While I sat in the Righetti's nicely furnished home, I watched Natalee ...

the etiquette is when discussing disabilities. There are still barriers between people
with disabilities and people without disabilities. These are usually due to over-concern
for being politically correct, failure to recognize their rights, negative attitudes,
lack of awareness, and misconceptions. These reasons for the barrier are what stimulated
the concept of disability awareness, in general. Natalee has now gotten involved
in this movement and has now made her contribution to Mountain View High
School. She’s proud to have left something behind.
Natalee has high hopes for her future. She plans on continuing to volunteer at
the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, an organization that facilitates athletics for
people with special needs. She feels it’s important that others have a fortunate experience,
just like she did. She also recently was hired by Via Services. This is a non-profit
organization that helps people with special needs live fulfilling lives and achieve
greater self-sufficiency. She also will continue publicizing her book and spreading
the word so more people will hear her message. When she spoke at the NCL event,
she said that she may write another book; what it will be about exactly, she isn’t sure.
Natalee is certainly going to keep on contributing to the community and spread her
message.
While her experience certainly hasn’t been a breeze, Natalee has made it a necessity
to constantly think positively. Thanks to her high spirits, she has been able to
accomplish what she never thought was possible. She now doesn’t view her disability
as handicapping. Now that she is satisfied with her work and her future, she wants to
help others feel the same way. She wants to preach what she’s
learned so others can benefit as well. In the words of Natalee
herself: “There’s a lot of judgment. I feel helping others understanding
people with disabilities is my way of contributing
to society. I feel I can help anybody see that it’s okay to
be different. The truth is everyone’s different. I feel I could
help others accept the world and that everyone’s different
because I think thats a good thing!”