At the Community Summit in Wenatchee, Washington, hundreds gathered to personify this year’s conference motto: cultivate potential. Nearly every kind of person showed up—client and direst support professionals alike. The atmosphere of every room was that of love and acceptance, and every face had a smile. With a variety of conferences, unique speakers, and a unified goal to provide the best support to DD adults, there was plenty to learn and not nearly enough time.
It goes without saying, life is difficult. There are constant challenges, and, while some of these challenges might be prevented, others are inevitable. Your car gets broken into while you’re grocery shopping; your washing machine breaks, and you have no clean clothes; your debit card is stolen, and your account is wiped. In these situations, what’s one left to do but panic? Shane Burcaw, a young man who suffers from spinal muscular dystrophy, might understand the struggle of uncontrollable challenges better than most. At a young age, it became apparent that Shane’s body would cease to function, and despite this knowledge—and crippling disorder—Shane has made it his top priority to focus on and create his own happiness.
The first night there, in a large room fitting all of those attending the conference, Shane spoke and set the mood for cultivating potential. He explained when and how he was diagnosed, what happened to him over the years, and, most importantly, the stories he had of his family. The time he used his wheelchair to lift his brother up to the basketball hoop, and the time his family made him a drinking hat which he had to drink so quickly from, or else, he says, he’d drown. He told us many, many stories of his past, and his family, and as he began each story, his eyes lit up. As he went on, he began to reference a study that was done regarding insight, which can be defined as “the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing.” In this study, people were asked questions that were only solvable with a good amount of insight. For example, one would read an entire paragraph of written colors, like “purple,” “blue,” “brown,” or “black.” However, each word would be written in a different color. So, the word “purple” would be written in red, “blue” would be written in green, and so on. The goal wasn’t to read the words themselves, but to state the color of the word. The subjects would read the colors of the words out loud after either after having associated with positivity or negativity, and the results were recorded. It was clear to see that those in positive moods succeeded at a much higher rate than those who were in negative moods.
After being diagnosed, Shane decided to do something out of the box. He began to write a blog, calling it “Laughing At My Nightmares,” and he did what he does best: tell stories, except his stories make humor out of the everyday challenges he faces with his disorder. From having to change to being lifted to bed, Shane takes a unique approach to laughing at his problems. At the end of the conference, his final words hung heavily in the air, “Everyone had their bad days. Some days can feel terrible, but that’s normal. All humans feel that way. Take a moment to feel your emotions, understand why you’re feeling that way, and take a chance to laugh at your nightmare. Thank you.”
