My blurred opinion

The flicker inside of me

I interview a woman who has dealt with many challenges but has made something of herself at the current time. She has battled a long-standing eating disorder that took her down a really dark path. We discussed her Weight fluctuations, and we discussed the misconceptions that people have about eating disorders. She also went through a really dark time with her mental health, it took her down some really dark places, and she had to find a way to dig herself out. No we go pretty in-depth on mental health and how it affects a person, but how are you can come out on the other side of it. 

Good teams work together, great teams work as one

Shawn Harper is a former offensive lineman in the NFL who has multiple mental disabilities. Neither of those things will define him as a person, he's very intelligent, strong willed, and determined to make a difference. He grew up in a very rough neighborhood, but his mom wanted more for him, she didn't want him to be a statistic, so she pushed him into sports. He's a big guy, and naturally, they were people who desired him to be on their team. He did eventually make the pros because he was very talented, and he end up playing there for seven years with three different teams. We discuss all his injuries, and how his disabilities affect him on a daily basis. Currently he is a renowned speaker, and he's doing so much good wherever he goes, and I believe he's more known today for his good work than he ever was while playing professional football. https://www.shawnharper.org

Grief and relief

In this episode we have a unique person, her name is Kathleen, she's very kind, curious, and full of love. Later in her years she's done a lot of exploring, and traveling, but her story starts with her true love becoming disabled, and her doing her duty as a wife to take care of him. Her husband Ron was very athletic, and when he was finally diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, it was a real shock and a downer. If there is something we can take away from what Kathleen told us about Ron, it is that he never let it get him down, and he stayed positive till the end. It did eventually get really bad at the end when he had very little mobility and no speech at all, but she never wavered, and she took him everywhere she went, and act like their life was exactly the same, by taking him to movie theaters, and anything that he enjoyed before his diagnosis. The second part of her story is about her finding her self, and traveling, and exploring some of the world's most beautiful areas.
https://www.wisdomonthecamino.com
 
 

Learn to love learning

When I met Lois I knew she was just a sweet delightful woman, and I just wanted to get to know her and be around her, because she had such positive energy, so she's been through a lot, and she wears her positivity as a shield. She has traveled multiple continents and now settles in upstate New York. Her story starts with her second child having a learning disability and her seeing what he had to go through in school from his teachers. She was training as a physical education teacher but then became a specialist after her son failed to read. Her main goal in life besides being a great mother was to make a life for her son as normal as possible and give him the life that he deserved. Even though it was very obvious there was something wrong, he didn't get a diagnosis until many years later. 
https://www.loisletchford.com

Renegotiating identity

Patti was a  person I didn't know a whole lot about until the day of the show, but as I got to know her, and I was able to take her story, I loved everything about her, and I'm happy to call her a friend. Her story starts was her successfully finding her dream job, not long before she gets diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She always wanted to be a gym teacher, it's all she ever wanted to be, but MS it really screws with your mobility, and it was a hindrance and made her have to leave the dream job she always wanted. But with Patti's strong spirit kept pushing and started to find a new purpose, to wear now she wants to help people not only balance and suppress their pain, but also with their mental outlook on life. She hasn't credentials, and she's achieved so much, and I know she will continue her fight on making a difference. 
patti@fearlesswithms.com https://www.instagram.com/fearlesswithms https://www.fearlesswithms.com https://www.facebook.com/patricia.bevilacqua.9638 https://www.facebook.com/groups/befearlesswithms
As a special bonus, go to  https://www.fearlesswithms.com/limited-time-offer to download a copy of The 9 Practices I use Everyday to live with MS as my Best Self.
 
 

The equalizer

I am a massive fan of those who try to make the world a better place but also make the world more accessible and try to accommodate those who have disadvantages. Amber Hinds is the CEO of a company called equalize digital. Her goal is to make the Internet more accessible for those with disabilities. Amber is just one of those kind-hearted souls who sees something wrong in a particular area and finds a way to help. In this interview, she tells how she gets into this field, and also why she does what she does.
https://equalizedigital.com
 

` I love my life but it wasn’t always the case

The first that you will notice about Stephan is easing voice, and his delightful and positive attitude. He may be living a great life, but we would tell his journey and how he got here because everything wasn't always peachy. He suffered from depression, PTSD, and addiction. At one point, he had no idea how to be his true self, and he used alcohol to bury his pain, and he would never deal with the issues at hand. I lovely and hearing how fast come, the transformation he made on himself, and turning himself into the person he always wanted to be. I has made an amazing transformation, and all he wants to do is help others by sharing what he went through, and letting everyone know how great it is to be sober and clear-headed.
https://mystepstosobriety.com
 

Mr. fish comics

And I met Fish lee some months back and was taken aback by how positive, and sweet he is after learning about all that had happened to him, and I was so grateful to have him on the show after he excepted.  I believe that his comics create and give examples of people with disabilities doing great things, including disabilities superheroes, and give those with disabilities something to look up to and inspire us. Fish has Tourette's, he didn't get diagnosed until later in life, but he also discusses how severe his condition that as he got older. We discuss his up-and-down journey with his condition, and how it's taking a toll on his physical health, but also how we get into where he is today and how he's found his true purpose. I love that he took a dream that he had, and a passion that he loved forever in comics, and now he's creating his own, and filling in the void where there were no people with disabilities, and comics, for the most part, he is creating his own world where people with disabilities are awesome, and they save the world. 
https://linktr.ee/mrfishcomics
 

A colorful journey

I met Karen a while back, and as I got to know her, I really enjoyed our conversations and her personality. I always wanted to have her on the show, because I wanted to tell her journey of battling multiple sclerosis, and the chronic pain that comes with it. We discuss her long journey of finding the proper treatment to help give her life back, suppress some of the pain, and give her more mobility. And the unfortunate part about getting this condition is that she is a very active, athletic and physical person, she even served time in the Navy, and she likes to race go carts, and she had to figure out how to manage her pain, and get that part of her life backThe great thing about doing this episode at this point in time is that she was in a better place, she has a better understanding of her condition and how to treat it, so she has more of a positive minestate. 

Nurse amputee

I met Kathy on Facebook, and I didn't know a whole lot about her, other than she said she was an amputee, and a former RN, and that she was interested in being on the show, once I found out more about her story, and how she became an amputee, I was highly fascinated. You'll notice from Kathy that she's a very kind, well-spoken woman who has made some bad decisions, but she has paid for them and tries to do everything to atone every day for those mistakes. All the twists and turns that come with her story, kept me wanting to hear more because you hope with every guess that there is a happy ending or at least a start of one. I won't spoil it, but it's pretty tragic how she became an amputee, but her love for her family and grandchildren brought her back to her old self, maybe even a better self.  Her story involves mental health, addiction, loss, and even a comeback story.