One of the most important things I have learned is the abundance of gifts that have come my way in my life. Being in Self-Determination is a perfect example. I am grateful for all the advocates who fought long and hard to get Self-Determination enacted into law. I am grateful to DDS for selecting me to be in the program role out. I am thankful to all professionals and friends who believed in me that I would be successful in SDP. I am grateful to my SDP team for supporting me through the enrollment process. That was a lot of work! I am especially thankful to FMS who has been always there for me giving advice and making purchases on behalf.
Being grateful helps raise my spirits and helps me keep things in perspective. Since I was the first person in the state to have his plan approved, I can be a role model for people thinking about joining the program or who are in the program.
When I took Physics in school I learned there are two types of inertia–inertia of rest and inertia of motion. It takes a lot of effort to get an object at rest to be moving. Likewise, it takes a lot of effort to stop things that are already moving. It takes a lot of time and effort to get a
SDP up and running. Process and paperwork seem to get in the way–how frustrating. The good thing is once your SDP is up and running, it still wants to keep running even when it hits a pothole in the road.
So regardless of where you are in Self-Determination, considering to enter it, trying to get the plan started, or having the plan up and running be grateful for all your good fortune.