Keeping it real

So, I was thinking the other day while on the plane to Little Rock for the International AER conference, the giant conference for my personal field of visual impairment education. My thinking went toward how things have evolved with the organization lately, and my last blog post, and ones before that. They've been pretty few and far between, and I feel like moving away from the personal, which is what, I think, attracted so many readers to begin with.

So, with the new direction comes a renewed commitment to "keep it real", and to also keep you up to date on my process of development. This serves me in that it allows me to gather my thoughts together, it really helps me think. It's also a really nice thing to go and read my "old me" from two years ago. I want to edit so BAD, but won't in order to preserve the integrity of the blog. I hope it also keeps you more engaged in the strides we are making to change the world for people with disability.

In Little Rock I did my best to meet as many folks as possible, and made some great new friends. I did not advertise Ability Beyond the Horizon (ABH) much at all, but to those I did talk to about it, the interest was genuine. It seems that there has been international efforts for O&M previously, but to date, they've been one offs. Meaning, a group will organize and go somewhere, they'll do some training and intervention, but then they come home, and that's it. This isn't criticism of these people, its just that everyone has "life" happening to them, and things can get hairy.

Look at me! I started this two years ago and still haven't helped the first person! I'm sticking with it though, and I think this investment of time now will pay in spades later (whatever that actually means). I had more than a few people recognize me from the article I posted last time that was in our big report, that was kind of neat :-) Most the people I spoke with were encouraged by my age, they said when they got older they realized they wanted to do something like this. Since I'm young, I've got a lot of time to make a splash. I hope to roll those people into the mission of ABH when I have a place for their talents. Its been a little while since I got so much "young pup" love from people, I felt a bit like an ambitious intern again. They don't know though, since we just met, that my energy level actually stays this way *grin*.

The website received some updated content, thanks to Shawn Laasch and Rachel Nickens. Shawn added a subscription box to the site so that newcomers can receive the blog easier, and we also redesigned a few pages. Rachel is an editing machine, and is helping me not to be so wordy. She's not touched this blog, so that's why you are having to read so much here :-)

I've been meeting with Paul Lewis, Sandy Lewis' husband, Sandy is on our board of directors. He's committed to helping me develop a solid business plan. We've met twice now, and will meet again on Friday, he's done a GREAT job at challenging my thought process and forcing me to put a finer and finer point on what I want to accomplish. He was one of my professors while in school and I've always liked his style of instruction. Now as friends, he's still teaching me a lot. There are conflicting opinions in the business world literature about putting together a business plan, but I've got to say, to someone like me that doesn't typically go in for all this detail, its really challenging me to truly understand what I want. We're essentially laying out the blueprint for the house I want to build, and I'm so excited about the possibilities.

Let me hear from you! Are you still reading?? Is this thing on??

~Mickey