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By Nickole Mensch, HCBS Mentor, Bakersfield ARC
I was born with cerebral palsy in 1960, and from the very beginning, people underestimated what I would be able to do. Thankfully, my family believed in me, and they taught me something that has stayed with me my entire life: never let someone else decide what you are capable of.
Over the years, I’ve been blessed to accomplish things I never imagined. I became the first student with a disability to graduate from Madera High School. I learned to live independently. I became California’s first assistive technology advocate. Earlier in my life, I even earned a Guinness World Record by traveling 172 miles in my power wheelchair in just 22 hours from Bakersfield to Sacramento.
But my proudest accomplishments aren’t the records or recognition. They are the moments when I proved to myself that I could live life on my own terms.
I still remember a time when a friend and I decided to take our power wheelchairs to visit her mother because she wasn’t allowed to leave her assisted living facility.
We got into plenty of trouble for it, but something positive came from that day. My friend eventually gained more freedom, and I was able to move into a home where I could begin living independently. Sometimes progress begins with someone willing to challenge the status quo.
Today, I have the privilege of working as a Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Mentor at Bakersfield ARC. Every day, I encourage others to believe in themselves, advocate for what they need, and pursue the life they want.
Disability Pride means recognizing that our disabilities do not define our worth or our potential. It means celebrating our strengths, our resilience, and our right to be active members of our communities. It means knowing that independence doesn’t always mean doing everything by yourself. Sometimes it means having the right supports that allow you to make your own choices and live the life you choose.
I rely on services like In-Home Supportive Services so I can get ready for work, care for myself, and continue living independently in my community. Those supports don’t limit my independence. They make my independence possible.
If there’s one thing I hope people take away from my story, it’s this: the only limits that truly matter are the ones we place on ourselves. When we believe in ourselves, advocate for one another, and refuse to give up, extraordinary things can happen.
That’s what Disability Pride means to me.