It seemed like only yesterday that I was living in Washington, D.C., working in corporate America, waking up at 6 am, rushing with my coffee while I brushed my teeth and put on my pinstripe suit and yellow power tie, and drove to work, arriving before rush hour. Only to be stressed out the rest of the day and night.After a major heart attack, a burst appendicitis, a dysfunctional vagus nerve (requiring an implant) and a myriad of other health problems, I was put on the corporate sidelines, and, doctors said I would not be working again. I was only forty years old.

To be technical, I was now considered disabled. I did not buy the term. I bought a cheap computer and learned all I could about the Internet. I learned how to be a cartoonist and writer. I learned how to outsource and license the manufacturing of my image products. I became an entrepreneur within a few years, yet the government still considered me disabled.

So now I was out to prove something. Though my body could not work like my mind, my mind did indeed still function, so, to me, I was hardly disabled. But I had to prove it to myself. So after creating Londons Times Cartoons, the most visited cartoon site on the Internet, I felt, “this is a good start”. 9 e-stores later, I knew I was onto something, but, of course “disabled”.

Somehow, I felt I still had something to prove to myself so I learned a new skill online, Internet business and technology at a very good accredited college, finished nearly four years, and am on break. I was on scholarship by the way. And I am disabled. Go figure.

I told my local social security office of my new business and education activities and even applied for their PASS program. They simply ignored my suggestion that maybe a disability is not a disability at all. If one really wants to do something, just do it, disabled or not.

I have discussed my ability to accomplish with many other so-called disabled persons, and have discovered many similar stories. I am certainly not a hero nor even unique. Many have made accomplishments that I only hope to come close to doing.

Which brings me to the whole issue of labeling. What is so productive about labeling? I have been ten times more productive as a “disabled person” than when I was “fully functional” (pushing and signing papers mostly), in corporate America. It is truly something to think about.