An inspirational story in theGazatte Extra written by Nick Crow about a man who has learned to look beyond his physical disability. It does a great job of explaining his struggles and triumphs. He learned to not use his disability as an excuse and to use his determination to become successful!

Janesville man looks beyond physical disability

By Nick Crow

JANESVILLE Janesville native Nathan Scafe has not letcerebral palsy stand in his way since graduating from Craig High School in 2008.

He graduated from UW-Whitewater in 2012 with a degree in social work and political science.

He's worked as an intern in the state Legislature and worked for UW-Madison. He moved to Madison last month to live on his own.

Scafe, 25, was born 13 weeks premature. He said he uses his condition as a motivation, not an excuse.

"You can do what you want to do," Scafe said.

Yvonne Stueber, executive director at Broadscope Disability Services, formerly United Cerebral Palsy of Southeast Wisconsin, said Scafe is an example of how changes in perception and advances in technology helped people with cerebra palsy be successful.

I think technology can contribute to a person's ability to become a contributing member of the greater community, Stueber said. We have computer-assistive technologies, medical research advances studying how a persons' gait at a young age will impact his/her aging process decades down the road and countless other advances.

"It is important to look at an individual's abilities and strengths and contributions, rather than looking at labeling individuals and seeing them as different.

Stueber said society has a growing appreciation for people with disabilities--seeing their talents rather than looking at what might appear as limitations.

We have a long way to go to being an inclusive workplace welcoming persons of all abilities and backgrounds, Stueber said. People with disabilities are like any of us. They want to use their gifts and talents, be a contributing member of society.

Scafe said his family had high expectations.

"My parents expected me to go to college and to do everything that a normal kid would do. That was really crucial in that I grew up knowing that I should be able to do these things, so I just kind of figured out a way to do it," he said.

He sometimes got discouraged or depressed and became frustrated with his condition, but he realized hard work was the only way he would succeed, he said.

"When I was younger, there was a process of accepting the fact that I have a disability," Scafe said. "There was a process of accepting it and realizing the fact that I can do everything that I want to do. It's just a matter of working."

"I had people around me to push me," he said. "I know from my time in Whitewater that there are people with disabilities that don't have that. They don't have people who push them to step out of their comfort zone, and that makes a huge difference. It's really easy to get complacent and accept help when you don't necessarily need it.

"It's important to have things in place when you do need it, but it's also important to push yourself and move beyond what you think are your limitations."

Among those Scafe credits for his success is Kathy White, assistive technology specialist for the Janesville School District. Scafe said White was someone who helped him to see that his disability didn't have to stop him.

"I've known Kathy since I first moved into the district (in third grade)," Scafe said. "She, I think, is a really creative problem solver in that she finds ways to use technology that really helped me and catered to my needs and leveled the playing field."

"She was there to make me aware of different options and encourage me to try different things," he said.

Scafe said he didn't always want to put in the work, but White pushed him.

"I was a bit of a feisty person in my younger days," Scafe said.

"I would go back and go back and go back," White said. "I'm persistent. Nathan will tell you. I kept hammering at him and hammering at him because I believed in him. That's really so important that we believe they (the students) can be successful."

During his time in Janesville, Scafe met with physical therapists twice a week, an occupational therapists once a week and learned how to dress himself, get in and out of bed and get out of a car.

"I think that the reason why I'm able to live independently is because of the things that I've learned," Scafe said.

"I think from a disability standpoint, the therapists and things that the district offered played a critical role in me being able to be an independent adult," he said. "I live on my own in Madison, now, and the skills that I learned like dressing and things, that all kind of started with therapists here at school."

White said she assisted Scafe with technology but also helped him with things his regular teachers may not have noticed. She told a story she remembered about Scafe from when he was in elementary school.

"He was a third-grader at the time," White said. "He had to do a project with all of these animals at a marsh. They gave him a white piece of paper, and then he had to color and draw the marsh."

"Well, by the time he would have colored the marsh ... and he couldn't draw," she said. "So we gave him a brown piece of paper and used clip art. He found all the critters and everything else and we put them on there. So sometimes it's just simple adaptations. It's seeing the end result. The goal is what's important. Him showing his knowledge is what was important and that's with all of our kids."

Scafe said the biggest misconception people have about him is that he can't do many things everyone else does.

"In Nathan's case, it shows people to look beyond the wheelchair, look beyond the fact his one hand didn't work, look beyond all those things," White said. "It's not what I ever saw. I saw Nathan. I saw a student and that's what we see in all of our kids. We see the student first. The disability, OK fine, it's there, but let's find a way to make him successful."

White said it takes a team effort within the district to help any student be successful.

"It's never just one person," White said. "In Nathan's case, it was a physical therapist, it was an occupational therapist, it was myself and the teachers. We all worked together to make sure that Nathan had the best education that we could give him."

"The second big part is an expectation," she said. "You are a student in the Janesville public schools. We want you to be the best that you can be, and we knew that Nathan was very college bound. When you look at that, you see the kid first. You're just a kid like anybody else. So you can't use this hand. So what? Let's figure out a way around this piece."

Scafe said he thinks it's important for high schoolers to know that people with disabilities can do what any average teenager does.

"I had friends in high school," Scafe said. "We went to dances and hung out. It's just a matter of doing things a little differently and taking a little extra time to do things you need to do."

White enjoys providing assistance to students and seeing them learn.

"The great thing about being a teacher is you don't know where they're going to end up and who's lives they're going to touch," White said. "I don't know what Nathan is going to do in the future. I know he's touched some great lives, and he's done some wonderful things already."

"Just because something happened to you doesn't mean you're life is over or it's going to take a different turn than you might have thought," she said. "It could go a better direction."

Scafe said that for now his goal is to get a new job that he enjoys.

"I'm trying to figure out what my next step is," he said. "I'm not really sure what the future holds."

Source: http://www.gazettextra.com/20150529/janesville_man_looks_beyond_physical_disability