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This is a companion site for the book, Accessible Success, A Book for the Rest of Us. Check here for resources referenced in the text, more thoughts from the author, and ways to purchase.

Introduction

How do you define success?  Who comes to your mind when you think of a successful person?  What would you need to achieve before you would consider yourself successful?  Has that changed as you mature? Have you decided that you will have to settle for less?  What if success is not what you think it is?

I am considered legally blind and my wife uses a wheelchair. Accessibility is a major concern among people with disabilities.  Put simply, often the way things are designed presents barriers to us that prevent us from using them or make it difficult to do so.  Thus, they are inaccessible.  A building may have steps that bar entry to a person using a wheelchair or restrooms with insufficient accommodations for the chair such as space to maneuver and handholds that would allow a person to transfer to a toilet.  Doctors may provide printed forms to be filled out that can’t be managed on the spot by a patient who can’t see.  We often encounter websites that are not designed in such a way that a person using screen reading technology on a phone or computer will be able to use them.  Simply getting across town can be a problem.  The world isn’t designed for us.

That doesn’t mean we give up.  It need not prevent us from living full and productive lives.  Some things will be harder, but we can choose to keep trying.  You are not alone.  You may not be facing disability, but every one of us will face challenges in life.  You can choose to give up.  You can choose to listen to those who will say there is nothing you can do, but please don’t. 

This is not your typical motivational book.  I’m not going to tell you that you can have anything you want.  You can’t.  I’m not going to tell you that you can do anything you want to do.  You can’t.  None of us can.  The only one for whom nothing is impossible is God.  I’m also not going to tell you that you have to settle for what you can get.  You do not!

It is my hope that by the end of this book you see success in a new light.  To that end, I’m going to tell you my story.  I don’t consider it to be all that remarkable, but I have learned a few things along the way.  I was born blind, but I think I can help you see.  Once you understand what success really is, you will find it accessible, no matter what your circumstances may be.