Not too many decades ago I was living in Washington, D.C., working in corporate America, waking up at 6 am, rushing with my coffee while I brushed my teeth and put on my pinstripe suit and yellow power tie, and drove to work, arriving before rush hour. Only to be stressed for hours on end, long after work ended.



After a major coronary, a burst appendicitis, a dysfunctional vagus nerve (requiring an implant) and a myriad of other health problems, I was put on the corporate sidelines, and, doctors said I would not be working again which, since I was not yet forty years old, was a big blow to my ego.

To be technical, I was now considered disabled. I did not buy the term. I bought a cheap computer and learned all I could about the Internet. I learned how to be a cartoonist and writer. I learned how to outsource and license the manufacturing of my image products. I became an entrepreneur within a few years, yet the government still considered me disabled.

So now I was out to prove something. Though my body could not work like my mind, my mind did indeed still function, so, to me, I was hardly disabled. But I had to prove it to myself. So after creating Londons Times Cartoons, the most visited cartoon site on the Internet, I felt, "this is a good start". 9 e-stores later, I knew I was onto something, but, of course "disabled".

I never was a very good student in my youth, and so I entered a private accredited college online on scholarship. I finished 3 1/2 years. I accomplished something I could never do when I was "abled". Oh, and I had always failed math when I was "abled". I aced it with an "A" (and that was advanced math). So much for disabilities.

I told my local social security office of my new business and education activities and even applied for their PASS program. They simply ignored my suggestion that maybe a disability is not a disability at all. If one really wants to do something, just do it, disabled or not.

After becoming "disabled" and achieving success nevertheless, I have discussed this with many other so-called disabled persons, and have discovered many similar stories. I am certainly not a hero nor even unique. Some have gone on to accomplish things that are beyond my scope.

Which brings me to the whole issue of labeling. What is so productive about labeling? I have been ten times more productive as a "disabled person" than when I was "fully functional" (pushing and signing papers mostly), in corporate America. It is truly something to think about.