Throughout my life I have met many different disabled people. From kindergarten until the end of second grade, I attended the Missouri School for the Blind. During those three years, I was around students from kindergarten through seniors in high school who were either low visioned, like myself, or completely blind.
During high school, I was around students who had learning disabilities and one student in a wheelchair.
In college most of my friends had disabilities: some blind, some low visioned, sone in wheelchairs, some learning disabled, etc.
Each disabled person had his or her own distinct and unquiet personality.
From all the exposure I had, and experiences I witnessed in the disabled community, I discovered that the disabled people who were most successful were the ones that did not think they were the center of the universe.
A disabled person who believes he or she is the center of the universe, or as I like to call them COTUs, are easy to spot.
Disabled persons who are COTUs:
- believe because people should wait on them hand and foot when they do have the ability to do many tasks on their own.
- believe that they should be treated like VIPs everywhere
- believe the world owes them a living
- believe that the world revolves around them
- will try to manipulate friendships and relationships so they are the center of everything.
Sadly, the disabled person who is a COTU never finds true happiness or success in their lives.
Tragically, although they believe they are the center of the universe, they sit on the sidelines all their lives. Waiting for life to happen, while life passes them by, and they never experience the success they dream about.
If you are a disabled person, or know a disabled person, who is a COTCU, I think what Frasier Crane (played by Kelsey Grammar) said on Frasier said it best – Copernicus called, and you are not the center of the universe.
For those who are disabled and are COTUs, it is time for you to stop thinking the world and the universe revolves around you.
It is time that you start trying to do what you can for yourself. You might surprise yourself by finding out that there is more that you can do that you thought, and you might even find hidden talents that an propel you to success.
If you want to be successful, you must pull your own weight and do what you can to build your own success.
And if you wonder where the center of the universe is located, I have visited it in downtown Tulsa. You can learn more about the center of the universe in Tulsa at https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-center-of-the-universe-tulsa-oklahoma
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