Laura Robb

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Laura C. Robb was born with Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita (AMC), a physical disability. Limitations have always affected her daily life, but she doesn’t see obstacles. She sees these limits as opportunities for depending on God and her community.

Laura writes regularly about disability, mixing in poetry, life stories, theology, and a passion for belonging. Read the latest at lauracrobb.com. She hopes to encourage others that thriving beyond limits is possible. Laura is also the author of Beyond, a collection of poems that walks through the four seasons of life: limits, longings, love, loss. Find out more: lauracrobb.com/books.

 

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Welcome to the Enabled Disabled Podcast. I'm your host, Gustavo Serafini. I was born with a rare physical disability called PFFD. My journey has been about selfacceptance persistence and adaptation. On the show, we'll explore how people experience disability, how the stories we tell ourselves can both enable and disable, how vulnerability is a foundation for strength and why people with disabilities can contribute more than we imagined. I hope that leaders, companies, clinicians, families and friends will better understand our capacity to contribute to the world and help enable us to improve it.

Laura Rob is a writer, poet and currently is pursuing a degree in theology. I had a lot of fun speaking with Laura. She reads some of her poetry and we discuss what the poems meant to her. We also dive into her ideas about community and acceptance, both inside and outside the Church. Laura also shares insights into her writing process what drew her into becoming a writer, which, as an amateur writer myself, I always find fascinating. I hope you find your own negative insight in this episode because there are a bunch throughout.

For me, it was refreshing to read and discuss some of Laura's amazing poetry and see how closely I understood the message she was trying to convey. We have an exciting announcement. We have activated a recording feature on our website where you can ask past guest questions as well as future guests. If we get enough questions for past guests, we'll invite them back on the show to answer your questions. Stay tuned to the newsletter, where we'll be previewing future guests and giving you the opportunity to ask your questions ahead of time.

Just go to www. Dot enabledisable. Com and press the Start Recording button to leave us your questions. Laura, thank you so much for being here and for taking the time. I'm really happy we connected.

Yeah. Thanks for having me. Absolutely.

So let's get started. I would like if you can, for you to read a poem from your book Beyond Limits, longings, love, Loss. So could you please start us out with Stifling the Sweet Self?

Sure. Here we go. The world around me stairs not quite knowing what to say. Young ones and old all have spoken strange words, words of unawares words that speak deeply to me, revealing the heart of their soul. Such moments I do recall from my earlier years stifling the Sweet Self. But I have come to understand how those awkward words brought a new strength, burning a desire to lay bare what is behind my blue eyes and under this red hair.

Thank you. So can you talk a little bit more about that poem? Just what stifling the Sweet Self. So the Sweet Self is that a metaphor for your childhood self?

I think the sweet stuff is more about my full self of who I am as a person. I realized just comparing my adulthood self to my childhood self. I didn't really feel like I was always living fully with who I was in comparison to childhood versus adulthood. I think my journey through adulthood helped me to become more fully myself and see the differences in the times where I didn't feel comfortable with being who I am and the times where I do feel comfortable being Ryan.

So was the stifling of the sweet self coming from the words that other people would say to you or not say to you. And how much of that also was a part of your own story that you are telling yourself your own, like, inner narrative growing up, can you talk a little bit about that?

Yeah. I think growing up, I didn't pay attention to disability a lot. I grew up with my household, my parents and my brothers. We just dealt with the disability aspect without really addressing it like to ask hard. I never really asked hard questions. It was just a matter of fact. They treated me as a normal person. I was my brother's sister and I was my parents daughter. We had appointments, and I had physical therapy growing up, and I also had the same school community for most of my childhood and same Church community.

So I didn't really face a ton of rejection within my community. And then as I grew up and became more involved and just more out and about in public, I would notice people staring at me in grocery stores or making strange comments or parents not really wanting their kids to ask me questions or what happened to you or can I pray for you kind of thing that I didn't really ask for or want? And I think those really just stood out as moments that I feel like I can't be myself in those moments because people want me to be different.

They want to change me. They think I'm broken when I don't feel like I am.

I can relate to that. Those moments where the people are staring or like you said, saying strange comments, not that you should. But did you feel a responsibility or in yourself to bridge that gap with those people? Or did you kind of like, how did you think about it then? And how do you feel about it now when it happens? How has that changed in your life?

Yeah. I think when it was first happening, it touched me off guard and I wouldn't know how to respond. I think my introvert side would freeze and I wouldn't know what to say. I was just kind of like, sure you can pray for me or okay. And then the person would often disappear by the time I had other thoughts or either I would have new thoughts once I got home. But now that I've become a writer and I process all of these experiences through my writing, I think I have more access to thoughts about how I would respond differently nowadays, and I do feel more of my calling is related to being that type of bridge.

And I think I want people to understand, too, that disability is just a part of being a human. I think that's where my growth has happened. Absolutely.

And I'm sure for me I had similar experiences as a child, where my disability was a matter of fact. And I had my friends and I had the people that I was close to, and I always had a good core group of people, no matter as I grew up, even when I changed schools, which I did a lot. And then as I got into my late teens, I started to, like you said, ask those hard questions and really confront myself when you look back on your childhood and growing up and having that stability and people treating you as a person that probably helped you a lot, right?

Like they gave you a foundation to build on as you went into that questioning period and into doing all the hard emotional labor of self reflection and figuring out who you wanted to be in the world.

Right? Yes. And my hard questions didn't happen until my later 20s, when naturally, a lot of your friendships and relationships change with people moving away or just the relational status has changed. And I was still in the same place. Outside of my years of going to College, I returned to my hometown, I stayed in the same community, but much of the surrounding community changed, so I suddenly had to figure out why I wasn't really making new friends and what were the barriers. And that's where my disability became a bit more apparent to me.

I tried to sit with these questions, and I stopped counseling for the first time to try to get through that hard phase.

And what were some of the things that changed inside of you that helped you find yourself and rediscover communities and friendships? And what was that process like for you?

Yeah. Part of it was helping just realizing the perspective from the other side. As far as what is it like for somebody to meet me? Because my disability is very visible. I'm in my wheelchair when people meet me at Church, which is where a lot of my community would happen. And so there are a lot of assumptions about me not being able to take, like, two walk or do two things outside of my wheelchair. So my mind shifted into the ideas of, okay, these newer friends I'm meeting, what might they be thinking or what do I need to do to make them more comfortable, or what questions might be going through their minds?

And actually, part of my journey was teaching preschool Sunday school for a few years. And the kids kids are very open with asking questions. And they asked me periodically different questions about my disability. And around the same time I was becoming a blogger, and that actually opened up my mind to set up a series of questions and answers series. But I invited friends and community to submit questions about disability, ask me anything kind of series. And it was the first time I really gave my community the space to be honest about what they wanted to ask me.

Several friends who had known me for several years said they didn't know how to ask me certain questions, even if it was really simple, because disability, even within the Church, it's not really a toxic. It's discussed very often or very well. And I was realizing that as a writer, I felt responsible or like I needed to bring to light some of these experiences and help those conversations get started.

That's beautiful that you held that space. And I like the way you frame that because there are some disability activists out there who say, well, you know what? It's not my responsibility as a person with the disability to always bridge those gaps. It's my business. And if people want to know me, they can get to know me. And I think that's a fair position.

But.

My heart and the way I think about my life is more similar to how you've approached it, which is important to have connection. It's important to be seen and be heard and understood as human beings.

And.

Why shouldn't we take that first step and hold that space open for people to understand an experience that doesn't define us.

But.

It'S still there, right? It's still a part of us.

Yeah. I think once I opened up the invitation, then it became a more reciprocal thing, like my friend that knew me. At the time, those relationships became deeper. They understood a bit more of my life in the day to day, and that way they could become more of an advocate with me. They came alongside me once. They understood even logistical things about how to plan time to hang out with me, they could take on more of that role, as well as far as inviting me and helping me to navigate.

Okay. Well, if this place or if your house is not accessible, can I Park my wheelchair in your garage, or can you or your husband carry me into your house those kind of details? It's like less of a burden. It's not really a burden. It's just I spend a lot of energy in my mind trying to plan those details. So it's a comfort and freedom to just be able to sit back and be in that relationship with the person who understands those details at the same time.

Absolutely. And.

That'S part of what makes us right. That's part of just the idea of any relationship. Any connection is understanding the things that we all crave and need as people.

Right.

And some of them are very idiosyncratic or very specific to us as people. But we all have them. We all have things that help us feel more comfortable, help us feel more social help us feel more connected. So I think the ability to express that and take the time again to open that book, so to speak and have it be something inviting for people, I think is fantastic. I know that you started seminary, right. And you're studying that. And I think that's really interesting. As somebody who went to divinity school, I think that the idea of faith is clearly it's important to you.

It's important to me, too, in a different way. But can you talk a little bit about why you think the Church, the Christian Church, has not embraced disability or has not connected with it and what's happening? What's changing in the theological space that you're getting involved in?

Yeah. I think it's growing in the past ten years. As far as newer people going to seminary and studying theology, there are more conversations happening with the topic of disability next to theology. I think it's just something that's been pushed to the side. It's not seen as important, but people with disabilities are one of the marginalized groups in society. And in my faith, he went to the margins. He cared for the people on the margins. And I think there's a growing culture within the disability community and theology that's trying to bring more light into that topic.

And I think the Church, they can do a really good job for short term disability experiences or sicknesses, or if there's a natural disaster or some sort of death in the family. I think the Church as a whole knows how to care in those situations. But the tricky area is when it's a chronic, ongoing, lifelong condition. I don't always think the Church knows, like how to teach. I was born with my disability, so it will be really good to hear the Church bring it into topic or into conversation as far as like, how do I live with my disability?

Well, without wanting to pray for my healing, when I'm not asking for that, that's not part of my request. And as far as not leaving it up to the afterlife, like eternal life, when our bodies are going to be changed and resurrected. I think there's a middle ground that the Church is missing.

How can we live more fully and actualize our own potential, whatever that is right within the lives that we're leaving.

My perspective is we all have these different limitations, and I wear mine on the outside. So anybody who makes me see my physical limits. So in the Bible, there are different verses that talk about, like how we can have God's strength in our weakness, and we're all a part of the same body, even though we have different gifts. So I think there is a movement towards helping the Church see people with disabilities as important to the Church spaces. Right.

And as having hopefully different forms of strength.

Right.

It's so easy to equate strength with something physical. It's so much deeper and so much more multifaceted than that.

Yes. That's where it's important to get to know the person beyond what you might see it when you meet the person.

As a writer. Again, I haven't finished your book, but it's really clear to me that you are not holding anything back that we're seeing a very deep and honest part of yourself in these poems. What helped you have the courage to take that step and make that leap of faith?

Yeah. It was definitely a growing process. And then number of years. Part of it was starting with my counseling journey when I was turning 30, just moving through those hard questions, finding strengths with my face, finding that community and watching it grow and deepen. I think living through a season, a really deep community where I felt what it was like to have the thriving life. This is all, of course, before the pandemic and just being accepted as I am as Laura and not just as a person with a disability.

And having that space where I can be myself without having to do work or advocate or do any of those, like, hard tiring types of things. I think it goes back to having that community that belonging, like that space of belonging. I was able to just live deeply in those times, and my writing comes from my experiences.

Were you nervous about sharing it so intimately, though? Like, was that something that you thought about.

All throughout my writing time? All these years, I'm always quite nervous about my openness and my sharing of my writing, but I feel like it's my calling to be open and vulnerable in these places. There's usually a time where I reflect on things before I write about them publicly. It's just that balance of living, reflecting and then writing.

Do you ever just write stream of consciousness without that reflection, or is that more like that's? More journaling?

Yeah. I do have a journaling habit. So that's more for my private writing time. It helps me to just bring order to my thoughts and understanding to my experiences. I think it's important to show the humanity side of people with disabilities. I think that's also where my writing comes from. I want the world to understand. As a person with a disability, I'm still human at the core. Like, I have the same hope, streams, emotions, experiences, all those things, and it needs to come out in writing so that people can understand it.

Yes.

But you're also expressing it uniquely, right? There's no one who can write in your voice in your way and have your unique skill set that you've crafted right. This openness, this willingness to be vulnerable. It's your expression. It's your contribution to the world as well.

Yeah. Thanks. Yeah. It's been a grooming process sometimes. I oh, God, no, I don't want to do this. But then you kept telling me, you got to do this.

I think it's fantastic that you're doing it. Can you tell? So for the audience who's interested? And I'm interested, too. Like who are some of the leading theologians who are exploring this space of disability that we can read up on?

Yeah. If you have any time to mind there's Bethany McKinney Fox. He wrote a book called Disability in the Way of Jesus, where she talks about different healing narratives in a way that helps churches to think about how to approach them from a disability perspective, in a way that is not just about praying for somebody to be healed. It's like honoring the disability experience and asking people like how they want to be prayed for or different things that's one of them. Another one would be Thomas Reynolds.

He writes a book called Vulnerable Communion. There's another one by Eric Carter. He talks about including people with disabilities and faith spaces and what that can look like practically. There's also other names I can name John Swinton.

And thematically. It sounds like it's all. It's different focuses, but the theme seems to be, how can we see people with disabilities as people, right as human beings? How can we give them the space to tell their stories and share their experiences and be inclusive of that and understand the wider that there's more to them than just a disability? That seems to be what the general theme is about. For all these writers. Would you say that's accurate?

Yes. And the importance of bringing people with disabilities into the Church spaces. How if you don't have people with disabilities in your churches, then you're missing an important group of people. And if you look up a conference called the Institute on Theology and Disability, they have a lot of resources and a lot of connections to theologians and disability topics.

Thank you for sharing that. Do you have a favorite theologian, by the way?

No. There's no one that came to mind. Deborah Kremer. She writes a lot about limits and how humans have limits, and that's a normal part of life. I think that really resonates with me and my experience with my disability.

Question for you on your book that I'm trying to figure out why you ordered it this way because it's limits, longing, love and loss. Why did you choose to end with loss? Well.

It'S part of my journey with writing, with life, with growing as a person. My story is kind of book ended with loss. So I had some loss in our family and then I didn't know how to process my grief at the time. And I started writing poetry, so that was a catalyst for me becoming a writer. And I think lost is such a unique. It's not a unique experience. Like everyone experiences lost so many kinds of loss. It's like losses of family members. But through death, it can be lost of relationships.

It can be lost of dreams. I think we all as humans, experience that in some form and in a lot of ways. Our response to that loss kind of guides our journey to what is next and how we process it. And I think to me that was also an eye opening season for me to go through the loss and just understand, how do you move through loss? So these four chapters of my book represent the four seasons of life that I went through. And first was limits, where I faced the hard questions about my disability.

And once I moved through that process, I could have the courage to name my longings that I wasn't really comfortable talking about in public. And then I could understand what it really was like to give and receive love within a deep community. And then it brought me back to loss. And different things happen in life, and you lose family members or just in my dreams. They fell apart and relationships fell apart. And that's what happens in life.

I think we can agree that it's really important. What you said, the way we process loss changes so much of our experience and who we are as people and to have the courage to actually sit with it and struggle with it, as opposed to run away from it and push it away, right? And ignore it, which a lot of people do. Like we all deal with loss differently. But I think it's a great lesson or guidepost for people of how you went through it. You didn't run from it, you sat with it, you dealt with it almost celebrates the wrong word.

But like you appreciate it, you appreciate it for what it taught you and how it helped make you into who you are today. It's important to understand, right? You're not running away from it. You're grateful for it, in a sense.

Yeah. I think in past times I didn't understand grief and I didn't know how to deal with it. But since I've grown older and just had more life experiences and there's different people in my life now, mentors and friends, I can better understand what it does mean to sit with the grief and to not push it away, because if you push it away, it just comes back. And I think that's one of the other ways I became a deeper writer was through those experiences. The grief somehow opens you up to see all the other areas of life in a deeper way.

And I fought my way back to hope through those losses. And I think that's an important theme throughout my book as well, just trying to keep hope alive through each of these seasons. And they're not always easy seasons to go through. And I also think they're kind of a cycle at some point in life. We're in one of those four seasons.

So for people who are struggling, maybe they're not in a position. Maybe they've lost hope or they're going through a chronic condition that feels like they're never going to get through it. What's your advice for those people? What can you share that might help them in that process?

Well, I hope would be that they would have somebody that they can reach out to, whether it's a family member, a friend or a counselor, because I think there are times where we do run out of hope ourselves, and we need somebody else to hold that hope for us and hold that space where we can share from the depths of us and that person can listen and just be with us. I think just learning to be without forcing yourself to do if you have that capability in your life to just be able to rest, because I think those times of deep struggle, we don't have a lot of energy for anything else.

I would hope that people have people that can just help them through that time and to not be afraid to reach out. And I often tell people who are struggling like, it's okay if you're not okay for a little while. Like that is your honest place of where you are. And the hope is that you will get through this with the people that are around you and in your life.

That's well said. Can you talk a little bit more, too? I'd like to hear more about this idea of longings and love as well, but to have the courage to name the things that you're hoping for, the things that you'd like to do in your life that does take courage, right? That does take an understanding that I want this and it may not happen. But I have the courage to say this is something that I'm longing for. Can you talk a little bit about what that's been like for you and some of those longings that have come true?

Yeah, some of them assume that come true. But I think for me the important part was being able to finally bring them out into the open. And one it always comes to mind because it's part of what started my journey as well was when I was turning 30, which is seven years ago. Now I reached that milestone where I thought all my friends are married, and so by 30, I will be married, too. But I didn't really know how to talk about it because this person with a disability that topic often feels like it's not addressed in society as a whole.

I always feel like the invisible person during any discussion of love or dating or anything, and I had no clue how to write about it for a long time, how to talk about it. And a few years ago, I finally did a blog series during the month of February about love and the disability factor. I did four posts on it because I wrestle with these insecurities about never being seen as an option for anyone who wants to date me or eventually marry me. So I think even within my friend circle, except for the friends who know me since childhood, I didn't really know how to talk about it.

No one really asked me, like, even if you're in the Church spaces or just as a single person as an adult, I think if you don't have a disability, people are often asking, oh, who are you dating? Or do you want to be fed up with this person? And that has never happened with me? Like, I just get ignored. So that was always something that was kind of hurtful and frustrating, and I didn't know how to bring it up until my own journey with sitting with my counselor and just addressing all of these things that were just hiding in my heart.

And now I do feel more open to talking about them in different ways, even though they're not dreams that have been realized yet. So that's one area and even I live with my parents at the moment, and I went away to College like most everyone else. And I always thought I would live more independently by 30 as well. So that was another dream that just hasn't happened yet for different reasons. And I think learning to live with those unmet dreams is also a part of my journey.

I can relate to a lot of that for me. What gave me.

Was.

At least in terms of dating and romantic connections, is that I came to a place where I was very clear that if it happened, I would be open to that. And if it didn't happen, I would be okay with that, too. Like, it wasn't going to disappoint me.

Because.

In my experience and I would love your input on this. Love is so much more of a so much more of a bigger concept and bigger thing that we experience than dating somebody or being with somebody romantically. Like, there are so many ways to love, and there are so many ways to connect and appreciate people. I'm not religious, but I do have very religious or spiritual feelings, and I feel like Christianity, Buddhism, these world religions have given us some really good models for how to think about what love is and the different ways that we can experience it.

But I also think that it is a shame that more people are not open to it that more people, like you said, kind of just the topic never comes up.

And.

If more people knew you, if more people understood you in those ways, the hope, right is that more people would be open to that, to experiencing that because there's just so much more to experience and ways to connect and be with each other than we know and understand or partially it's our media, too, right. Our media doesn't show different kinds of relationships. Our media doesn't show different kinds of people interacting in those relationships, right. Can you talk a little? Did anything I say resonate, like, do you agree?

Do you disagree? Is there something that I'm missing?

No. I agree. I don't think disability is brought about in the media and definitely not in the form of relationships, at least not in a long standing relationship. I always think of the movie me before you or the book. I read the book. I never saw the movie. Did you ever hear about them? No.

But now I want to go read it.

I wrote about it because it was a controversial book and movie a few years ago where the person had a spinal cord injury. I don't know if I should tell the whole ending, but I guess it's well known now. So the movie ended with the man doing assisted suicide and the girlfriend at the time she told the man, this is all fiction, of course, but it's a sad fixture for the disability community. The lady was like, I love this person, but to me it was like that lady's love was not enough for the man to choose to live.

And that's, like, sad and not a good reflection because he was in a wheelchair and he just felt like his life was not worth living. And we don't really need that kind of voice in the world. We need voices that say people with disabilities do have reasons to live and thrive. And I also just think, yeah, we can have troubles with questions. And like, I face my own hard questions. But I guess one aspect that can be missing is like the mental health aspect of if somebody is struggling with their disability or chronic illness, like, it's okay to get some help with your mental health.

That's kind of off topic. But I also have connected in more recent years with people in the disability community that have healthy relationships and healthy marriages, and they're really good models and encouragement to me and helps me to understand what is possible because I also just in my own heart, I didn't fully believe it was possible, and it took me a long time to really believe that. Yeah, one day I could get married. And that is very possible in the world today. I just didn't believe it for myself for a really long time.

I'm glad you do now. I also think it's I don't know. I have to point out the irony, right, that we have these hopes and dreams of marriage and finding somebody to love.

And.

When you just look at it statistically like over half of them fail, right? It's a double edged sword, kind of no matter how you look at it, go ahead.

It's like a common struggle for anybody in my age group who is single, too. And I think I wrote about it at one point, but I still didn't fully believe it. That was the interesting part is I still needed some time and some life experience and just understanding in my own community for me to get to that place where I believe beyond what I originally wrote about love and the disability factor.

And that belief is important. That belief is what helps make sure that you are ready, right? Because you could not believe that you deserve another person and that other person can come along, and it could end in a really bad way because we weren't ready for that. We weren't accepting enough of ourselves and our self worth and who we are to embrace that relationship in a healthier way.

So.

I think that's beautiful, that you're there, and that's something that for me anyways, it's a constant process of remembering and reminding and believing, right. That if the situation comes about that I do deserve it, that I am worthy and that I am ready for that.

It's taken different people in my life to just reflect that idea back to me, and I kind of really finally embraced it for myself. And similar to what you said earlier, like, I'm okay, if it doesn't happen, I will be okay.

The kind of move through now. I think this poem, I think, is a good theme for what we talked about as we transition towards the end here. Could you read us? Impossible is not a word.

What page is it on? We find it with us.

22 I found it.

Impossible is not a word, not one I often choose. Giving up is unpreferred, or it means to fail to lose. And that, to me, is absurd. When I can easily embrace a different view, a new word.

So impossible is not a word you choose unpack this poem because it's powerful.

Yes.

Giving up is unpreferred. Why did you use the word unpreferred? You wrote it undashed preferred.

Yeah, I think just my whole life I've dealt with obstacles in a way where I'm just always fighting to find a way around him and not really to stop trying to achieve whatever the obstacle might be blocking. So, for example, going away to College, I lived on campus. My College was few hours away from home. So that was the first time I lived away from home, and I had to set up the caregivers and all of that for four years. And that two people working on what seemed like an impossible task.

And even when I tell that story today, people are amazed that I went to College, away from home, and I didn't live with my parents during that time. So that would be an example of what seems impossible to others. But to me, I always said I'm going to College. My brother went to College, my friends went to College. I'm going to College. That's what people do. So that would be one example. Okay.

And for it means to fail to lose. And that to me, is absurd. What is absurd about losing?

I'm really sorry about all of this lately. I guess another aspect would be the idea of reframing different dreams, so I might not be able to do something on my own because of my disability. But I can invite my community to be a part of a dream. And so that's where if I'm not giving others an option to be a part of something, that's where it would be absurd, because I would be giving up and not really giving others the chance to be a part of a dream.

So an example of that practically or from my own life would be at a different point. I talked about some simple dreams that I wish I could do. And one of them is, for example, run a mile because I watched when my brothers or friends would run races in high school or just go out and run a mile for exercise. And the idea of that is something I've never experienced. But a few years ago, a friend invited me to have you heard of the team Hua across the country?

I have not.

There's a father and his son who started doing marathons in short races where the father would push the son in a jogger type stroller. So there's a bunch of teams around the country and our local team. A friend was a part of a local team, and she invited me to start participating in these races where you show up and the team has these joggers strollers. And so the runner pushes the person during the race. And so this lady and I, we did several races, and she would come to my neighborhood and we were at practice.

And so that was one of those simple dreams where it came to life with the help of a friend. And we even did up to a half marathon one time. Wow. So if she had invited me or if I hadn't really shared interest or anything like that, none of that would have happened. Those were some really cool experiences.

That's that's great. That's just it shows the the, you know, creativity, vulnerability, asking right to create new experiences that wouldn't have been possible before. That's beautiful. Is there a poem that you'd like to read? I know there's a lot of them in your book that you think would be important to talk about. That's something that you'd like to say that we haven't said yet in this conversation.

With the title plan called beyond.

Let's do that.

Okay. That kind of is a really good summary of everything we've discussed. Okay. The title of the point is beyond, just like the title of the book, More Than You Think beyond what you See Disabled is not my identity. I'm Laura, a person of value, worth dignity, another member of humanity. Perfect.

And yes, you are.

Can you.

Share with the audience? How can people get a hold of you? Reach out to you, connect with you? Where can they find you? And more about you?

Yeah, I have a blog. It's lauracedrop. Com. So people can sign up for the occasional newsletter. I send out and then they can also get the blog post into your email. And as far as social media, I'm probably most active on Instagram, and that is also at Lauracedrob. I exist on Facebook and Twitter. If you just look for Lara C. Rob on Facebook, it would be Lara C. Rob writer, but I am more active on Instagram and on my blog.

Excellent. I'm really looking forward to staying in touch, to seeing your new writings, your new experiences, and keep sharing. Keep living. You're a beautiful human being. I'm so happy we connected. And this has been a terrific conversation. I really appreciate it.

Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. It was great.

Thank you. Laura.

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