Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, My name is Normas Stanley, and welcome to Disability World. Hello,
(00:37):
and welcome again to another segment of Disability World where
we share information of interest and impact as it relates
to the disability community as a whole. Here in Georgia,
around the nation, and around the world.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
I'm your host, Normous Stanley, and the disabil the world.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
We generally are speaking to individuals, community leaders, parents, advocates,
business owners, and resource providers who care about this vast
and vital population of about seventy million people around in
the US alone. But today I actually wanted to talk
(01:20):
to you about one of those other products that I
am working on for the community that I want to
share with you, and it's called Navigating Hope, Love, and Opportunity.
One hundred and one success Stories about disability, parenting and caregiving.
(01:42):
And this is an an anthology book that's going to share,
like the title in You Know Shit tells you one
hundred stories in one hundred and one, including mine, about
how to navigate this challenge. Parents like myself and caregivers
(02:03):
like myself have navigated this challenge of raising our children
and helping our children to become the best that they
can become despite whatever intellectual, developmental disabilities or physical disabilities that.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
They may have.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And we're hoping to encourage people like yourself. If you
know of anyone who may be a parent or a
caregiver of a child, or a spouse or a parent
with a disability, we encourage you to become one of
our co authors. And like I said, we're looking for
(02:42):
We have about thirty right now, so we're looking for
about seventy more people who are willing to share their stories,
who want to encourage other parents like ourselves, those who
are just really just starting the journey themselves, and who
want who needs to be guided and encouraged that this
(03:05):
is something that they can do, and that this is
not a curse that some parents think it is. It's
it's actually a blessing. And you know, it's something that
I wanted to do because I hear so many stories
of people who are on both sides, people who are
feeling hopeless, people who are you know, they just can't
(03:27):
seem to get the help that they need and don't
know where to look in many cases, and so I
want to make sure that you know some of these stories,
share how we were able to navigate the challenges. As
the title again shares hope, love and opportunities, because sometimes
(03:50):
we don't recognize the opportunities when they come in front
of us. And I think this is an opportunity to
not only share our individual stories, but to leave little
literary legacy.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
For our families.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
About how we did it, about how our children were
able to maximize their potential as a result of our advocacy,
our involvement, our love, and our faith and determination and
you know, persistence and making sure that they had what
(04:25):
they needed so that they can live the best life possible.
And so I'm wanting to share a little bit about
UH this anthology book. I'm the editor and the publisher
UH is a woman named don Anderson. She is the
publisher of Celebrity Boss Books and Celebrity Boss Media, and
(04:50):
you know, we're working together to to to put together
this anthology. She has a number of different anthologies that
she's working on. This is just this is one of them.
And we're working on this, of course together because this
is my baby, and you know, I love sharing information
that's going to help other parents navigate this challenge. Like
(05:13):
I said, I've been doing this for thirty six years now,
and my daughter's is, you know, on her.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Way to be coming turning thirty seven. She's got a
few more months, but you know, she's getting a little older,
and so am I, and I want to make sure.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
As I walked through this journey that other parents can
learn from the mistakes I made as well as from
the decisions I made that were successful on my daughter's behalf.
And not only are my daughter's behalf, but on our
family's behalf.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Like I've shared in other segments.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
You know, my husband, her dad passed away about sixteen
years ago, and you know, we were married for twenty
five years. And you know, so she was twenty when
her dad passed away at only fifty years old. And
you know, so life happens, and you don't know when
(06:10):
things are going to you know, you know, things are
going to change up on you. And so I became
a single parent at the age of fifty and had
to figure it out how to maneuver getting her the
things that she needed as a wheelchair user, as somebody
who's nonverbal. Primarily she can say a few words, but
(06:33):
you know, primarily nonverbal has good comprehension. But you know,
there's some challenges in expressing what she wants, so I
have to kind of interpret her needs just because I
you know, I know her well, and so you know,
so the caregiving challenges, getting the help that I need
to be able to do what I need to do
as a business owner, and the very things that I
(06:56):
do to maximize my potential because I truly believe that
if I'm not happy, my daughter will not be happy.
So I do what I need to do working around
her to maximize my potential and to fulfill the things
that I believe that God gave me the gifts and
(07:18):
talents to be able to do as much as I can,
and and and and that's a lot of different things.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
I'm a writer, I'm a singer, I'm a speaker, I'm
an author, I'm a business owner. I do what I
need to do to maximize my potential so that I
can help my daughter to maximize hers. And uh, I
want to be able to to to to leave, like
(07:48):
I said, a literary legacy of of of a lot
of different things.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
You know that those people tend not to think about.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
That dash in between being on and leaving this earth,
and I think about it all the time. Not all
the time, but often enough. And as you get older,
you know, you realize just how much how fast time flies,
and how much time.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We really don't have.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
You know, so many people are leaving this earth at
much younger ages than I am, and so time is precious,
and time you cannot get back. And so I try
to maximize my days as much as possible. And so
and and do the same thing for Sierra. And so
we we travel, we go to restaurants. We both love music,
(08:43):
so we got a lot of concerts. We you know,
hang out in the community. We do a lot of
fun things, movies, whatever it is. We you know, we
hang out here and home and you know, on the
Friday night and we have jam sessions because again, I sing,
and music is a very important part of my life.
And if I'm not singing out professionally, I I'm doing
(09:05):
a lot of singing here at the house, whether it's
rehearsing or.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Just getting ready.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
But it brings me joy, which is actually my my
middle name, Jocelyn. My family called me Joy, and so
I used that name as part of my stage name,
which is Mella Joy, my two middle names put together.
And so, you know, so I look forward to sharing
(09:32):
my story in this anthology book, navigating hope, love and opportunity,
and sharing how I.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Was able to do the things I was able to do.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Working around Sierra and and learning what works and what doesn't,
and and finding other ways, finding alternatives, and not losing hope,
not losing my focus on maximizing about potentials because again,
you know, I had I have dreams, and I have
(10:04):
things I wanted to accomplish in life also, and some
of those things got deferred as I was, you know,
learning to raise Sierra and and help her to do
what she needed.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
To do to maximize her potential.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
But I didn't want to give up on myself either,
the same way I, you know, refuse to give up
on you know, Sierra's opportunities because you know, just because
she may not at this particular moment be able to talk,
I know she has good comprehension.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
She's still learning. So we want to make sure moving
forward that.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
She gets whatever opportunities that she can get to live
as independent a life as possible. Uh, you know, so
she models, she models in her wheelchair. You know, like
I said, she has a pretty full life. And I'm
thankful that I'm able to do that for her. So
the point is that that's just my story.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
You all have a story. So many people have a story.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
And I really encourage you guys to to to come
on and be a part of this anthology.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
And if you know anybody who would love.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
To share their story having contact me and and we
can go through the go through the process with them
as to you know, how they can be a part
of this this book, which is going, you know, going
to be a very popular book, I believe, because I
think there are so many wonderful stories out there of
parents who are doing some amazing work for themselves and
(11:33):
for their children and for the community. Because it's it's
really one one big community and you know, interconnected the
way we all really should be, and it's it's really
something that I think will be a fulfilling process as
well as you know, something that you can look back
on and share with their family members and your loved
(11:57):
ones who may not understand your journey, may not really
know what you may have sacrificed or what you you know,
what you go through to to do the things that
you do on behalf of your loved ones with disabilities.
So I wanted to be able to again share this
information with you and offer you the opportunity to be
(12:22):
those of you who will be interested to be a
part of this anthology. And so you'll you know, of
course we'll be there to be able to provide any
support and these sources that you may need. It's the
opportunity to do some community building. Of course, we'll be
helping with marketing and promotion. And you know, it's not
(12:42):
that you have to write a whole lot five hundred
to eight hundred words and that's your chapter. So and
we can help you do it if you don't know
how to write. But I'm sure that that just by
answering some of the questions that we provide, you'll be
able to answer and have your chapter written in no time.
And so you know, I'm going to actually have don
(13:06):
Anderson on the show, uh in one of our upcoming segments.
She's the one who is the publisher of Celebrity Boss
Book Publishing, and you know, she can talk a little
bit more about, you know, the various anthologies that she's doing.
This is this just just one of them. But I'm
really excited about it. I'm looking forward to putting this
(13:28):
together for uh my family, and and you know, and
and really sharing this with other families who have amazing
stories to tell, and and they can document their story
their legacy and have something that they can leave behind
(13:51):
that that that says that this was their contribution, the
love and and and support that they gave their child,
their loved one, their parents or spouse. That they may
be caregiving caregivers of whichever it is, because it doesn't
necessarily have to be a parent. There's a lot of
us out there taking care of our parents, a lot
of us out there taking care of our loved ones,
(14:11):
our spouses who are now dealing with some kind of
disability and and and.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
That's just where we are. That's just life right now
for so many of us. And so I.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Encourage all of you who are maybe in one of
those situations to be a part of this book Navigating Hope,
Love and Opportunity. And it's very very reasonable in terms
of cost.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
It's less than three hundred dollars to be a part
of it.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
So and you know, again, we would be glad to
have individual meetings with you to kind.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Of share what what what what all it would.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Entail for you as an individual there's you can you
can actually sponsor your own cover if you want to.
And so there's lots of different things that that that
you might be able to do that we can share,
you know, in a personal consultation with us, but I
want to get on here and share that information. And
you know, you'll see the picture of the cover and
you can have your own cover my my book, my
(15:15):
individual book will have my cover of me, a picture
of me and my daughter in it.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
But even if you're you have.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Your own chapter, you'll also have pictures of your family
and your loved ones in the book with you. But
you can actually have your own cover.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
For the book.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
So that's a different aspect of costs. But you know,
that's an option. So wanted to share that with you.
And again, there's so many things that uh that I'm
working on.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
This is just another one of those things.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
And we talk one of the previous shows, we talked
about the Exceptional Parent Celebration, which is coming up, will
be taking place.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Around Mother's Day and.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
You know this, we're hoping to basically close out the
book and have all our co authors completed, you know,
before the end of May.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
That's what we hope that's what we're working tours.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
So I really encourage you to jump in and reach
out to me Normal Stanley at EEE Marketing Group at
gmail dot com. That's three e's EEE Marketing Group at
gmail dot com, or you know, you can feel free
(16:36):
to reach out to me by phone six seven eight
five zero eight thirty seven forty four and text me
and that you're interested in the anthology and we will
get back to you and you know, get you signed up.
So thank you for being a part and listening in
(16:57):
on today's segment of Disability Work World. We are thankful
to be able to bring you this information and so
much information about issues and and and and things going
on good and bad in our communities that we tend
not to hear about.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
In typical media.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
They just don't talk about some of the things that
individuals are doing to make a difference in our communities
around Atlanta, communities around the nation, and also around the world.
And so we want to try to bring some of
those stories to you here at Disability World.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
So tune in next time. We're here once a week
on the PGN Network.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
And we've got a lot more great stories to tell
you in the coming weeks and months, So thank you
again for being a part of disability world. And don't
forget to like what you're seeing here and and and
you know, join our communities. We look forward to welcoming
(18:03):
you in. So again, until next time, you'd be blessed
and we'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Got back M.