My approach to life is that everybody should have an independent and individual life. By individual, I mean leading the life they want to live and doing the things they want to do. Throughout my life, I have strived to have my own identity and achieve my own goals. I think it is important to have your identity. There is a risk of stereotyping people with disabilities in one category.
I have a difficulty in categorising everyone with a disability as one because everyone's psychology is different. A few simple examples are:
When I was a little boy, people assumed I liked animals. This annoyed me as this was not the case. So when people thought I would like to see some animals, I refused to look at them.
Also, with regards to housework, some people do not realise that I like to choose how I would like my flat to be run. My attitude is if I want to live independently, I should take responsibility for looking after my flat. I think everyone has different ideas on how they view independent living. I think my view is unique. Just because I have a physical disability, why should not I have the same responsibilities as a non-disabled person?
I have been open-minded about life and I like being different. I enjoyed adult conversation from the age of about ten because it stimulated and interested me. I went through a phase of having adult dinner parties for my birthday, as I preferred adult company. Also, adults understood me so I found them much easier to talk to.
I love people, especially those who took their time in getting to know me. In my younger days my communication was limited and I used to talk using only keywords resulting in a large amount of guess work from my communication partners.
Through my years of limited communication, I have had many hours considering and studying people and aspects of life that we take for granted.
Lots of my work is based around people with physical disabilities being understood. I cannot stress enough how important communication is and people making themselves understood. It is one of the most fundamental needs in life. Developing communicating is only the start of the journey to equality and individualism.