Winning the Game: Achieving Personal Success With a Disability

By Mark E. Shepherd Sr. MBA

Winning the Game - Achieving Personal Success with a Disability helps those with disability conquer the obstacles unique to those with disability. One must know the pitfalls and the anecdotes to achieve success despite the obstacles and inherent discrimination they will face.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Dec 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781483491882

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Copyright © 2018 Mark E. Shepherd Sr., MBA.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

ISBN: 978-1-3878-9572-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-9187-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-9188-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018911543

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 11/20/2018

Dedication

This is dedicated to my youngest son Zachary James Shepherd whose journey towards a successful career in acting has just begun. May he use the wisdom herein to motivate himself to always pursue his dreams.

Acknowledgements

I want to acknowledge the following family and friends for their support, information, review and recommendations in the development of this work. I would personally like to thank:

Patricia I. Shepherd, Mark E. Shepherd, Jr. MD, Patrick and Deborah Hughes, MaryBeth Martel, John Box, Michael Schlappi, Steven D. Pearson, Michael Cavanaugh, Chip Parmelley, Jerry Terry, Jeffrey Glasbrenner, Donna and Wes DeBaca, Rory Cooper Ph.D., Johnathon Foster, Danny Quintana, Willie Hernandez, David McClellan, Alan Jones, Jim Sack, Ed Hutchens, Gary Ryan, Al Uttecht, Mike Trujillo, Will Waller, Scott Law, Stephen Welch, Rick Swauger, Mark Sullivan, Bob and Karen Hixenbaugh, Don Schickedanz, and countless other able-bodied and disabled associates. I thank all for their wisdom, insights, sense of humor and their stories - some of which are incorporated herein.

I also want to recognize the disabled athletes I competed with and against over the years that I had the good fortune to banter ideas around with.

I would also like to thank the coaches I played for and learned from, in particular – Brad Hedrick Ph.D., Lew Shaver, Paul Jackson, Dan Burns, Frank Burns, Mo Phillips, Tree Waller, Dan Ferrera, Eric Dow and a cadre of others in the world of wheelchair basketball.

I also want to thank those that I had the privilege to coach in wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair bowling and adaptive sports along the way.

Preface

I am physically disabled. To be specific, I am paraplegic. I live my life in a wheelchair. My disability resulted from an automobile accident in 1986 wherein I suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury. Following my injury, I had to refocus and rebuild my life. I had to reinvent myself, change careers, establish a new network of friends and begin anew. It was quite a journey.

I love my life now. Given the opportunity to be cured tomorrow, I would remain as I am. Although this may sound delusional to some, my life is better now than before I was injured. I have learned more, traveled extensively, and experienced things few others have. My disability became a blessing to me, not a curse.

I have been a part of the disabled community now for over three decades. This subculture is unique unto itself. Our disabilities vary. Our individual stories are likewise unique. Most of my disabled constituents view life differently than the average person. The evolution of success in the disabled community is like those without disability, but it is checkered at best.

The road to success in the disabled community is diverse. There are unique obstacles and some different opportunities. I personally utilized the subcultural niche’ of disability as my avenue towards moderate work-related success. Resultantly, I have worked in the for-profit and non-profit sectors that service the disabled. So, I am familiar with our issues. I am also familiar with our failings.

In 2010, I wrote and published ‘Getting Back in the Game - How to Regain Your Life after Disability’. The premise of that book was to assist those newly disabled grappling with reconstructing their lives. My first book addressed the sojourn of physical and emotional recovery, including social re-acclimation. I provided personal insights for others to consider. The research behind that work was borne of my experiences, aided by the communication with other disabled friends that had faced similar consequences. I received positive feedback from that effort.

In ‘Winning the Game’ I take my insights further into how people with disability pursue success in America despite formidable societal obstacles confronting them. I assume they have recovered and stabilized physically, yet remained disabled, and are now getting on with their lives. In this installment, I examine many contemporary works on the genre of success and personal motivation. I also queried successful people with disability to determine their thoughts on the issue of success.

I also reviewed elements associated with the personal habits, individual philosophy and determination that lead one toward successful endeavors. Thus, I hope this book will provide additional insights to those struggling to determine their focus, or where they go next.

Ultimately, I realize that everyone has a theory about what success is and what is connoted by it in our society. In truth, our individual and collective views of success are at best, incongruent.

Social sub-groups have some distinct variations of how to become successful, or excuses involving the underpinnings of why they failed to achieve success. I am not content allowing others to avert blame for why they failed to achieve success. Simply because one has a disability doesn’t absolve one from personal responsibility or from pursuing a fulfilling life. Disability may make the endeavor more difficult at times, but it should not be a reason to quit.

This book is not an autobiography or life story. It is instead an examination of success from a different perspective. How to pursue and achieve success with a physical disability, and why such is important.

Introduction

This is a short book. It is meant to be that way. In an age of video clips, Instagram, U-Tube, Twitter, etc., people have developed attention span deficits.

I am a poker player. I have a small library on the subject. The best book I read on the subject was not Doyle Brunson’s ‘Super System – A Course in Power Poker’. It was instead Phil Gordon’s ‘Little Green Book’. It was succinct and to the point. Likewise, Og Mandino’s ‘The Greatest Salesman in the World’ was short and concise. So, I intended to be brief.

The premise of this book is to examine individual ‘success’ in America. In a more specific context, what is and what defines ‘Winning the Game’ – the game of life, for those with physical disability. What must be considered and overcome to become successful with a disability?

I am interested in how success is pursued and attained by people with disabilities. I will examine the perceptions of success from a slightly different perspective than most books produced in this genre. Is the pursuit of success mitigated or limited because of disability? What are the specific differences? Or, are there any at all? If so, how does one negotiate them?

In the broadest context of ‘disability’ as defined by the American’s with Disabilities Act, signed into law in 1990; the distinctions of disability are commingled. Disability is outlined primarily from a demographical and age-related context.

Disability is further seen as a cumulative picture of various maladies, including work related injuries. The ADA definitions of disability paint a very obscure picture.

One thing that is very evident in the US census related to disability is the disparate number of working disabled in America. In January 2013, with a record 8,830,026 Americans collecting disability and 115,918,000 working full-time, there were only 13 Americans working full-time for each person collecting disability.¹

As of 2010, there were 56.7M people in the USA, or 19% of the population living with some form of disability. Regarding the ADA, disability is broadly defined as a condition that affects one’s activities of daily living or capacity to work. However, I don’t consider this definition of disabilities an accurate rendition to construct a model of success to examine.

I limited my focus for the sake of developing a simpler overview. The demographics I will examine considers those with permanent