Ms. Wheelchair America!

Congratulations to Ms. Wheelchair America, Alette Coble-Temple! I am so grateful to know Alette. She is an amazing woman and an inspiration to many. She is most certainly an inspiration to me. The first time I met her was in a graduate school course that takes one year to complete. I admit when she first rolled in to the class. I groaned because I wasn't sure I would be able to understand her but within three minutes. I fell in love. During my studies at graduate school. I was lucky to take many courses that Alette taught and I learned a great deal from her. Even luckier, was that she agreed to chair my dissertation. Although it took me some time to complete, I had no struggles with my committee. Many my fellow classmates could not say the same. One course I took from Dr. Coble-Temple was the Psychology of Disability. While I was in the hospital not long after I was injured, I remember thinking, what an advantage. I had because of the knowledge I gained in that course. One of the concepts we talked about was how the disability community called able-bodied people , "temporarily able-bodied." This concept blew my mind because I had never thought of the possibility that some day I could actually become disabled. It was truly an aha moment for me. Lo and behold, as fate would have it, that was the concept that I needed to deal with so that when I found myself in that position, I understood that this happens to people. I am certain if I had not ever thought about what it might be like to become disabled. I would've been even more devastated than I was and my recovery time would've taken even longer just trying to wrap my brain around the fact that I had become disabled. In the weirdest way I am truly a lucky person. And I am so lucky for the people I have in my life. We couldn't ask for a better spokesperson to represent the disability community. She knows so much about disability culture and the challenges we face on a day-to-day basis. Hooray for Alette and all of the disability community!