Happy International Day of Acceptance!

When you are born with a disability, there is no before and after. You are born different, but you don't feel different. You accept who you are because it is who you have always been. Your adaptations don't feel like adaptations because they are simply how you've always done them. People stare, and it doesn't even end up on your radar.

Then one day, something happens. A kid at school makes fun of your walk, you get sent home from a school trip because your teacher says you're sick even though you aren't sick, a lady at the grocery store gestures to you and tells you she is sorry, or maybe you get to an event you were super excited about, and they tell you there is no way that you can come in. And it hits you like a Mac truck. You're disabled, and although you don't really notice it yourself, it is the first thing everyone else sees, sometimes the only thing, and it always will be.

This realization doesn't just hit you once. It hits you over and over again. Sometimes, there will be weeks or even months when you feel normal; other times, the blows will come closer together. Each time it happens, things can feel a little dark and a little hopeless. You start to wish you were someone else, or you begin to resent people close to you because they have it so much easier.

This is why the International Day of Acceptance is so important to me. It is a day for embracing all that comes with a disability and accepting that although things aren't always good, there is still plenty of good. It is about reminding ourselves and those around us that everyone has value, and the more accepting we can be to others, the more accepting we can be to others.

To celebrate the International Day of Acceptance. I am offering a discount on my Ebook The Lesser Remain. Although on the surface, this book is about a zombie apocalypse, it is also about a man's journey to accept his own disability as he faces seemingly insurmountable odds to survive.

Head on over to Amazon and download your copy of The Lesser Remain for $2.99 today!

xoxo

Melissa