In a split second I went from having my life under control to watching my world break apart and come crashing down on top of me. I thought growing up with a disability was the worst thing that was ever going to happen to me but I was wrong!
After I recovered enough to go home I had some hard decisions to make. What was I going to do to earn a living for the rest of my life and how was I going to do it?
It was fortunate that I had pretty good insurance at my factory job at the time of the crash. My money situation got really tight but I managed not to loose my house. This was great since the lady that hit me did not have any insurance at all.
I started back to school at the local community college while I was still on crutches. I didn't know what I wanted to do or what would even be possible. I just knew I had to get started on something. I got a really lucky break with the local NC Vocational Rehabilitation Services office. A counselor there believed in me enough to help me change my life.
The counselor suggested I try to get into a new program they had developed that could give me a start on a new career in Information Technology. It was called "CPT" (Computer Programmer Training).
CPT was sponsored by NC Vocational Rehabilitation Services, IBM, Local businesses, and Goodwill Industries. The program was specifically designed for people just like me that had been victims of tragic life changing events and could not go back to the jobs they had before they were injured.
The counselor told me that if I got accepted into the program and graduated. I could get a job as a computer programmer. That sounded impossible to me at the time.
The counselor thought I should try so I did. I continued taking classes at my local community college to prepare myself. I had been out of school a long time so I had a lot of catching up to do. I was tested, interviewed and was accepted into the “CPT” program about eight months later. I had never seen a personal computer up close and now I was going to Computer Programming Training. I was scared that it might not work out for me but I knew I had to a least try.