Life After the Plan Changes

Why I’m beginning to offer coaching for people adjusting to life after acquired disability

The Question Rehabilitation Doesn’t Always Answer

Some people acquire a disability and immediately receive medical care, rehabilitation plans, and instructions for adapting their daily routines.

I was lucky — especially given that I was living in Canada when I discovered I needed brain surgery.

Not only were the costs for my surgery covered by our healthcare system, but when I had a stroke afterward, the recovery costs were covered as well:

• Hospitalization until I was stable enough to go to a stroke rehabilitation centre
• Six months of in-patient stroke rehabilitation
• Post-stroke follow-up care, including the testing I had done this week — 25 years after my stroke — to determine the best course of care for ongoing seizures

I have a friend in the US who had a stroke when he was not much older than I was when I had mine. He still doesn’t know what caused it. He had no medical insurance when he had his stroke and couldn’t afford to see the specialist he needed.

I’m very, very grateful for the excellent medical care that I’ve received.

But even though I’ve had therapists over the years who helped me process the reality of becoming a stroke survivor, the answer to a quieter, more difficult question remained hidden for approximately six years:

What happens to my life now?

Not just function.
Not just logistics.
But participation, identity, direction, and possibility.

When the Future Changes

Like me, many people who acquire a disability find themselves facing the loss of the future they expected — careers interrupted, roles changed, routines altered, relationships shifting, and a growing sense that the world is not designed with this version of them in mind.

I eventually discovered that something important is still true:

The state of your life is not determined by the state of your body.

Over time, through my writing here, I’ve explored how assumptions about disability shape opportunity — and how opportunity shapes participation in community life.

A New Direction in My Work

Recently, I’ve begun offering something more direct alongside that work.

I’m starting a small number of one-to-one coaching partnerships for people whose lives have changed after acquiring a disability — whether recently or years ago — and who are trying to figure out what comes next.

This is not therapy, medical coaching, or rehabilitation support.

It’s a structured conversation space for people asking questions like:

• What is still possible for me now?
• How do I return to activities I used to enjoy?
• How do I participate in public life again?
• How do I advocate for myself when accessibility isn’t there?
• How do I rebuild a future that still feels like mine?

Rebuilding Participation and Possibility

Across five sessions, we focus on rebuilding a realistic sense of capability, confidence in participation, and a clearer picture of what direction can look like after the plan changes.

My goal in this work is simple:

To help people regain a sense of control over what happens next in their lives.

I’m beginning with a small pilot group of readers.

If this is something you might benefit from — now or later — you’re welcome to send me a private message and start a conversation. You can also visit my website to find out more:

https://www.powerineverybody.ca/