Feeling uncomfortable in your own skin is a common experience for many people during their youth. John Robinson felt similar, but his discomfort stretched long past his teenage years.
“For the longest time I could not look at myself in the mirror,” Robinson said. “I was uncomfortable with how I looked on video and I ran a video production company for a long time. I could not look at myself.”
Robinson, of Glenmont, shared some of the obstacles he has overcome as a congenital, quadruple amputee with Bethlehem Central Middle School students Tuesday, March 3. The event was part of the school’s Character Strengths program.
Robinson asked how many students had looked in the mirror that morning before coming to school and nearly every student raised their hand. While most people are looking to check if there is anything wrong with them, he challenged them to look for something else while seeing if their hair looks good.
“What if you started your day by saying what does my best friend love about me?” Robinson asked. “How much better would your day be if you start out thinking what’s good about yourself and not what’s wrong with yourself?”
Robinson leads his company, Our Ability, which “mentors, connects and inspires people with disabilities towards education and employment.” Growing up, Robinson said he did not have a role model or mentor with physical disability that he could talk to about issues he faced. The organization also works with other companies to facilitate better employment results for people with disabilities.
Doug Hamlin, Vice President of Operations for Our Ability, joined Robinson at the school to share his story, too. Hamlin, a paraplegic, went through a different experience from Robinson, because an injury later in life led Hamlin to using a wheelchair.
In high school, Hamlin played several sports and lived an active lifestyle. “I grew up in an athletic frame of mind.” In the summer of 1983, shortly after Hamlin started graduate school, he was at a backyard birthday party for his sister. While jumping on a trampoline, he came straight down on his head in the middle of the trampoline and knew he seriously injured himself.
“I knew the minute I hit that trampoline that my life had changed forever,” Hamlin said. “It’s funny how your mind sort of takes over and helps you adapt to a new situation almost immediately.”
He spent about six months in a hospital after the accident. While in recovery he eventually learned how to ask for help, which was new to him. However, he knew getting out of the hospital was something he must achieve himself.
“It was hard work and it took a long time,” Hamlin said. “This terrible thing that happened to me made me learn more about myself probably more than any other life experience.”
After getting out of the hospital, he had to learn how to adapt to people looking at him differently. He said typically younger kids are just really interested in how his life is different from their own. Despite using a wheelchair for the majority of his life, Robinson was the person that convinced Hamlin he had a disability.
“I didn’t feel like I had a disability and I didn’t live my life like I had a disability,” Hamlin said. “But (Robinson) me told I have a story tell … because I had achieved some things that sometimes able bodied [people] didn’t reach.”
Michael Klugman, principal of the middle school, said Robinson lives with a different perspective than most people have experienced. Sharing Robinson’s perspective with middle school students, Klugman said, could help kids who are struggling with their perspective.
“All they know is the world that they come from and our biggest challenge … is to teach our kids different perspective, so that they have tolerance and accept other people,” said Klugman. “Maybe one of the most important points of their message is also self-acceptance.”
There was only one message Robinson wanted the students to remember from the talk: oftentimes opportunities are disguised as challenges.
“When you look in the mirror tomorrow morning you might be thinking about something that’s an obstacle in your life,” Robinson said. “I’m asking you to turn that around and see the challenge and the opportunity that the obstacle has. I’ve had a lifetime of doing it. If we can do it, anybody can do it.”