Words can go Farther Than Feet

So today wasn't the best dayfor me, because I did not make it into my Masters program… although I am really disappointed, I am already looking into getting the qualifications to teach English as a second language. I was really proud of this, so I decided to share anyways. It's an autobiographical essay that which required you to outline your life in 750 words

Words Can go Farther than Feet

Words have always carried me farther than my feet; being born with cerebral palsy has limited my capabilities to a degree, but never my love for words and the stories they tell. 

Sometimes words have been more crippling than my disability itself: "You'll never... You can't" --but that only pushed me onward.

It started with a love for English in high school, where my teachers showed passion in their own way; and unknowingly fueled mine.

During that time, I also learned that stories had the power to bring about change. I used words to advocate for accessibility, and a ramp was made for our school courtyard.

From that small victory came a desire to help people, so I registered at Fanshawe College, in the General Arts and Science program, with the intent of testing the waters, and later pursuing their Social Work program. Along the way, there were several courses that provided useful insight into a world I didn't know I would enter. HerStory was a course that showed history from a female perspective, highlighting the struggle for voting rights, and the sexual exploration of the 60s. There was also a Media Analysis course that examined trends in media, and taught how to write editorial letters to discuss our findings. Both courses taught me to examine a story from all angles. In spite of this useful information, I was becoming too comfortable in the very waters I was testing; I knew I had to make a change. 

People often have no idea the effect that words can have on others. For me, those influential words came from a message I received out of the blue from a high school acquaintance. In truth, I wasn't being challenged enough in the college setting. I had ample time to write my assignments or to go the extra mile on a project. I was particularly proud of a journal article I submitted detailing the similarities between the Salem witch hunts and modern day society, so I decided to share it on Facebook. Then came the message, seemingly out of nowhere, from someone I had quietly admired for his wonderful balance of brains, kindness, and humour. He said that my piece had evoked a strong response, that I had real talent, and that if I didn't pursue something that helped me build on it, that talent would be wasted. His words were the extra push for me to make the change I knew was coming anyway. After graduation, I became a King's University College student-- the first in my family to attend university.

At King's I had both triumphs and failures; including helping with the student orientation program, having to take summer school, and raising over $1000 for Cancer research in memory of my Nanny. I kept a blog, detailing my time spent at university, and it covered everything from my first experience at Starbucks to proper wheelchair etiquette. That was a worthwhile endeavor because now I am able to look back and reflect on my personal growth during those three years. No matter what I went through, I rose to the challenge, each one adding a colourful chapter to my book. My biggest accomplishment to date is being a university graduate by the age of 23, in spite of the extra weight of a disability.!

Since graduating in October, I have been volunteering for a website called workstory.net. It has been a very rewarding experience. I interview people about what makes them happy in their work, and I put their stories together like puzzles. I've covered all sorts of careers from an artist to a firefighter, and if there is one thing I have learned, it's that any life story has its twists and turns, and sometimes stories intertwine.

I am hoping that the journalism program will be the next chapter of my own story. I would like to develop the skills necessary to help others share their stories, or even uncover a story that is important to the world. There are some whose voices are too quiet to be heard and others whose voices have been silenced. Those are the people whose stories I wish to tell.