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. That was over two decades ago, and to be honest,
I would never want to go back to them.

After a major heart attack, a burst appendicitis attack, 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.

Then I built the largest and most visited independent offbeat cartoon site on the Internet with eight stores.

Then I decided to go back to school and learn business and technology and did so online (at an accredited university). I then invented a new fully-computerized medical device.

I let the government know of my activities, yet they simply ignored my suggestion that maybe a disability is not a disability at all. If one really wants to do something, it can be done.

Since that time I have discussed this with many other so-called disabled persons, and have discovered many similar stories. I am certainly not a hero nor even unique. Some have gone on to do things that astound me. Many have gone on to do great things, from their own living room, kitchen or bedroom, right on their computer. So can you.

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.

Learn more about this author, Rick London.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Ways to cope with being disabled after years of employment?
We want to hear your view. Write now!