Chris Mitchell is an motivational self-published author, freelance writer, blogger, speaker, podcaster and the founder of #DefineYourself who draws upon his own experiences as a person with a speech and visual impediments, a neurodiverse and physical disabilities, and battles with mental health and self-confidence to empower others to create successful lives that they will love living
Chris entered this world with 2 strikes against him: He was born with a constricted aorta and cataracts, both the result of the rubella syndrome.Chris’ constricted aorta never gave him any problems as a child despite undergoing several cardiac surgeries before completing third grade.
Despite my constricted aorta, I have played on a youth soccer team, climbed trees, rode a bike and did every physical activity my peers did as a child, I just ran a little slower children my own age.
– Chris Mitchell
Chris is a person with a vision disability.
Chris’ cataracts caused his vision acuity to measure at 20/200 in his left eye and 20/300 in his right eye. Chris has never been able to read out of him right eye and has little, if any, dept perception, despite wearing thick coke bottle glasses most of his life.
Despite my visual disability, I have played on a youth soccer team, driven a car and flow a private plane.
– Chris Mitchell
Chris is a person with a speech impediment.
When Chris started speaking, he struggled with words with R S and Th in them. It was obvious to everyone that Chris needed speech therapy. Chris worked with a speech therapist starting in his home before he began preschool until he was in high school.
Despite my speech impediment I have fulfilled a childhood dream of working in broadcast radio. Today I am highly active as a podcaster, podcast guest and a public speaker.–
Chris Mitchell
Chris is a person with a neurodiverse disability,
Chris’ ADHD earned expulsion from the Missouri School for the Blind at the when he completed second grade. Chris’ ADHD also earned his expulsion form Hazelwood central High School on the 11th day of his freshman year.
Despite my expulsion from Hazelwood central High School I earned the right to return to Hazelwood Central for my Junior and senior years, where for one quarter I earned honor roll grades, graduated with my class and was recongizeed as the St. Louis area 1984 Rotary Most Improved Student
– Chris Mitchell
Chris’ ADHD also led to him being expelled from 2 community colleges during his college years.
Desptie my exupulsion from St. Louis Community College at Florsant Valley, I went on to attend College at Modesto Junior Colelge and was included in the 1987-88 Who’s Who in American Junior Colleges
Despite my expulsion from my second community/junior college, three years later I was hired to teach a successful eBay buying and selling course for the community education department of the same college
– Chris Mitchell
Chris is a person with a mental illness disability,
Chris was born into a family line with a history of depression. He also grew up with a verbally abusive alcoholic father that often tore down Chris’ self confidence and self-esteem. The combination of the history of depression on his father’s side and self-esteem issues, among other issues, led Chris to be admitted to psychiatric hospital a total of 11 times in a three-year period.
Despite my struggles with depression and low self-confidence and self-esteem, today I may still battle depression but I win those battles more than I loose them and I am a confident, well sought after motivational speaker
– Chris Mitchell
Chris is a person with a physical disability,
Chris became physically disabled after surviving an ischemic stroke to his spinal cord. An injury that robbed him of his ability to run, walk or even stand and threatened his independence along with his future with his fiancée.
Despite my physical disability today I taught myself how to walk with the help of a rollator more than five years after my injury and my insurance company gave up on me.Since my physical disability my story of overcoming and succeeding has appeared in an eBay Entrepreneur Magzine, a collegee textbook, and has earned me awards for my volunteer work as Auxiliariian of the year (2015) and the recipient of salute to health care award (2016).
– Chris Mitchel