If The Government Labels You Disabled, Does That Mean You Are?

It seemed like only yesterday that I was living inThen I decided to go back to school and learn
Washington, D.C., working in corporate America,wakingbusiness and technology and did so online (at an
up at 6 am, rushing with my coffee while I brushed myaccredited university). I then invented a new
teeth and put on my pinstripe suit and yellow power tie,fully-computerized medical device.
and drove to work, arriving before rush hour. Only toI let the government know of my activities, yet they
be stressed out the rest of the day and night.simply ignored my suggestion that maybe a disability is
After a major heart attack, a burst appendicitis, anot a disability at all. If one really wants to do
dysfunctional vagus nerve (requiring an implant) and asomething, it can be done.
myriad of other health problems, I was put on theSince that time I have discussed this with many other
corporate sidelines, and, doctors said I would not beso-called disabled persons, and have discovered many
working again. I was only forty years old.similar stories. I am certainly not a hero nor even
To be technical, I was now considered disabled. I didunique. Some have gone on to do things that astound
not buy the term. I bought a cheap computer andme.
learned all I could about the Internet. I learned how toWhich brings me to the whole issue of labeling. What is
be a cartoonist and writer. I learned how to outsourceso productive about labeling? I have been ten times
and license the manufacturing of my image products. Imore productive as a "disabled person" than when I
became an entrepreneur within a few years, yet thewas "fully functional" (pushing and signing papers
government still considered me disabled.mostly), in corporate America. It is truly something to
Then I built the largest and most visited independentthink about.
offbeat cartoon site on the Internet with eight stores.