Growing up, I didn’t have any preconceptions or opinions on my disability or what those meant. I had to wait until such a time I could find out what it all really meant.

We owe it to ourselves

I owed it to myself to understand myself. I needed to come to understand how and why I got to this place, rather than rely on the information I had been presented with, growing up.

So what are preconceptions?

Preconceptions are opinions formed in advance of experience or knowledge. Working on preconceptions means we're under the influence of previous beliefs in modifying the conceptions formed under the partial influence of experience. I would never have learned about my disability, relying on preconceptions.

I work with what I know and if I don’t know, I make my way to know. Having preconceptions means you've already made up your mind without really knowing.

Our already formed opinions

When we take a preconception and it becomes the norm, we’ve already formed our opinions and made judgment calls on our circumstances, without really knowing and in doing so, we’re not willing to open our mind up to future possibilities.

Preconceptions are fine if you have all the relevant information, facts and figures in front of you; but not it you don't. You need to be informed. In the real world, situations and issues are constantly changing.

Changing my thinking changed my life

I have had to continue to learn, to change my thinking along the way as I have learned things and new things about my disability, about myself.

Preconceived ideas can mislead

With preconceived ideas, we can get things wrong. Not everything is black and white. We need to understand our circumstances, so that we can work on change, on a better future for ourselves.