Old Soul, Young Heart

I actually am liking this conference more than I thought I would. I had no idea really what to expect. I applied for the scholarship in February; I had randomly come across it from the AAWCC website, an organization that I am the chapter president of at Heartland this year. I thought, "Hey, why not? Free trip to SLC and I've never been there." Besides that, I believe in the mission of AAWCC and the conference sounded like a great thing, even though I didn't know much about it. I put heart into my application. And I couldn't believe that I actually got chosen! I am the youngest one here (from what I can tell) and I feel a bit out of my element. My "I don't know why I'm here" and "I don't feel like a leader" mentality has been met with a lot of the women saying to me, "Everyone's a leader in their own way," or "You just don't realize the potential you have," or "You never know what opportunities mig...

I just think it is so amazing the things that education can do. (I always try to make a bold statement up front as to catch my reader's interest. Haha.) With that being said, I never thought I'd be as interested in disabilities as I am. For a long time I think I was afraid of people with disabilities, actually. All I can attribute that fear to is being ignorant. I didn't understand why people were the way they were and I didn't know how to react to them; it made me uncomfortable. I think this is, unfortunately, a normal reaction. Another reaction is to make fun of someone with a disability, which is also sort of a coping mechanism for not really understanding. (Which is why we make fun of other cultures, races, sexualities, etc). And finally, we ignore those with disabilities because we don't know what to do. And that's why I love learning. It demystifies things that I don't know about and opens up possibilities that I would've never thought for myse...