"Look at you. You built a ramp for your Aunt Myrna's house. That took a lot of skill. On top of that, you cared enough about her being able to get in and out of the house to do it for her. Not everyone has the patience or interest in older people. Maybe you could do one of those things as a job, working with older people or working doing construction."
One of the strengths of Native Americans with disabilities who live on reservations is they tend to have more family members living near them and relationships with their relatives tend to be closer. Although you may get the response, "You have to say that, you're my auntie," the fact is that by adulthood, people with LD have experienced many failures and too many messages about what they can't do. Focusing on a person's strengths is important, and not just once, but repeatedly.
We talk about learned helplessness, both in this workshop and on our Spirit Lake Forum. For a person who has had mostly failure experiences in his or her whole life, it is hard to imagine what it is that would lead to a successful and satisfying career.
 |
EXERCISE YOUR CREATIVITY! This is important. Everyone has areas of strength. What are the strengths, the positives, that you or your relative with a disability can use to develop a successful career. Click here to tell us what is good about your family member and to read what others have written.
|
Next, learned helplessness