Stephen Hawking - an inspiration

      One of the most famous scientists in the world, Stephen Hawking, is a significant inspiration for people with disabilities who have the dreams in creating a successful life. I’ve been interested in learning all about him and comparing his life to my journey with a degenerative disease. The information below describes some of what I learned about him, as well as examples of the important things that happened in my life and what I want to accomplish in the coming years.

      Stephen was born on January 8, 1942, and he grew up in the United Kingdom during the time when the Soviet Union invaded Poland in the wake of World War II. His family lived in a safe environment on the north side of England, which protected them from an aggressive military held in other parts of the continent. He had three siblings named Edward, Phillippa, and Mary. He then moved to St. Albans at the age of eight, where he attended school while his father worked as the director of the National Institute for Medical Research. In comparison, my parents bought a nice house in a rural town located farther away from the city before I was born which I have lived for a long time and became part of the mainstream society. In comparison to Hawking, I have a younger brother and a sister, Allison and Ryan, who remain closely related and we all enjoy spending a lot of leisure time together. I learned from the book explaining how important it was for Stephen to be with his family members who supported him and it made him feel grateful for them. He and I both received public education with similar opportunities to participate in student activities and programs that encouraged them to develop social skills and career interests. When I was in high school, I joined the Allied Soccer League, the Forever Friends Club, and the drama program for students with and without special needs, which helped me to connect with my peers and work closely with them. I also became a member of the Camp Inclusion Board and it got me interested in a career position in working with children and adults with disabilities to improve their lives. According to Stephen Hawking, he enjoyed spending time with friends and playing games just for fun. As a teenager he became interested in the field of physics and mathematics so he decides to begin conducting scientific experiments as a strategy to form his own theories. Because of his higher IQ, he studied hard at St. Albans High School which impressed his teachers. After graduating from high school, he attended Oxford University to earn a bachelor’s degree with honors in physics; however he still didn’t know what he wanted to do. He then went on to Cambridge University to pursue a doctoral degree in physics and became professor of mathematics. My dream would be to transfer from community college to the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) to complete a degree in social work while preparing for the workforce through internships and professional training. In comparison to Oxford and Cambridge, UMBC is and honors college, and one of the most rigorous and challenging schools to get into, requiring good grades and higher academic achievement.

     Stephen Hawking was diagnosed with ALS when he turned 21, which stands for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It is a progressive form of motor neuron disease that causes permanent damage to nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. He was told by doctors that he only had two years to live, however he survived much longer and lived until the age of 76.  Shortly after the diagnosis he ended up in a wheelchair for mobility that allowed him to move freely without risk walking. He also lost his ability to speak during his trip to Geneva due to his illness, and they put on a ventilator to help him breathe. The condition he had made life challenging. One time he met an engineer, Dennis Klatt, who designed and built a computerized system to translate text to speech, with a sensor attached to his cheek so he was able to communicate by typing on the computer without using his hands. The invention gave him the freedom and joy to communicate again with his family members and colleagues. As for me, I was diagnosed with RTD in 2014 and riboflavin treatment was prescribed to stop my conditions from getting worse. I am very lucky that my life expectancy remains normal as long as I keep taking riboflavin and other mitochondrial support medications. My disease generally affects cranial nerves resulting in related symptoms such as sensory hearing loss, visual neuropathy, and physical limitations. These symptoms have some similarities and differences to ALS, but they are much less severe than Hawking’s. I feel so grateful that I can breathe normally without needing a ventilator, which many people with RTD must live with. I was only a child when I lost my balance and my muscles got weaker over the years. I used assistive technology in school to make reading and communication easier. As I got older, I decided to create a new way of communicating with others directly in order to avoid being frustrated when things cannot be heard over long distances like lip reading and. Now I am currently using an app on my iPad called Live Caption and it works pretty well by recording the conversation from speech to text. It was one of the positive solutions I’ve found available to me, otherwise there may be other technologies that will one day be available to make life better for me. 

     Hawking was a social guy, and people knew he had a wonderful personality with a great sense of humor. He made many friends who took the time to understand his disability and learn about his scientific ideas.  In relation to my own life, I have gotten to know a lot of people at school and in the community. I always feel a little shy at first until I get used to talking to them and making sure they understand me clearly. While Hawking played games with his friends, I participated in sports and theatre and hung out with peers. During his freshmen year at college, Hawking found himself isolated so he struggled to seek ways to be social, thinking he would enjoy rowing and parties. Now that I’m currently a college student and I haven’t yet had a chance to get involved, my goal is to start a club and join a dance program that will enhance my social life.

     Stephen Hawking met his wife Jane at a party.  As Hawking's condition worsened, she became both his wife and caretaker.  He never discussed his disability much in his relationship, although he relied on her to help him with things when his aides weren’t with him, including pushing his wheelchair, typing papers for his work, and taking him places.  Doing so was her main challenge in their marriage, but she promised to do whatever he asked her to accommodate with stuff that was important to him.  They had three children; Robert, Lucy, and Tim. Because of his health issues, Jane Hawking was able to obtain government funding for support staff at home so she was happy to have him stay with her instead of sending him to a nursing home.

    After his 30-year marriage to Jane, the couple divorced and he took Elaine Mason as his second wife.  Elaine was one of his registered nurses who took care of the ventilator and other health-related needs. Like Hawking, Marriage and family are my greatest dreams besides having my own wheelchair-accessible place to live with assistance from neighbors and staff so I can be just like everyone else.

   Stephen Hawking was best known for his work on black holes and contributions to cosmology and gravity. He wrote several books based on his knowledge of these disciplines. The Brief History of Time and The Theory of Everything became popular to readers who wanted to better understand the interconnection between physics and mathematics in theoretical ways. Hawking was also an advocate for the equal rights of the disabled, by ensuring that public buildings and college campuses are made accessible for those in wheelchairs and other handicaps. As a graduate student and professor at Cambridge, the administrators and architects followed Hawking’s instructions and they all agreed to provide campus accessibility with ramps and elevators to make it easier for him to get around. He traveled around the world to meet with other scientists and share his theories of the universe. After he lost his speech, he was able to communicate through a computer for teaching so it didn’t interrupt him from doing the job.  The operating system worked really well which showed signs of further progress in his work on the sensor that acts as a voice. Creativity and self-advocacy were his two strategies that gave him the power to succeed in his career and personal life along with reasonable accommodations. To be honest, I try to always stand up for what I need to overcome and be more adaptive like he did.  I am always making sure that my college is offering proper equipment for the blind or visually impaired students planning to take classes there.  I’ve been interested in becoming an advocate too and working for agencies and self-directed services to support the poor, elderly, mentally ill, and people with disabilities. I also hope to travel all over the country to attend conferences and meetings for work. Following Stephen Hawking’s communication barriers, the best way I can handle the situation would be to record formal conversations using modern technology that I bring everywhere. Technology plays a huge role in my life, which has increased my ability to access materials other than communication especially for reading and writing.  I want to consider writing tons of blogs and magazine articles on specific topics related to the fields of social work and disability studies. For example, I’m hoping to write something about the role of self-advocacy and why it is important to us.

     These are the key points from the story of Stephen Hawking’s life. In conclusion, the purpose of the discussion is to help you understand how inspiration influences individuals with disabilities who wish to create their own success by comparing themselves to each other with similar challenges and experiences. The truth is that people can do whatever they want to accomplish as long as they work hard and have the same legal rights. Most importantly, anyone who faced various physical challenges but with normal intelligence (like me and Hawking) must learn to adapt to their environment and declare their rights, by figuring out what works best for them. Being a good self-advocate generally means taking responsibility for what you need or want! That’s what I’m trying to explain about helping disabled individuals prepare for their future once they graduate high school and college. Keep in mind that Stephen Hawking worked hard to achieve the goals that led to a successful life. Now it’s time to start thinking this way, and his story involves a powerful influence on society. I hope this discussion will raise awareness of what disabled people like about themselves and what they want to accomplish over the course of their lives.

     If you are interested in learning more about this man, visit https://www.biography.com/scientist/stephen-hawking

Life as a College Student

I recently completed my freshman year at Howard Community College, which I began the fall of 2018. Now it’s time for me to reflect my personal experiences in higher education by explaining what life is like as a college student with physical challenges and how I could overcome them. This year has been an introduction to the next chapter of my life as a young adult, which basically started me on the journey to achieve my goals for the future. I’m a Social Sciences major and I’ve managed to explore a wide variety of disciplines associated with the fields of study that is of my interest including sociology, psychology, social work, and public health.

I learned over this past year that higher education is generally is a valuable experience for students with disabilities who wish to have a successful life regardless of their academic achievement. However, it can also be a challenging aspect of their lives as well as the ability to learn and pursue career goals.  A couple of years before graduating from high school,  my parents and special educators worked hard to prepare for the transition by ensuring I had the adequate access to resources that helped me become successful and independent.   Once I enrolled into HCC, I found it difficult at first because most of the resources I depended upon in high school were no longer available to me. As I waited to start classes, I had to spend many months searching for a one-to-one aide to go with me for physical assistance and help with communication.  After a lot of searching, my uncle decided that he would get certified for our companionship since he enjoys helping me do lots of things and we have a lot in common. For example he was able to transport me to and from campus via car instead of having to call for public transit. He stayed in class with me for the whole time just for safety and to ensure everything went okay. I took the total of two classes during each semester, one online and one on campus. This means the load was extremely low because off of my classes involved an intense amount of reading and writing (it takes me longer to get all the work done due to my vision loss.)  We also found out that many of the things used in college for educating, such as their online math program, are not accessible for people who are visually impaired.  This has put my math class on hold until they can figure out a way to make the material visually accessible for me.  I also discovered that community college relies mostly on group work, rather than lecture and independent study.  This made my classes even more challenging, since many of the students were not able or willing to speak in a way I could hear them during group discussions. I had to change one of my classes to an online format for this reason, so that I could do discussions online where I could read what people had to say.

Another problem I found was the lack of social opportunities at the community college level.  I rarely made any connections on campus and I don’t have close friends there either, but I sometimes attend plays and musicals that take place at night. Even though college life is generally different from high school, I understand that many students view getting involved on campus as dis-interesting and forgettable, and focus more on homework and studying than making friendship The best thing about HCC is that the class sizes are generally small which allows me to get to know the professors and ask them questions at any time before or after class. The campus is fairly handicap-accessible which makes mobility easier for me to move around to get anywhere safely using a wheelchair.  When I’m in a classroom full of twenty students around me, it usually gives me more individual attention and accessibility on information processing. The professors tend to be very accommodating and really great at helping me succeed. At the beginning of each semester it was hard because they didn’t know much how to modify any materials that were already inaccessible, so I worked with a disability service coordinator to figure out what accommodations are reasonable to reach a solution. The first thing she did was by communicating with my professors to introduce me and explain my needs in simple terms so they could better understand the best way to create accessible content.  I was then assigned a transcriber who is trained and uses a computer to take notes for me as I followed along with the class. I also received copies of the materials with enlarged print including transcripts of the videos and textbooks to help me organize the content and study for tests. I have had the struggles with comprehension at times when the content was written abstractly, so I tried reading the same thing multiple times to understand the text. It’s definitely one of the most powerful techniques for every college student to acquire in order to improve their thinking. I learned a lot from the coursework and both sociology and psychology are interesting fields of study. It made me wonder if I could consider earning either a bachelor’s or masters degree or both, that would lead to a career position in helping people with disabilities. I used an iPad as the main technological device in the classroom to facilitate communication during lectures and group discussions. 

Everything I have done so far has resulted in a positive learning experience which motivates me for achieving these goals. I finished my first year at HCC with a 4.0 GPA, which I am very proud of.  It has been a busy year ahead for me and I’m hoping to have a relaxing summer before continuing my education.

  

My High School Career (2012-2018)

I wanted to share some of my memories from the past years of my academic career. There’s a lot to discuss here.

I attended Glenelg High School in the fall of 2012 and graduated in the spring of 2018. This was the most perfect school experience I ever had and it helped me belong to the community in a way I had not previously. The fact about high school was that it offered me opportunities to achieve personal growth, to pursue my talents, and to participate in extracurricular activities and student organizations.  I became passionate about developing an artistic dream and decided to begin drawing and painting pictures as a hobby. When I took art classes in high school, I learned how to advance my drawings through a strong sense of creativity and imagination. I worked hard to overcome many challenges during my years in high school, and completed all the requirements for a diploma. I worked harder than ever, not only to be successful in school, but also to be a good person and to achieve integration into community life.  I was awarded the Student of the Month Award every year which reflected the standards of all my accomplishments. I used adaptive technology every day to help me learn a variety of subjects in the classroom.  Like most people around me, I had the ability to climb the ladder of success by making progress in learning so by the time I became a senior, I no longer need much assistance with completing my schoolwork. As a senior, I became the member of the National Honor Society, which made me proud because it showed that I had become an important member of the community as well as the student body.  In order to meet the requirements of the NHS, I did some math and art tutoring after school and I was involved in volunteering and community service.  

Being active in clubs and activities was one of my fondest memories of high school and an excellent way to develop social and interpersonal skills. First, I participated in the school’s adaptive Broadway program that included students with and without special needs. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed performing on stage with the cast. The program offered me the opportunity to form partnerships and work together on a play.  I also joined the Forever Friends club which involved building friendships and doing fun activities with a group of friends. During my sophomore year, I joined the Glenelg Earth Organization where I completed recycling projects to save the environment. I did not play any sports in high school except soccer and wheelchair running. Watching football games, choir performances, and musicals were some of my favorite events to attend outside the school. I enjoyed the pep rally and going to homecoming dances with my friends. During my fourth year I met a girl who was a junior and we both went to prom together. All these experiences were a big part of my high school career which made life more natural and interesting.

A lot of exciting stuff happened recently and I finished my final year of high school.  I received my diploma as well as the Principal's Award for Excellence, which meant a lot to me.  I am now feeling prepared and ready to move forward to the next chapter of my life. My current goal is to attend Howard Community College in the fall and I plan to hopefully work in a field related to art and disability advocacy.

Finding My Groove

Once upon a time I decided to start playing the harmonica and pursue my interest in performing arts. Since my father plays bass and guitar and is aware of how to play most any musical instrument, he  had the opportunity to teach me all about different styles of music. One of the first things I learned was how to use my respiratory system to play the harmonica. I remember one year that I received the first one as a Christmas gift from my grandfather, along with a harmonica stand that I can wear around my neck.  Once I practiced more and more frequently, I had the confidence and energy to control the pace at every single level. With the knowledge of the difference between high pitch and low pitch sounds, I'm able to determine whether it correctly matches to the beat. For example, if someone plays bass by strumming the strings in a loud but low pitch, I follow along by blowing into an 'A' keyhole directly on the left side. If the drum beat appears at a higher pitch, I turn over to the right direction and blow the 'F' hole towards the end of the line. It took me very little time to learn all these skills.  Even though I use a cochlear implant to hear, synchronizing with the rhythm and tone of the melody comes easily to me.  This may be because I lost my hearing when I was about age three or four, so already had a lot of experience listening to music before I became deaf.

Alex plays his harmonica with the band at the Columbia Lakefront

Last night my dad's band, Capitol Groove, invited me to play on stage during their performance.  Rock 'n' Roll has always been one of my favorite forms of music, which is the kind of music my father's band plays.  

I don't know anyone else in the country who plays in a band who is also in a wheelchair like me. Therefore, I had an idea that if children and adults with disabilities got interested in playing an instrument or joining a band, it would be a great idea if there were adaptive musical instruments for them to play.  No matter what type of challenges people have to overcome, they should be able to play an instrument. I hope that someday I can help develop instruments for people with disabilities, so everyone can know the great feeling of making music.

Me and my Artistic Ambitions

I have spent recent years developing my interest in creating artwork. This is the major hobby that I have decided to continue working on from when I was a kid. During my life I have had to find the best way to keep up with my artwork. There have been a couple of challenges of which I was able to overcome successfully. 

As a young teenager, I lost the ability to use my hands due to muscle exhaustion that had unpredictably occurred. Therefore, I started a new strategy of using electronic technology, including a Windows touch screen computer and a medium-sized iPad. I started using the bottom corner of my nose to make drawing easier for me. This way I can lean my face closely against the screen and drag my nose over the sections where things can be painted.

There are several different tools available on my art program such as paint sticks, background value, charcoals, and so forth. Those provide fresh colors with all levels of both light and darkness.

Apparently my nose is pretty strong because it never hurts even after spending hours drawing!

There are not very many available accommodations for people who have difficulties holding artistic materials on their own. Sometimes families and occupational therapists make their own structural devices such as baseball hats with the ability to attach magic markers and crayons.  Before my hands got very weak I used a heavy black glove with finger rings to help me hold markers.  Some people also use mouth sticks. 

So, here’s the link below to my online shop:  http://www.cafepress.com/alexfitzgerald. This site has a cover page filled with my artwork. People are welcome to visit and explore the all the pictures and designs already there. The main purpose of this shop is for selling products such as clothes, mugs, and mouse pads.  Each customer gets to choose which of the pictures they want and what product to have it printed on. 

Hey, thanks for learning about me and my Artistic Ambitions. If you have any questions or concerns about this stuff, please feel free to contact me at: Alexander.fitzgerald@yahoo.com.