Voices that Inspire

What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. Hi, I'm Jay R. Harding, 51, 2-time quadriplegic, educator, volunteer, husband, provider, mentor, and I'd like to change it. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, we were still, I guess, at a side out of mind as it related to persons with disabilities. But yet, we were making movement with the advocates coming out of the civil rights and then all of a sudden, I belonged to this new minority group that I had absolutely no knowledge about until I really bonded with my fellow persons with disabilities and accepted the fact that I would be using a chair and it was okay to do something differently. But it didn't mean that my dreams, my aspirations, my feelings, my desire to make choices were any different than they had been before. As I came out of my undergraduate studies, there wasn't any choices. And then the Americans with Disabilities Act happened. It was a privilege to be recognized as the servant leader of the year for the leadership Tallahassee annual event. It really touched me because this was the community and specifically it was the business community. And that's the kind of inclusion that persons with disabilities have been yearning for. It was a pleasure to be here and if I'm able to help other folks find their way, we can all be pioneers. Voices that inspire is sponsored by Leadership Tallahassee, a program of the Tallahassee Chamber, celebrating 35 years of cultivating community leadership.