Re: my speech

[Guest guest]

I find that some of your speech (here on line) is similar to how deaf people

talk in sentence structure. I find it easy to understand

Abby's dad

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[Guest guest]

and it makes you sound like wise old yoda from star wars

eric gutter boy

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[Guest guest]

Sondra-

That was beautiful!!!! You are such a wonderful writer.

T-

> can those here read of this speech I to been of working on for months

> but think now I ot have of all the grammar fixed but not sure? I to

> want feed back to the speech good or bad too sondra

>

> Who are the Heroes in the lives of those with Different Abilities?

>

> As I think of the term " Hero " I wonder; what does that word

> really reflect to me. I quickly am consumed with the thought of

> superman, or wonder woman, and think of their so called

> heroism/actions, but they were not heroes in reality they were

> fantasy characters created to give off an image of being a human with

> super powers.

> I wonder if those around me really understand what

> constitutes a hero. What image do they see or feel when they think

> on the concept of hero?

> For me I see Helen Keller as an extraordinary woman with the amazing

> ability to work through her barriers in her life to communicate, that

> behind all her challenges she was first and foremost a human with

> strong morals and character; as well as showing the world, that

> although they assumed her challenges to be devastating, she showed

> them first an innocent so called wild child, a developing teen, and

> finally a grown emerging woman with strong profound insight to the

> world around her. Who would have ever thought that her begin would

> have a very different outcome as she became who she was becoming.

> How could a person who was labeled hearing and visually impaired;

> possibly hear and the see the world? And see it profoundly beyond

> those who in life who were not challenged.

> I think of others who like Helen, worked hard to break free

> from the barriers that bound them, breaking free from the stigmas,

> breaking free from the assumptions, and breaking free from all the

> judgmental views that can crush a soul if they allow it. Those

> individuals to me are heroes.

> Heroes' to me excel past the expected outcomes; assumed by the label.

> Heroes' do not let the diagnosis or label defeat who they are; a

> human with potential to love and be loved, to give and create, and

> free to make choices with respect and dignity in who they are

> becoming……..

> Sadly many heroes in this life are invisible to the world;

> many are not recognized for their talents or their ability to

> contribute to the world around us…. Some like Van Gogh, Mozart, and

> the list can go on ……were invisible for the most part during their

> living and only after their death were they then considered

> wonderful, some were only see as wonderful in the living through

> their talent alone, but ignored as a person among families, and their

> community.

> I think about Kim, also known as the real " Rainman " , a

> brilliant man with savant skills. Who for the majority of his life

> was hidden away along with his wonderful gifts and personhood? Once

> his father and others began supported Kim, and began to allow Kim to

> be shared with the world; Kim began to emerge and feel dignity and

> pride in his own personhood. Kim found his own way to connect to

> others. Those who know Kim personally do not just see his tremendous

> ability but enjoy the personhood Kim expresses.

> In the past history tells us that some of these hidden heroes

> were treated with no dignity and were subjected to public humiliation

> by saying, " let them work for the circus " and we will give them some

> income and food in exchange for them to allow us to publically

> exploit their challenges. Many say, " That was the past and we no

> longer allow that to happen to people of different abilities " …..But

> this is not so….. Some are still subjected to this by exploiting the

> talent alone, and not giving dignity to the person behind the talent.

> Let's not forget some of the hidden heroes; whom too are the

> people in the lives of those of us with challenges, who see " our

> potential " and see " our humanness " , and encourage and develop a

> strong sense of self and dignity in the personhood we are building

> within us.

> Let's not forget the heroes who take the risk to look beyond our

> challenges and seek to build friendships and relationships with us.

> These heroes do not see us as broken but as whole individuals, they

> see us as an equal and do not see us with pity and sadness/ they do

> not try to change us, fix us or condemn us for not doing things the

> typical way. They adapt with us, they join " our world " in ways of

> true understanding.

> And so today we are not here to celebrate diversity, or our unique

> challenges, nor to exploit our labels, we are here because we have

> worked hard to overcome many of our challenges in ways to demonstrate

> our abilities. We are here with many to celebrate our humanness and

> potential that developed despite the barriers.

> If I could have had a song played today it would be of " I believe I

> can fly " as it states I believe I can fly…. I hope this day many of

> you are standing at that door ready to take flight and soar.

>

> Thank you for having me come here this day to share in this

> celebration.

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Beautiful and insightful speech. Thank you for sharing Sondra!

Thanx,

Darby's mom

sondra wrote:

can those here read of this speech I to been of working on for months

but think now I ot have of all the grammar fixed but not sure? I to

want feed back to the speech good or bad too sondra

Who are the Heroes in the lives of those with Different Abilities?

As I think of the term " Hero " I wonder; what does that word

really reflect to me. I quickly am consumed with the thought of

superman, or wonder woman, and think of their so called

heroism/actions, but they were not heroes in reality they were

fantasy characters created to give off an image of being a human with

super powers.

I wonder if those around me really understand what

constitutes a hero. What image do they see or feel when they think

on the concept of hero?

For me I see Helen Keller as an extraordinary woman with the amazing

ability to work through her barriers in her life to communicate, that

behind all her challenges she was first and foremost a human with

strong morals and character; as well as showing the world, that

although they assumed her challenges to be devastating, she showed

them first an innocent so called wild child, a developing teen, and

finally a grown emerging woman with strong profound insight to the

world around her. Who would have ever thought that her begin would

have a very different outcome as she became who she was becoming.

How could a person who was labeled hearing and visually impaired;

possibly hear and the see the world? And see it profoundly beyond

those who in life who were not challenged.

I think of others who like Helen, worked hard to break free

from the barriers that bound them, breaking free from the stigmas,

breaking free from the assumptions, and breaking free from all the

judgmental views that can crush a soul if they allow it. Those

individuals to me are heroes.

Heroes' to me excel past the expected outcomes; assumed by the label.

Heroes' do not let the diagnosis or label defeat who they are; a

human with potential to love and be loved, to give and create, and

free to make choices with respect and dignity in who they are

becoming……..

Sadly many heroes in this life are invisible to the world;

many are not recognized for their talents or their ability to

contribute to the world around us…. Some like Van Gogh, Mozart, and

the list can go on ……were invisible for the most part during their

living and only after their death were they then considered

wonderful, some were only see as wonderful in the living through

their talent alone, but ignored as a person among families, and their

community.

I think about Kim, also known as the real " Rainman " , a

brilliant man with savant skills. Who for the majority of his life

was hidden away along with his wonderful gifts and personhood? Once

his father and others began supported Kim, and began to allow Kim to

be shared with the world; Kim began to emerge and feel dignity and

pride in his own personhood. Kim found his own way to connect to

others. Those who know Kim personally do not just see his tremendous

ability but enjoy the personhood Kim expresses.

In the past history tells us that some of these hidden heroes

were treated with no dignity and were subjected to public humiliation

by saying, " let them work for the circus " and we will give them some

income and food in exchange for them to allow us to publically

exploit their challenges. Many say, " That was the past and we no

longer allow that to happen to people of different abilities " …..But

this is not so….. Some are still subjected to this by exploiting the

talent alone, and not giving dignity to the person behind the talent.

Let's not forget some of the hidden heroes; whom too are the

people in the lives of those of us with challenges, who see " our

potential " and see " our humanness " , and encourage and develop a

strong sense of self and dignity in the personhood we are building

within us.

Let's not forget the heroes who take the risk to look beyond our

challenges and seek to build friendships and relationships with us.

These heroes do not see us as broken but as whole individuals, they

see us as an equal and do not see us with pity and sadness/ they do

not try to change us, fix us or condemn us for not doing things the

typical way. They adapt with us, they join " our world " in ways of

true understanding.

And so today we are not here to celebrate diversity, or our unique

challenges, nor to exploit our labels, we are here because we have

worked hard to overcome many of our challenges in ways to demonstrate

our abilities. We are here with many to celebrate our humanness and

potential that developed despite the barriers.

If I could have had a song played today it would be of " I believe I

can fly " as it states I believe I can fly…. I hope this day many of

you are standing at that door ready to take flight and soar.

Thank you for having me come here this day to share in this

celebration.

---------------------------------

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[Guest guest]

Hi Sondra,

I loved your speech. I am a compulsive proofreader, so I have taken

the liberty, as you asked, to make some minor grammatical and other

small corrections, without changing any of the content and meaning of

your words. (see below)

> can those here read of this speech I to been of working on for months

> but think now I ot have of all the grammar fixed but not sure? I to

> want feed back to the speech good or bad too sondra

>

>

>

>

> Who are the Heroes in the lives of those with Different Abilities?

>

> As I think of the term " Hero " I wonder, " What does that word

> really reflect to me? " I am quickly consumed with the thought of

> superman, or wonder woman, and think of their so-called

> heroism/actions, but they were not heroes in reality they were

> fantasy characters created to give off an image of being a human with

> super powers.

> I wonder if those around me really understand what

> constitutes a hero. What image do they see or feel when they think

> on the concept of hero?

> I see Helen Keller as an extraordinary woman with the amazing

> ability to work through her barriers in her life to communicate, that

> behind all her challenges she was, first and foremost, a human with

> strong morals and character. Although everyone assumed her challenges

> to be devastating, she showed them first an innocent so-called wild

> child,

> a developing teen, and finally a grown, emerging woman with strong

> profound

> insight into the world around her.

> Who would have ever thought that her life would have a very

> different

> outcome as she became who she was becoming. How could a person who was

> labeled hearing and visually impaired possibly hear and the see the

> world,

> and see it profoundly beyond those who in life who were not

> challenged?

> I think of others who, like Helen, worked hard to break free

> from the barriers that bound them, breaking free from the stigmas,

> breaking free from the assumptions, and breaking free from all the

> judgmental views that can crush a soul if they allow it. Those

> individuals, to me, are heroes.

> To me, heroes excel past the expected outcomes assumed by

> the label.

> Heroes do not let the diagnosis or label defeat who they are --

> humans with potential to love and be loved, to give and create, and

> free to make choices with respect and dignity for who they are

> becoming……..

> Sadly, many heroes in this life are invisible to the world;

> many are not recognized for their talents or their ability to

> contribute to the world around us…. Some like Van Gogh, Mozart, and

> the list can go on ……were invisible for the most part during their

> life and only after their death were they then considered

> wonderful. Some were only seen as wonderful in life through

> their talent alone, but ignored as a person among their families and

> community.

> I think about Kim, also known as the real " Rainman " , a

> brilliant man with savant skills, who for the majority of his life

> was hidden away along with his wonderful gifts and personhood. Once

> his father and others began supported Kim, and began to allow Kim to

> be shared with the world, Kim began to emerge and feel dignity and

> pride in his own personhood. Kim found his own way to connect to

> others. Those who know Kim personally do not just see his tremendous

> ability, but enjoy the personhood Kim expresses.

> History tells us that some of these hidden heroes

> were treated with no dignity and were subjected to public humiliation

> by saying, " let them work for the circus " and we will give them some

> income and food in exchange for them to allow us to publically

> exploit their challenges. Many say, " That was the past and we no

> longer allow that to happen to people of different abilities " …..But

> this is not so….. Some are still subjected to this by exploiting the

> talent alone, and not giving dignity to the person behind the talent.

> Let's not forget some of the hidden heroes, who are the

> people in the lives of those of us with challenges, who see " our

> potential " and see " our humanness " , and encourage and develop a

> strong sense of self and dignity in the personhood we are building

> within us.

> Let's not forget the heroes who take the risk to look beyond

> our

> challenges and seek to build friendships and relationships with us.

> These heroes do not see us as broken but as whole individuals. They

> see us as an equal and do not see us with pity and sadness. They do

> not try to change us, fix us or condemn us for not doing things the

> typical way. They adapt with us; they join " our world " in ways of

> true understanding.

> And so today we are not here to celebrate diversity, or our

> unique

> challenges, nor to exploit our labels. We are here because we have

> worked hard to overcome many of our challenges in ways to demonstrate

> our abilities. We are here with many to celebrate our humanness and

> potential that developed despite the barriers.

> If I could have had a song played today it would be " I

> believe I

> Can Fly " .... I hope this day many of you are standing at that door

> ready

> to take flight and soar.

>

> Thank you for having me come here this day to share in this

> celebration.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Autism_in_Girls-subscribe

> ------------------------

> Autism_in_Girls-unsubscribe

>

[Guest guest]

cathy thanks for that as you left of my words and my way of thinking

intact and did fix of the grammar so it reads more smoothly. I to like

editors like that , most want to fix the grammar but they also take

away from the words reflecting my own personhood in how I to think and

use words. Yet in the working realm I to try harder to do things as

close to the typical way as I can be to do but it takes of weeks and

weeks of working the words to be that way.

Yet you to fully understand of how to edit without taking the

personhood away. thank you...

Now if others feel should add or fix anythings more please to let me

know. this speech is for an award ceremony, for people with challenges

who express outstanding ability and or accomplishment and for those

teachers who also had done an excpetional job in teaching and

supporting those with different needs within the educational systems.

they had asked of me to come and give an inspirational speech and so I

to hope this is of inspirational as I to really lacked how to do that

sort of presentation but went with theme of hero.

Sondra

[Guest guest]

You're welcome, Sondra. I dated a writer many years ago who was very

attached to his words, and I would edit and type his papers for him,

so I honed my sensitive editing skills there. I found a couple more

small punctuation things, but since you are just going to read it, it

won't make a difference. I'm sure you'll " knock'em dead " ! (for

literal thinkers, that's a good thing!) lol

> cathy thanks for that as you left of my words and my way of thinking

> intact and did fix of the grammar so it reads more smoothly. I to like

> editors like that , most want to fix the grammar but they also take

> away from the words reflecting my own personhood in how I to think and

> use words. Yet in the working realm I to try harder to do things as

> close to the typical way as I can be to do but it takes of weeks and

> weeks of working the words to be that way.

>

> Yet you to fully understand of how to edit without taking the

> personhood away. thank you...

>

>

[Guest guest]

gutter boy, some to say that of me and some to say of me that my

words give off the english way of translation from spanish language?

odd but I to have no ideas in the life of me why the words come this

way within me but they have always been, but with much work can do

words in typical fashions with helps of others and or the computer

which puts wiggly lines under mess ups. that can be hard for me to

fix by self because it then does not say what I to be trying to say

if I to fix it their way.

I to think it odd of my own language to others seem odd but to me

seems normal. and the so called words of others sound and come to me

as odd translations Yet understood by me for the most part too. I to

guess it is like when we see of a foreigner trying to speak the

natual language of our culture they have of a strong accent and or

they translate of it in what some term broken english. Yet like they

to us we are to them odd in words.

I to adpated for so many years to try hard to not use of me words for

fear others will think of me as stupid because most questioned my

words, so it to me is like learning the first maybe second year of a

foreign language and so can use it but do it poorly. Just like maybe

some could speak like of me or try to do my words but they might do

it poorly too. And yet oddly within me I to have no real pattern that

can be of explained why some times words from me will come one way

and the next time it comes in a different form or verb tense or

spelling I to lack that process in me but I to know for me to

communicate of my best it isof best to just let the fingers type out

as my thinking is within me when I to allow self to do that I to be

to feel for me communicating in my truest form, when I to adpat in

any one setting the words come out differently.

I to also know for me if I to be of doing a certain type of work my

brain somehow can adapt the style of word choices to match of rote

memorized patterns of articles I to read of magazines, books and

things so can take on the style or fashions of how words were of used

to some extent as far as style and word patterns or choices , not

sure if making sense but not able to always do the grammar parts.

I to love to play on power point much so because it makes of to me

words be of a visual format and I to love to play that way with

words. which adds to my ability of presenting and speaking.

Sondra

[Guest guest]

Gutter boy is yoda of a good guy or bad one? I to lack knowings of the

characters outside of the name and correlation to the star wars as for

some odd reason have never been of able to retain of that movie much

because it was of too advanced for me to grasp but did like of the

movie for other reasons that I to lack of knowing in words.

Sondra

[Guest guest]

Yoda is good Sondra. He is the master Jedi or the main

good person of the whole Star wars Series.

Star Wars is by far NOT my favorite, but my husband

loves it, so I had to watch it over and over and have

him explain it to me. what I finally got out of those

movies is that they are symbolic of evil or the Devil,

vs. Good and God and Christ.

They are not exactly telling the same story of the

devil and Christ but they are trying to show that the

epitamy of evil, always starts out as good. It has to

as all babys are born innocent and good. It is choices

and paths that one follows that makes them evil. They

were not born this way and were not forced to be this

way.

Yoda is sort of like a prophet who teaches goodness

and religion " the force " or power of God to Luke

Skywalker. Luke is the son of the evil Darth Vader,

only he doesn't know that. Leah is Luke's twin sister,

but when they were born they were given to two

different families to raise, to hide them away from

their evil father, so that he will not hurt them or

raise them to be bad. Their mom died, so they had to

be raised separately. They never knew that they had a

sibling and never knew that they were adopted.

Luke is supposed to be kind of like Jesus, in that he

is a savior and is supposed to free people from the

" Empire " or the Evil government. And he is a chosen

one.

If you want me to explain it in more detail, I can...

but didn't want to if your not interested.

Hope this helps a little.

Esther

--- sondra wrote:

> Gutter boy is yoda of a good guy or bad one? I to

> lack knowings of the

> characters outside of the name and correlation to

> the star wars as for

> some odd reason have never been of able to retain of

> that movie much

> because it was of too advanced for me to grasp but

> did like of the

> movie for other reasons that I to lack of knowing in

> words.

>

> Sondra

>

>

________________________________________________________________________________\

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[Guest guest]

esther you are of a good teacher and teached me more about this movie

that I to never related to it. next time I to wath of it will try to

visualize the images of the characters you shared.

How are of you doing anyways?

Sondra

[Guest guest]

Sondra

Your speech is just right, beautiful actually, and 's light-touch edits

are perfect. Thanks for sharing your gifts so freely.

Melinda

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