Starting the New Year with a ROAR!!

I wanted to start the new year with a bang, or rather, a ROAR!!

A few days ago, Laura awarded me with the Roar with Powerful Words award. This award is passed to bloggers who make an impact with powerful words. A big impact.

Thank you, Laura. I started this blog as my input, my voice, to educate the world about a rare recessive disorder that affects both hearing and sight. Talk about a double whammy!! It's mind-blowing and devasting. Being born hard-of-hearing, it was such a shock to find out that there is a disease that actually takes away your sight, too. All you can do is move on, find ways to deal with it, and keep adjusting. Always. Every once in a while, the disease eats away more of your vision and you have to adjust. Walk slower. Get brighter lighting. Keep your gaze fixed on an object that was dropped. If you don't, you "lose" sight of it and have to back away to see it again. Life is all about adjustments to changes.

I am a shy person by nature and I thought that blogging would be my way of advocating about Usher syndrome. Who knows what the future would bring? Maybe I'll do more to advocate for Usher syndrome.

I will quote the rule of bestowing the award to other bloggers:

"As part of this honor, I’m to name three things that I believe most important to powerful writing and then pass on the award to five blogs I believe deserve recognition."

Advocacy-I like reading blogs that have a voice, a passion for what means so much to them. It could be something simple, but if it touches my heart, it qualifies as powerful writing. I learned so much from other blogs, other lives that are affected by something they have no control over, yet they go day to day, plugging through. It helps me stay grounded. Sometimes I admit I wallow in my own pity party, but so many people have their own problems. We are all fighting our own fight, whether it's an on-going struggle or just sharing struggles/experiences that have been overcome.

Integrity-I like simple honesty in a blog. The writer has left an imprint of his/her soul in the blog. It's credible and easy to empathize.

Thought-provoking-Blogs that make me think and leave such an impact on me.

I've chosen five blogs that I think deserve the Roar, whether the blog is a quiet purr or a rumbliing roar.

Drum roll, please....

1. Jennifer (A Work in Progress) is an amazing woman. She is deaf and has five children. She attends church regularly and is always on the go. Sometimes I just get exhausted reading about all the things she's been doing. She's chronicled her cochlear implant journey. She kept going when the first one didn't work as well as she had hoped, but she still kept at it, making sense of the new sounds. Then she had the opportunity for a second implant. Her world has opened up again. With this amazing technology, she is able to hear again. It's so inspiring. She is an advocate for cochlear implants.

2. Laurie (Laurie's Dance with Sound) is another person I admire. She also has bilateral cochlear implants. Her world opened up for her as well. She is also a strong advocate for cochlear implants. It's made me think that maybe I should look into the cochlear implant option and see if I could at least regain my hearing through technology. (Of course, it would be great if they could so something like that for our eyes as well...)

3. Eileen (A Life of Triggers) talks about her job as a social worker in a school. I never realized how many children are abused. She's a very strong person who went through a lot growing up and took in her sister's child like her own. Her daughter is bipolar and she talks about her struggles with that, too. I think she's amazing and deserves this award. She's an awesome person.

4. Michelle (Full Soul Ahead) is a mother with a child on the autism spectrum. She is always finding ways to help her daughter cope with things we take for granted. Something small, like a substitute teacher for a day or a sudden noise or movement, would affect her daughter. It's wonderful to see how much she's grown and adjusted. I really didn't know a lot about children on the spectrum. I have learned so much. Thank you, Michelle.

5. A newcomer to the blogosphere...Kacie (See No Evil, Hear No Evil) just made her debut. Why have I chosen her? After all, she just started blogging. Because she was one of the first people I started talking to about coping with Usher syndrome. She helped me so much. I was so depressed about "hanging up the car keys" and giving up more of my independence. I also KNOW that she will have her strength and "roar" shine through right from the start.

Of course, I had a brother and sister with Usher syndrome, but it was sooo wonderful to talk to others about Usher syndrome. She's a strong advocate for Deafblindness. She's an active member of a deafblind association in her state. She inspires me. If you think I am "brave", you have to meet her. I feel like such a wimp next to her. She uses the cane and will now chronicle about her journey with a guide dog. Yes, she's going to journal about her experience-learning to be part of a team, training with a guide dog. Please go over there and welcome her to the blogosphere. She's a wonderful friend. Someday I would love to meet her in person.

So there you have it. Please go and visit them and see why I think they deserve this award.

Happy New Year. God bless.

XOXO