was ready to go home. The reason I'm upset about it is I could have taken care of the issue on my own if I had known ahead of time. I'm not new to the problem of a locked door. I wish people who want me to be included admit that I should be the one to check on accessibility of a project because it's a special issue. It a weird dichotomy because people mean well by involving me but don't admit that I should be the one to make specific preparations. How do I get that across to others without hurting them? People need to feel more comfortable admitting potential problems.

I should be getting my new van next week. It's actually never been done so quickly in my life! The company is in Norristown and they are really committed to doing a good job. I have to use a larger wheel so it will take some getting used to so I am going there today to practice. It will be hard to leave it since I know it's ready for me and yet I'm not allowed to drive till I'm officially signed off by the York OVR counselor. Furthermore, the one I have been using has stopped working. I was able to drive short distances for awhile even though there were gear shifting problems. Yesterday I went outside to drive it and the gear would not get in any gear other than park. Actually that's the most important gear.

I have decided to take my knowledge, my experiences, my writings, and my interests and do Infobility differently. I will offer to consult on existing projects via email because I can be helpful to
companies. I have already started to market Ride Away and that realizes my dream of empowering people with disabilities to improve the quality of their lives. I will be contacting 50 rehabs and 7 CILs
I will not only make them aware of a great company but I can also walk them through the entire OVR process. I wish I had someone to provide support to me each of the 4 times I went through it.

I'm involved in a disability initiative with Millersville University. I also took part in a conference on disability and religion. The issue is really starting to gain momentum it's like a "hot topic" these days. It's so exciting to see people interested just because they want to learn. There is so much to be done and it isn't just with employment. I am getting in on the ground floor. Dauphin County is even going
to start a county wide initiative in which I may get paid to present awareness programs, analyze jobs,
and create clubhouses for this population. I am coming alive!

My first love, regardless of how many other types of jobs I perform that have nothing to do with this, is the following. 1) Creating educational programs on disability for employers, schools, small groups, etc. 2) Creating jobs for individuals with developmental disabilities. A person can not change the essence of his/her being. Those 2 goals may soon be realized - that would be like making Infobility into a business. It should have been years ago but better late than never. There are no words for how fulfilled that would make me feel. I have never ever given up on that reality because I just couldn't.

New outreach initiatives are being tried and in time they will show results. I'm going to be sending 53 monthly newsletters on a variety of disability topics. I met people at the Lancaster Expo, sent out my first issue, then followed it up and received some positive responses. A program is planned for the 25th and the attendees will be 13 new people. Perhaps this audience will be more receptive. Rather than giving up I'm trying different ways.  

This will be the last Next Steps meeting on general issues such as resources in the community. I am now going to focus on something nobody likes to think about let alone talk about. Future residential issues for individuals with developmental disabilities. There are so few options and so few people who are willing to entertain the issue, that I will just work with the ones who do and hope that others will follow. This is an even less interesting topic but I will make it worthwhile because it is.