Like looking at the stars

How do people with disabilities deal with visionary power? Is there an association that sets them apart, unlike people who go through life without serious limitations?

Visionary People Mentoring is a collaboration of professionals who analyze stories of successful people who want to creatively express what it describes as “visionary power”. Visionary power, as defined by Visionary People Mentoring, is the ability that lies in the constructive vision we have about our lives. We all have this ability, because everyone is visionary. If we live consciously with this powerful ability, we will be successful in our lives. But what about people living with disabilities?

These questions are critical to Visionary People Mentoring, a collaboration of expert analysts some of whom live with long-term disabilities, congenital, acquired through disease, or the result of systematic exclusion.

In this blog I want to address these questions. I do this by thinking about a number of values that determine how as a company we work together in our network of professionals. This is about values that are inspired by the 2006 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

RIGHTS OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

What is living with a disability? What is a restriction? These are quite difficult questions, because every person with a disability experiences them differently. Even when the UN manages to convince the majority of countries in 2006 to make more efforts to ensure respect for the rights of people with disabilities, there is no definition of what a disability is. Rather, reference is made to the consequences of the restrictions. This is stated as follows:

“Persons with disabilities include persons with long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments that, interacting with various barriers, may prevent them from participating fully, effectively and on an equal basis with others in society.”

With this description, the UN indicates that the rights of persons with disabilities must be protected just as they should be for everyone. Human rights and rights of people with disabilities are the same. We are all equal when it comes to rights. So there is the principle of equality that must be respected. Therefore, whatever people have as obstacles, they have the right to a partnership that tries to remove them as best they can.

Another aspect that stands out in the UN description is that subjective and objective elements are intertwined in it.

The objective elements related to the description form the basis for a medical diagnosis, but these cannot exclude the possibility that many subjective experiences are involved that can be respected together with the person who has a disability. For example, any person who claims to have a disability does so on the basis of a long-term difficulty in functioning. Now it is true that those who invoke this longevity have traveled their own path in which time becomes something highly personal. When do you decide to ask for support? When do you feel you cannot function on an equal footing with others? What do you indicate as the necessary support you wish to obtain?

Where we speak of respect, it can therefore never be the intention that people who are having difficulties have to account for themselves in contacts with third parties, for example by having to indicate in detail what they put forward as determining the limitations in their lives. There must be a basis of trust, of mutual understanding and appreciation. By the way, figures show that worldwide 1 in 7 people have one or more disabilities. Restriction is thus not an isolated phenomenon, but becomes problematic because it remains in the taboo sphere.

THE RULE OF MAGNITUDE

“The sun is the mother star of all stars, even if it is not the brightest star. Because it is near and generous.”

In the rest of this blog I want to think about what the UN definition of people with disabilities means for the collaboration among the expert analysts within Visionary People Mentoring. I want to do this on the basis of some quotes that I have prepared about stars. The quotes show aspects of us, people, that are characterized by the power of our appearance.

The magnitude, or literally greatness, of a star is measured in brightness. The sun is often referred to as the brightest star. But this is because it is much closer to earth than other stars that actually have greater radiation.

From this we can derive the rule of magnitude: the closer you are to people, the better your visionary power finds its radiance. Visionary power is pre-eminently charisma and therefore close by.

Proximity is connection. It is giving meaning to the other. Someone shows close by sharing time with you, by opening up to you, by wanting to get to know you, by wanting to know what’s going on inside you, what your needs are, what your plans are, by silently telling you, by understanding you, giving you opportunities, …

As expert analysts with disabilities, working for Visionary People Mentoring, trust through proximity is very important to us. Because we must be able to make ourselves vulnerable because of our limitations. There are times when we have to be able to say that things are not going well. Then we have to be there for each other. We should be able to take over each other’s projects with Visionary People Mentoring at any time. Being vulnerable is not a weakness, but a strength. We need not be ashamed, for this is the fear of rejection. Proximity is averse to rejection.

With Visionary People Mentoring we strive for mutual proximity. It is as much as giving each other value. Vulnerability is not a choice, but this is how you deal with it. You value each other through proximity. It’s reciprocal.

TEN TRILLION UNIQUE VALUEs

“You too are one of ten trillion stars who each shine in their own unique way.”

What is uniqueness? The universe is infinite, but the world is unique. What makes it unique is what people make of it. This is not the sum of the nearly 8 billion people. Rather, let’s look in the direction of ten trillion. It is the infinite sum of our all radiance of uniqueness.

For our visionary power is like stars to the universe. They sparkle when you look at them, and when you keep looking, you are completely absorbed in them. This is the power of the unique. It is much more than the sum of all people. It is the potential that carries the world and that constantly renews its foundations. It is showing respect for each other’s unique story that contributes to the great story of our collective life force. The more stars you see, the less you try to count them. You enjoy their interaction.

Visionary People Mentoring seeks the specialness in each of the professionals in its network. All collaborators are unique with their own appearance, their own strength, their own self-development, their own possibilities and contribution to the whole. People look with wonder at the star in each of us, in each of you. With Visionary People Mentoring, we are one of your admirers.

Admiring yourself and others is an important value for Visionary People Mentoring. We appreciate each other’s uniqueness. What makes you unique is what makes you good. Because of this admiration, we automatically look for how we can offer the other opportunities for development.

LET STORIES SPEAK

“Stars shine even in the darkest night.”

Visionary People Mentoring is about connecting stories. Whether it’s about ‘beautiful stories’ or about the difficult sides of life. There is an audience for every story. Every story is public. It’s authentic because it says something about the value of the person behind the story.

Think of the many stories of determination. Because an important feature of visionary power that we find in people living with one or more disabilities is the determination not to be socially isolated. In every success of people with disabilities lays the story of a strong-willed individual who is worthy of being heard.

It often happens that people with disabilities become isolated. Because people with disabilities sometimes think that their story has been written off. But stories of people with disabilities do not have to be gloomy. Because otherwise this would mean that they have a social limitation on top of the limitations they already have. Those who are isolated have insufficient social network to fall back on to successfully face the challenges of life.

With Visionary People Mentoring we therefore choose to work together in a network of people whose story of trial and error we give a positive place. Whatever we undergo due to our disability, we are visibly together, deployably together, we think together, make plans together. Because visionary power cannot be isolated. It only really distinguishes itself when it becomes a shared force from the willpower to get somewhere in life and to mean something to the other.

Stars shine in the dark night. This is the story of our lives. But how do we look at this story? By losing ourselves in staring at the dark night? Catching the glow of the light from the stars shining in the universe? It makes a world of difference how we view our life story. Do we love our lives and see the visionary power that emanates from our lives? Or, do we look at our lives with fear and allow ourselves to be locked in the forces that pull us down?

With Visionary People Mentoring we are a network of people who are there for each other and for the other. This is by looking for the bright spots in everyone’s life story. We do this not only in the story of our team of expert analysts, but also in that of the clients we work for, for whom we analyze the visionary power behind the success story of their lives.

ALSO YOU ARE A STAR

You too are a star in the firmament. Because you too shine in moments of success. You too can be close to people and give them meaning. You too deserve to turn your vulnerability into an asset.

You too are a star in the firmament. Because you too are unique and admirable. You too give splendor to the world among all the beautiful people. You too deserve to seize your opportunities for development.

You too are a star in the firmament. Because you too have a beauty of a life story. You too have many points of light that are stronger than what goes less in your life. You too deserve to say that there is enough in your life to love for, to strive for, by trial and error, but above all with the willpower to get there.

by Thierry Limpens

Update 23-12-2022, 18-9-2023