My Supports
Factors in my environment that are supportive to me:
My husband Andy is supportive of me in the way he asks how
my day went, if I need him to make our sons lunch, or when he does the dishes
late at night so I can finish my homework.
My husband takes care of our finances and is the source of our main
income. He also takes care of our automobile
maintenance. He is always there for me
in any way I need!
My family is supportive of me as they help me with Collin
when needed – they come over to visit and take him for rides on the four
wheeler, or distract him while I make dinner.
They provide emotional support to me when I have a problem or need to
talk.
My car is supportive of me as it gets me to work, the
grocery store, and everywhere in between!
My phone is supportive of me as it allows me to call my
staff when needed, contact my husband and family, and for my son to play games
on and be distracted by.
My computer supports me with my coursework, managing the day
care I direct, and my need for current
news.
My employees are supportive of me as they allow me to do my
job well because they do their job!
If any one of these supports were gone, my life would
drastically change. My husband went on a
two week work trip and I was home alone taking care of our son, dog, and 2
cats. I had to get up earlier than usual
to get all of my morning routine accomplished without his help, I had to plan
better preparing as much in advance as I could.
I balanced work, daycare, household responsibilities, and all of the
little things. I missed him a lot those
two weeks – not to mention the emotional support he provides when he is around
- such as me getting that much needed mommy break after a long day!!
Without my family, I would be lost. My mom and my sisters
are my best friends and confidants that I talk with daily – even if for just a
few minutes.
Taking away my car, computer, or phone would make working
near impossible as I travel about 40 miles a day and my phone is used for
contact with my staff and parents. And
even though work would still be possible, it would be interesting to figure out
other transportation, paper logs for tracking attendance and payments, and hand
writing all of this course work.
THE CHALLENGE
I chose losing my sense of hearing as a challenge.
Supports for me with this challenge would be:
My Vision – being able to see where I was going and my
surroundings would help me navigate the world around me without my sense of
hearing. Also, closed captioning would
help me use the television. My vision
also supports me in the use of the computer and other technologies. My phone could still be supportive with
texting.
My husband, friends, and family would still be supports as I
may need them in social situations and use them to read lips and body
language. They would be a great
emotional support as well.
Hearing aids or cochlear implants would be a great support
that would allow me to hear or partially hear.
Without them the world would be mute.
Life without these supports would be
a lot more difficult. But with other
supports to help me adapt, life would still be maintainable, manageable, and functional!
