To My Supports,

 The end of the year is coming soon and I would to thank everyone who has made an inquiry into a speaking engagement. I am especially grateful to those who have invited me to their schools and organizations.  It may be a spark for others to follow their passion in life, but your positive responses also regenerates me after an appearance.  My recently those travels included a live painting demonstration at a DC Metro Theater, a panel at the United Nations, as well as an trip to China for a international art exhibit.

What should you expect upon an inspirational speaker? With me, there are no prepared scripts instead offering a spontaneous journey of life experiences.  I often find that a cookie cutter outline which most keynote presenter’s use is not as personal.  If your schedule would allow it, I could also provide a drawing demonstration of how my artwork is created.  The silver lining in an engagement focuses on my accomplishments but more importantly I want each viewer to be more inspired by every-day journey.

“King Gimp” was a story that so many could relate to.  It was about finding placement in life with independence, family, friends, education, breaking barriers and molding passions.  True love was in raw form making each viewer understand the parallel within their own life.  The challenges of my disability became a mystery of how I was able to defeat the odds.  “If Dan can…so can I” became one of my most favorite responses.  Truly, I am amazed how a humble hometown man can be ‘the reason’ to such inspiration.  Passion is unveiled being a keynote speaker. My art and live presentations brings thoughts out of my isolation.        

I assure you this experience is worthy of your investment.  Please fellow my adventures at https://www.facebook.com/kinggimpthoughts I look forward to reconnecting…   

Sincerely,

Dan Keplinger/King Gimp

Disability Population In U.S. and The World Pt. 2

The reason why I got the urge to search out the disabilities population information.  It is just frustrating to see one disability getting more attention then others. Maybe Autism is getting the spot light because of the Sandy Hook shooting, but more likely that Jenny McCarthy and her son got a lot of media coverage.  Also that some people think that Autism is cause by vaccination shots and could be preventable. I think that is cool, the more people that talk about Autism bring more awareness  and hopefully that turns into more acceptance of all disabilities.
When comparing Autism to CP, people see Commercials for lawyers to sue doctors. CP was due to a medical mistake so let sue them, because it takes a lot of money to take of someone CP.

Disability Population In U.S. and The World

I have been meaning looking up the break down of the disabled population since Autism is about the only one you really hear people taking about.

Here is one link, but not really want I was looking for: Facts About Disability in the U.S. Population.

When I was reading this one, I got a bit offended. I do realize that they are generalizing, but not everyone that is disabled comes from low educated and from low income areas: World Facts and Statistics on Disabilities and Disability Issues.

When it comes down to it, I think people do not know what they are taking about when keeping tract of the  disabled population. I found it too general and a lot of the language is offensive.  For example,  Jonathan's 40% Rule: Hearing Impairment is like alcohol and drug abuse--there's tremendous denial. Source Maybe for people who are growing older, but I do not think that statement would go over well at Gallaudet U. or in the deaf community.

I think its hysterical that the CDC keeps stats on "Cerebral Palsy Occurrence in the US", maybe this why people still think of CP  as a decease and an illness. Also notes that Autism and Developmental Disabilities are included in these statistics. Is the CDC just counting people with combined disabilities, or just grouping everything together? If the CDC keeps tract of "Cerebral Palsy Occurrence", does this mean we could of a CP apocalypse and take over the world?

So this  makes me wonder how each organization comes up with statistics? I would also like  to ask how the organizations defining a disability and what is a person has multiple disabilities?