A disability frees you to become more creative. In fact, it demands creativity, because you can no longer do things the way you did before. This is the key to thriving with a disability.

How do you find the creativity to thrive with your disability?

Creativity is unique to us all. It is an expression of who you really are. That’s right when you create something it comes from all that has made you. No one else has had your experiences and thus lives in your body. Once a disability has entered your life, you no longer fit the pattern of anyone else. Your parents and others could not have envisioned who you now are. In fact, they tried their best to change you into someone else.

Let us first decide how creative you are. Take this test. On a scale of 1 to 10 rate the following statements:

• When I look around my home I see myself everywhere.
• When I look around my work space I see my unique self.
• My most intimate relationships reflect who I am.
• My friendships are an expression of who I am.
• My leisure activities show who I am.
• My contributions to the world express who I am.

If your grand total is less than 45 your creative expression has been stifled. Many of us tried to fit into the molds others created for us. Now that a disability has taken over your life, you probably can see this expressed everywhere you looked in this exercise.

Now, as you examine these six areas, where can you express yourself better? This can become the source of your new life plan for sharing who you are with the world.

The world deserves you! This is correct! When we think of how humanity has progressed we realize that this is the result of creativity. Creativity results from self-expression.

As you look around you, what things do you notice that you like? Are they the same as everything else? No, they would not stand out and catch your attention if they were all the same.

Someone had to be willing to be different. Where did they find the capacity to be different if not from within themselves?

We marvel at the passion of paintings by Vincent van Go. He had the passion because he was plagued by depression. Yes, it was the potentially disabling illness that gave him the power to express so much in his works. Yes, the depression finally led him to cut off his ear and kill himself, but what vibrancy and creativity it unleashed in the process.

True, living often means holding the potentially disabling parts of ourselves at bay so we can function. If I let myself go around without trying to see, my typing would really be bad. While my screen reader helps me find where I am on the page, using my eyes makes it so much faster and easier.

To further unleash your creativity you need to associate with other creative people. I am in several groups of coaches. We share the ways we have found to coach others.

I also associate with those who are blind or disabled in other ways. Along with them I am inspired to set my limitations aside and do things. This is where the podcast, “Disability Freedom” gets its material. (You can find out more about that on www.www.bsmk-med.com /podcast ).

Another way to unleash your creativity is to create and share with others. That is right. You did not learn to ride a bike alone. Initially your parents helped you, but later you learned from other kids. You would show them what you could do and then they would share what they had learned with you. It was in this process of trying out new things and sharing the results that you mastered the bike.

Now you need to master a life with a disability in it. That means you need to try new things and learn from others with similar disabilities.

So how will you unleash your creativity?

What will you do at home and at work to show your creative self?

How will you find more creativity in the world?

What are you going to create and share with the world?

As All Ways, Seek Joy,

This is the twelfth in the series of blogs based on Brendon Burhcard’s book, The Charge

1. Over the last few months I have been unleashing my creativity. This week I launched the podcast, “Disability Freedom.” This has been both challenging and exciting as it forced me to express my creativity and solve many problems.

I now continue to unleash my creativity by creating a program to teach the ideas of this blog series to others. You can find out more about that at www.www.bsmk-med.com