Scott was born on July 7th 1959 in Cleveland, Ohio to Don and Christine Barrish. He was a healthy baby; however, when he started to walk and crawl he had some difficulties. His parents took him to numerous doctors around the area, but they told them that "he would out grow this problem". His sister Donna was born on March 14th 1961. The next Christmas he developed the measles which were quite bad. He had a very high fever for several days, and at that time doctors were not available during the holidays. His grandmother told his mother that "she never saw measles that were that bad". During the Christmas holiday he got progressively worse, and his great aunt Helen told his mother about her doctor that was in the area. His parents called around to different hospitals in the Cleveland area to see when they could make him an appointment to see a doctor. Nothing was available for several weeks and his parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles were quite concerned about his grave situation.

The day after Christmas his mother took him to see the doctor that his great aunt recommended. He was a European doctor who was quite well known in the area. The doctor told his mother that he thought that "it was post measles encephalitis, but he wasn’t sure". He immediately sent his mother and him to University Hospital in Cleveland that was the best hospital in the local area. Numerous medical tests were taken on him, and he was put into isolation because at that time measles were a serious health risk. Scott was hospitalized for several weeks during this time where he got somewhat worse. His parents finally brought him home again where he steadily got better. His sister Kathy was born on January 21st 1963. Every year especially during the winter Scott would become extremely sick, but no actual diagnosis could be made on him. He never seemed to be able to walk too far without falling down and had to go over to a chair or table to pick himself up which is extremely unusual for a child.

Once again his mother took him all over the area to different doctors. One doctor his grandmother recommended told his mother that "he has no time for her, and he had no idea what to do for her son". This doctor never referred them to any other doctor that could help them. She came out of the office crying to Scott’s uncle Bud about what this doctor said to her. Then after this his mother took him back to the first doctor from Europe. He said, "it looks like Little’s Disease", which is now known as Cerebral Palsy. At that time medical science was not too advanced to recognize different health conditions and or disabilities.

Scott was always a curious little boy trying to figure out how to do things and ask questions about the world around him. He developed an unique personality during his early life. In 1965 when Scott was ready to go to school his mother went to sign him up at the local school; however, they wouldn’t accept him due to his physical disability. His mother was very distraught because of this. The same doctor told his mother about a special school in Cleveland called Sunbeam School for crippled children. This school was in existence since 1929 and served thousands of children with disabilities in the area. His mother made an appointment to visit the school and for Scott to get evaluated from the principal who was an ex-former catholic school teacher. Scott started to school there the next fall. He had a two hour each way bus trip to the school and back home again because the family lived on the outskirts of Cleveland which the school bus had to pick up around twenty other kids with various disabilities in the area that all attended Sunbeam School.

Scott would get extremely sick almost every winter due to the cold and harsh winters in the northeast. He attended grammar school and junior high at the same school which was just for crippled children. He made friends with the kids who some of them are still friends forty years later. At that time the education system for children like Scott was extremely limited, and he didn’t receive a proper education, but it was just a basic education to teach these children how to read and write and do some basic math. Scott had some surgeries on his legs and hands to help him, but these surgeries never actually did much to help him.

During the summer Scott was extremely healthy and his family would go on vacations throughout the east coast and south. They took vacations to New York, Washington D.C., Gettysburg, Norfolk Virginia, Williamsburg Virginia, and in 1973 the family took a two week vacation to Florida where Disney World just opened up the year before. Scott always was interested and intrigued with the Space program, and his father took him to Cape Kennedy to see NASA and where the missions to the moon begun while his sisters and mother stayed in the hotel and played in the pool. His father worked in different chemical and auto factories in Cleveland and would take him to numerous Cleveland Indians baseball games during the summer time which they both enjoyed.

In 1974 Scott had major hip surgery which almost took his life from pneumonia and a severe bladder infection. Scott was in the hospital for two months during the summer. He finally was well enough to go home the day that President Richard Nixon resigned from office which Scott always remembers. The next spring he was ready to graduate from Sunbeam school and move on to high school. The same year the federal government passed the mainstreaming of all disabled children in schools which at that time was extremely controversial. Before this law children like Scott were pretty much isolated and separated from so called "normal" children. He graduated from Sunbeam School in June of 1975. The next year he would be attending Mentor High School which was only around eight miles away from the family home which was a regular high school with a special classroom which was a storage closet before.

There were about seven or ten other physically disabled students in this classroom. For the first few months Scott and his fellow classmates were not allowed to eat lunch in the regular cafeteria because the school thought it would be a safety hazard. This made the families of the disabled students quite angry with the school. It was the school’s policy to have their disabled students eat lunch in their small little classroom. During high school Scott was only mainstreamed into a few classes such as: history, economics, and political science where he did extremely well in these classes. Some of the teachers at the school didn’t want students with disabilities in their classroom because they thought it would be a distraction. The school finally allowed Scott and his classmates to eat their lunch in the cafeteria later the next year. Their special education teacher was a young woman who wasn’t too enthusiastic about teaching her students, and she didn’t have much patience with them. Scott would get into trouble with his teachers because he didn’t think he was treated fairly at times in class projects and other classroom activities. Every winter Scott would have major health problems which he missed many days of school due to these problems. He was hospitalized in 1976 due to severe urinary retention which was later found out to be caused by the Swine flu shot that President Ford recommended to the entire country that wasn’t thoroughly tested. That same winter Scott had pneumonia and other health problems that he now contributes to this flu shot. He would try to make friends with the so called "normal" students, but he didn’t have much success in making friends.

In 1978 Scott was ready to graduate from high school and the school psychologist wanted to meet with his mother about Scott and his future. Scott and the psychologist met several times during his years at high school. The teacher also wanted to meet with his mother at the same time. During the meeting the teacher and the psychologist told his mother that, "Scott has totally unrealistic goals in life that are not achievable for somebody like himself with a severe physical disability". His parents always wanted to do the best for him, but many times they were led in the wrong direction for him because nobody knew for sure what was best. Scott graduated from high school in June of 1978. The next fall he became a client with the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation to help him with his future.

In the fall of 1978 Scott was evaluated by the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation at their office in Painesville, Ohio. They had a special bus that was wheelchair equipped, so his mother wouldn’t have to drive him back and forth. He went there for several weeks during this time. They had him do numerous job tasks and had other psychological evaluations done. This was the time before computers and electric wheelchairs that came available many years later. Scott could always maneuver his manual wheelchair somewhat around the house; however, he needed to be pushed everywhere else. He took all of these tests, and after they were all over the counselor wanted to meet with Scott and his parents. During this time, he was having health problems once again. According to the counselor, Scott wasn’t capable of attending college or doing any type of meaningful work due to his disability. His parents and he were quite dejected and the counselor recommended was for him to enter counseling because his mother and him had serious difficulties being at home all day with each other. He had nothing to do besides watch TV and things like that. He and his mother would have serious arguments in the house, and his father didn’t want to come home from work because he didn’t know what would happen when he got inside the door.

Scott did go for some counseling during this time, but the psychologist had no solutions to his problems with his mother. For his graduation gift from high school his parents bought him a short wave radio where he could listen to radio broadcast around the world which really interested him. He would listen to the BBC, radio Moscow, radio Beijing, and radio Baghdad to hear about news and events in these countries. He would write letters and correspond to these radio stations throughout the world, and he would receive mail from these exotic places such as; calendars, post cards, and newspapers throughout the world. One year, he received a beautiful calendar from China. Scott would spend most of his day watching TV and listening to talking books on tape mostly about historical events, politics, psychology, science fiction, and religion. During the summer time he would sit underneath a big oak tree and just watch the cars go by while listening to the radio or listening to a book. He had no relationships outside of his family and every summer he would attend camping programs for people with disabilities around the Cleveland area.

In the winter of 1984 Scott’s parents bought him his first simple computer which was a Commodore 64 which was the first simple computer that was on the market at that time. It would be considered a toy now, but back then it was remarkable about what it could do. He would buy numerous games, word processing programs, and would spend hours each day working on his computer in his bedroom. This was a great relief for his parents that finally there was something that he could do and do well. During the next several years he became extremely knowledgeable about things dealing with computers and technology.

In the fall of 1987, Scott thought that new doors were opening up for him, so he decided to get back into contact with the Ohio Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation. He wanted them to reevaluate him due to the advances in technology and etc. That next winter the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation sent Scott to get evaluated at a local hospital that had a specialized rehabilitation center using the modern technology and computers. He went there for five Mondays in a row which his parents would drive him. His parents had a good friend that lived in the area so they went to visit him when Scott was attending these classes. They evaluated Scott using computers and other technologies that weren’t available in 1978. The staff was amazed about what he was able to do on a computer with different programs. After these classes were finished the director of the program recommended to the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation that Scott should attend the local community college for computer science, and he needed an electric wheelchair to get around. Reliable wheelchairs like this only came on the market a few years before. His parents and Scott were finally happy that he was now able to do something with his life.

He could not start to go to college until he acquired his electric wheelchair. His father’s insurance finally agreed to pay for the chair in the spring of 1989. He was now able to go places by himself without his family having to push him around which opened up an entire new life for him. For almost a dozen years nothing was available to him and nobody ever thought that he could do anything with his life due to his severe physical disability. During this time, both his sisters got married and moved out of the family house and his sister Donna and her husband moved to Naples, Florida where his parents and he would go every winter for a few weeks to get away from the cold winter in Ohio.

In September of 1989 Scott started to attend Lakeland Community College in Mentor, Ohio which was the local community college. That year, Congress was debating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Scott was extremely interested in this legislation because it would help him in the coming years if it passed. The first year Scott attended community college he earned two A’s, two B’s and two F’s which he didn’t know what to make of this. He started going for a certificate in computer software from the college, but he could not take the type of math classes that were needed. He took some introductory computer science classes and some political science classes during his first year. The next summer, 1990 he took an introductory to business class where he earned an "A" in it. The instructor was extremely impressed with his knowledge about the business world and told Scott that if the ADA passes this would really help him in life.

On July 26th 1990 President George Bush signed into law the Americans with Disabilities Act. Scott was always interested in political science and history. He took numerous political science and psychology classes at the local community college for the next several years which he earned mostly "B’s" in them. His one instructor John Platz’s was the local county commissioner and Scott and he would talk about local events in the community. Scott was hospitalized in the spring of 1992 with bronchitis. He would acquire bronchitis and pneumonia fairly easily in the late winter or early spring. His doctor was getting concerned about these respiratory infections because he tried various antibiotics on him that were no longer being effective. During the same time his parents were trying to sell their family home in Cleveland because they wanted to move to Naples, Florida where his sister lived. His father had just retired from his job, and they thought that Scott would be healthier in the warmer weather because he would not have these respiratory infections during the summers in Ohio.

Scott was in and out of the hospital most of the spring and early summer due to numerous other infections. He got better after a long battle with these infections. He returned back to Lakeland Community College that spring which would be his last semester there. He would only attend classes during the summer and fall due to his health situation. His parents finally sold their family home in the summer of 1993, and they were making plans to move to Naples, Florida in the early fall of that year.

Scott and his parents arrived to Naples, Florida on Halloween night of 1993 where they stayed at his sister’s home for a few days before their new house was ready to move into. His parents bought a nice one story home with no steps for Scott to be able to get around better. His old house in Cleveland had three stories which he never saw for years before. The family moved in and Scott was ready to get back with his education so he got into contact with the Florida Department of Vocational Rehabilitation in Naples, Florida in the winter of 1994. They wanted their own psychological evaluation from their psychologist to see whether or not Scott was capable of completing his associate’s degree. That spring the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation sent Scott to a psychologist in Fort Myers for several sessions to get evaluated once again. Scott was doing well in Ohio at the local community college; however, Florida wanted their own psychological assessment done by their own psychologist. His parents drove him to this small little office in downtown Fort Myers where this psychologist had his office. During this time Scott was having some health issues that were not too serious. He met with the psychologist the first day, and the psychologist made Scott do a paper and pencil test to see if he could do basic mathematics and other types of tests.

Scott has extremely limited use of his hands; so therefore it is quite difficult for him to write with a pen. He told the psychologist about this; however, the psychologist just told him to do his best and not worry about it. The psychologist and Scott met several more times during the month. After the counselor from Vocational Rehabilitation received the report from the psychologist regarding Scott’s abilities she wanted to meet with him to discuss what the psychologist recommended. In the psychologist’s report it said that, "Scott could take some college classes; however, he could never earn any types of college degrees due to his level of disability and other factors that hinder him". During the same time Scott met with the counselor from Edison Community College to visit the campus and to take their test for entrance. They had all their tests on computer which made Scott’s test scores on them to be greatly enhanced. Once again Scott didn’t know what to think about this.

He had found out about a special program in Clearwater, Florida called Abilities of Florida which had a special program for individuals with severe physical disabilities to help them find jobs, get evaluated from the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation and get computer training. Abilities of Florida was created in 1959 to assist people with spinal cord injuries. He was hearing good things about their program and wanted vocational rehabilitation to send him for a two week evaluation to find out whether or not he could complete his associate’s degree. The one draw back was he would have to live on their campus during this time because it would be an intense evaluation and from Naples to Clearwater is about 160 miles. His Vocational Rehabilitation counselor was extremely opposed to his idea. He insisted that the psychologist evaluation was totally unfair because of how the psychologist evaluated him with strictly paper and pencil tests.

Scott finally got the ok from the Vocational Rehabilitation counselor’s supervisor to attend the Abilities of Florida program in November of 1994. He moved into a room on Sunday evening and his parents went back to Naples. He met with everyone that would be working with him for the next ten days. They had numerous computer stations in their office that people were working at. They also had people working one on one with the clients to help them with writing and typing things down. It was basically like the test Scott had in 1987 in the hospital in Cleveland. The very last day Scott was there he met with a counselor and she told him that she thinks "that his psychological evaluation from that psychologist in Fort Myers is totally bogus and is a typical stereotype of a person with a disability, and she is recommending that the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation helps you with your college education because you are quite intelligent and you know a lot about computers and other things". Scott immediately called his parents and told them about what this counselor has recommended.

In January of 1995 Scott started at Edison Community College taking some introductory math and English classes. He was having difficulties with his math because he had no way to write down the problems and to figure them out. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act the school was responsible for helping Scott to solve this problem due to his disability. There was a young woman in the same class that worked at an attorney’s office in the area and she helped him to write up a letter regarding his situation concerning his math course to the provost and the math department. The provost, the counselor for students with disabilities, the director of the math department and Scott met all together in a small office because he was falling behind in his math course because there was nobody working with him.

The provost of the college became somewhat angry with Scott because of what he wrote in the letter regarding the counselor for students with disabilities because she had no solutions for him to continue on with his math course. The provost wanted Scott to apologize to her, but he said, "I have nothing to apologize to her because I did nothing wrong!" The meeting went on for a while and Scott refused to apologize to the counselor. The young woman who was in the same class also attended the meeting in Scott’s behalf. She was totally amazed about how he stood his ground against the counselor and provost. The director of the math department more or less stayed out of the conversation. The meeting was over and no real solutions were made for him. During the next few days the counselor met with the director of the math department to find a solution to Scott’s difficulties. The solution was for the college to have an excellent student who was good at math to work one on one with Scott and his math course. The first individual was an older man, but it didn’t work out because this man wouldn’t allow Scott to work out the problems by himself which wouldn’t teach him how to solve algebraic expressions. Scott earned a "B" in the class; however, he wasn’t too sure about how much he learned due to the situation with the older man.

That summer the provost fired the counselor for students with disabilities, and acquired a new counselor that was more familiar with disability issues. She started to interview possible new math tutors to work with Scott on his math courses that were needed if he wanted to attend any University. The state of Florida requires students in Universities to have at least six credit hours of mathematics. Scott always wanted to attend a four year university and to earn a bachelor’s or even a master’s degree. The next fall Scott met Felix who was a middle aged man that was born in Cuba that wanted to work with Scott on his math. Felix was an excellent math student and wanted to become a teacher. He and Scott started to work one on one for six or eight hours a week on his math homework and assignments. Felix would allow Scott to work out the problems by himself which was somewhat difficult, but Felix had much patience to do this that the other math tutor didn’t have. Felix would attend classes with Scott and would help him to take notes and write down assignments for him. This worked out to be great and Scott learned how to solve algebraic expressions pretty well.

For the next year this worked out to be a great arrangement. Felix was a somewhat shy and quiet man, but working with Scott he gained confidence in himself which helped both of them. During the next two years, Scott became the president of the student government association and won numerous academic awards from the college, and the provost Dr. Louis Trainer was quite amazed about Scott’s achievements at the campus. He became Scott’s biggest supporter at the campus and apologized to him for getting so upset at the first meeting about his math situation. Scott also struck up a friendship with an older man named Chip who was a wealthy business man that was going for his associate’s degree at the same time. Chip was from Boston and had his own business which he sold and he and his wife moved to Naples to get away from the cold weather. Scott became extremely active in school activities while he was president of student government. The Students with Disabilities counselor Chris Soto was also very helpful in acquiring things for the college to help disabled students. She was quite amazed with Scott’s abilities and wanted Scott to continue on towards a bachelor’s degree.

Scott graduated from Edison Community College in 1997 and was making plans on attending the University of South Florida in Tampa to earn a bachelor’s degree in either psychology or social work, but he needed to move away from the safety of his parents’ home in Naples. The year before this Scott found out about the Home and Community Based Services Program that was available to help individuals with severe physical or mental disabilities to live on their own with what is known as support services. He found out about the program, and he asked his social worker from the Department of Children and Families Services. She became extremely upset and wanted to know where he found out about this program because at that time this program was a little known program that people with disabilities weren’t supposed to know about. The summer before Scott was supposed to graduate from Edison Community College he applied to the program, but there was a huge waiting list of other individuals who wanted services through the state. At that time only about thirty individuals a month statewide were becoming eligible for the program.

In October of 1997 Scott and his parents attended a huge meeting in St. Petersburg regarding services for persons with disabilities in Florida. There were several hundred people at the three day conference that were all concerned about services here in Florida. Everyone that met Scott was extremely impressed with him and his accomplishments. He was talking to everyone at the conference about wanting to attend the University of South Florida and having to move to Tampa and live pretty much on his own. The director of the Developmental Disabilities program’s secretary was listening to him talk to other people around him, and she took an interest in his situation. Scott’s name was on the waiting list for the program since that summer and his new social worker was trying her best to get him onto the program as soon as possible. The secretary took his information down and the meeting was over. His parents and him returned back to Naples, and there was a message on their answering machine telling Scott that the state had just approved for him to be onto the Home and Community Based Services program. His parents and he were quite amazed about how quickly the state approved him after a long struggle that was troubling for him.

Scott had all of his paperwork in order to be accepted to the University of South Florida and wanted to start attending school the next summer. He wanted to reenter the Abilities of Florida program in their independent living skills training before moving out on his own because he was unsure about whether or not he could live on his own. His parents were concerned about this too due to his level of physical disability. He made plans with the Abilities of Florida to enter their program early in 1998 until the summer session would start at the university. He was eligible to receive state services under the Home and Community Based Services program. He needed what is known as a support coordinator to help him acquire the services he needed. At that time, in the Naples, Fort Myers area there was only two agencies that handled clients for the program. The one agency only had about ten or twelve clients, and the director was unsure how to handle his case being in Tampa. This other agency had over 300 clients in the area and had around twenty support coordinators. He made arrangements with the director of this agency which was the only agency that would be able to handle Scott’s situation being in Tampa. Scott had good goals in furthering his education and developed his own support plan for his future. This woman who was the director of this agency had her own ideas about what Scott should do with his future.

She never heard of the Abilities of Florida program which has been in existence since 1959. She wanted Scott to continue living at home with his parents while her agency would work with him on activities of daily living and things like this. She had her own agenda for him which made Scott quite angry, but there were no other agencies to handle his situation. She and his new support coordinator met with the family during the Christmas holiday about what she thought possible for him. She had claimed that she had two master’s degrees and was extremely knowledgeable about persons with developmental disabilities. She gave Scott problems because he did not fit with her typical clients and he challenged her on this.

The support coordinator who was quite nice delivered an agreement that Beverly Morris of the Human Foundation Services made up that Scott would have to stay at home with his parents while her agency did their best to find him what she thought he needed. After an argument on the phone with her Scott’s father talked to her about his goals of attending the Abilities of Florida program once again to learn how to manage on his own for a few months before attending the university. She finally gave her ok with some hesitations. Scott was already accepted into the Abilities of Florida program. A few years later, the state of Florida revoked her licensed to do business in the state. Her agency was banned from the state due to many complaints from clients and their families. Scott was so pleased at this because she gave him a hard way to go.

In February of 1998 Scott moved into a small apartment on the campus of Abilities of Florida where he would stay for the next few months learning the skills he needed. During the next few months, he was somewhat disappointed in their overall program due to their lack of funding from the state of Florida. It wasn’t the same program any longer, and they had a new director that wasn’t too knowledgeable or supportive of the people living there. A woman who was working with Scott to find him an apartment at the university took him several times over to the university to meet with counselors and find accessible housing for him. They eventually found a place called Fontana Hall which was a dorm style apartment that was accessible to him. He met with a Vocational Rehabilitation counselor that was also physically disabled himself that was extremely impressed with Scott’s academic accomplishments at Edison Community College.

Scott would start to the university during the summer session taking a political science class which he did fairly well in it. Bob Ellis who was his Vocational Rehabilitation counselor suggested that Scott try to earn his bachelor’s degree in social work, so he would take the introductory classes he would need to enter the school of social work in the winter of 1999.

He met several times with Sally Spear the director of the social work school, but she wasn’t impressed with him, in his two introductory social work classes he earned one "A" and one "B" in them. She told him, "it isn’t realistic for you to enter the school of social work due to your physical limitations". Scott was always interested in earning a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling, so he thought that the school of social work would be extremely beneficial to his goals. She and the department allowed Scott to take some classes in the program during the winter, but half way through the semester the department basically told him not to go any farther with the program. So Scott once again was denied equal access, and he made a grievance with the school of social work, but nothing was done about it.

After this situation with the social work department, Scott met with the director of the Interdisciplinary Social Science program and was immediately impressed with Scott’s achievements and accepted him into their program without any hesitation. For the next year Dr. Gagan and Scott would meet several times discussing his goal of earning a bachelor’s degree and finally earning a master’s degree. He was a great influence on Scott and gave him encouragement to overcome his physical disability because this professor had a hearing impairment himself. Scott earned his bachelor’s degree within twenty two months after starting to the university and was trying to be accepted into the graduate program in rehabilitation and mental health counseling.

In March of 2000, Scott met with a few professors from the department of rehabilitation counseling to discuss his goals of earning a master’s degree. The one professor Dr. Kelley wasn’t too impressed with his academic performance; however, the other professor Dr. Ferrandino was encouraged that Scott has progressed this far having a somewhat severe physical disability. He finally received a letter from the department that he was being accepted on a provisionary basis during the next semester. He would have to complete twelve hours of classes while earning a "B" average. He took the medical aspects of disability class with the one professor that gave him difficulties in his graduate school interview because she was the only professor that taught it. Scott earned a "C" in the class which concerned him because in graduate school "C’s" are a poor grade. During the fall semester he took three other classes earning "B’s" in them which pleased him.

During this time he decided to start his own home health care agency called Been There, Inc. to help other individuals with disabilities with the types of services Scott was receiving, but was never pleased with the individuals that other agencies would send out to help him. He thought that he could do a better job in providing services to individuals like himself. He had to fill out vast paperwork to start his own agency and had numerous difficulties getting started due to the bureaucracy. He finally was approved to become a provider of services to people with developmental disabilities in Tampa Bay.

In the spring of 2001 he was going to take a theories of counseling class with the director of the program. Scott and the director had talked in his office many times before he took the class and Scott was somewhat concerned about the professor’s ideas about persons with disabilities. This professor is a well known person with programs that work with this population. He and Scott would have heated discussions about the treatment of individuals with disabilities. The class was not too difficult for him to understand; however, the way that the professor taught it was quite subjective in nature and his grading system. Scott was also in two other classes during the semester. At the end of the semester the professor gave Scott an incomplete because he didn’t think that Scott knew the material to well, so he suggested that he would take the class the next spring and for Scott to do better in it with a passing grade. This really bothered Scott because he thought he knew the material quite well.

The next semester, Scott signed up to take two classes which one was the research class with Dr. Kelley who was the professor that gave him difficulties in the past. She did give him problems in this class; however, he eventually earned an "B" in it after a long struggle. The other class gave Scott no difficulties. In the spring semester, Scott signed up to take the theories of counseling class once again with the same professor, but the same types of issues cropped up again between Scott and the professor. As the semester progressed, the professor would make certain comments to Scott that he thought were somewhat derogatory to him. The very last week of class the professor wanted to see Scott in his office. They met before class, and they discussed the same issues that came up during the last time Scott was in the class.

As the meeting was ending, and nobody else was around the area the professor told Scott. "the only reason why you have came this far in your education was from professors feeling sorry for you due to your disability". This made Scott quite angry and immediately came home to his apartment and wrote up a grievance letter concerning Dr. William Emener’s comments to him. Dr. Emener is a noted psychologist and professor at the university. The next morning Scott met with the Students Disability Services director to discuss this serious matter about the professor. She suggested that Scott get into contact with the dean of the graduate studies, and the dean of the arts and sciences where the rehabilitation and mental health counseling program is located in the university.

Scott met with the dean of the graduate studies; however, he could not get involved with his situation because he and Dr. Emener co-wrote a book together. Scott then went to the office of Equal Opportunity that helps individuals with civil rights matters to discuss it with them. They wrote down what occurred the night before, and Scott was unsure about taking the final exam in the class. They recommended that he take the final exam in the class. He finally decided to take the test and see what happens. Scott filed a official complaint with the professor and with the school because he felt that the professor showed extreme prejudice and bias against him. It took several weeks for the school to investigate the matter meanwhile Scott received a "C" in the class which didn’t surprise him.

Scott finally received a reply to his complaint, and it basically said that the professor shouldn’t have said that to him; however, there was nothing more to be done about the matter and if he wanted to appeal it he could but he decided not to. He just wanted it to be on noticed that the professor who is considered to be a well known authority on people with disabilities would say that to a student.

Scott didn’t know what to think about this. He started off the next semester taking two classes but was unsure about whether or not he would continue on for his master‘s degree. There was a new director of the rehabilitation and mental health counseling program who was also Scott’s academic advisor Dr. Charlotte Dixon encouraged him to continue on with the program, but after a while Scott decided to withdraw from his classes and to work on his business. During this time Scott’s agency continued making progress in obtaining clients and had good success in finding extremely qualified individuals to work for him. He was nominated to the Interagency Quality Council that met several times throughout the year to discuss the Home and Community Based Services program. His parents would drive him all over the state to attend these meetings and he became a well known individual with state officials. His parents were encouraging him to continue on with his master’s degree because nothing stopped him before from achieving.

This incident with the professor really discouraged and disheartened him. Scott was somewhat unsure whether or not to continue on with his education. He did take some classes the next semester, but he withdrew from them during the semester. He was put on academic probation because his grade point average dropped below a 3.0 which in graduate school is the lowest a student must have to continue on. This was due to the low grade that the professor gave him in the class. He decided to work on growing his business which was progressing a long quite well. During this time, Scott did a lot of thinking and talking to his parents about what he should do about his education.

In the summer of 2003, Scott decided to enroll in a substance abuse class. He was finally on his way of earning his master’s degree again. During the next semester, he enrolled in two other classes which he did quite well in them. It was now time for Scott to start working on his practicums and internship to be able to graduate with a master’s degree. Scott was concerned about where he was going to do a practicum due to his transportation problems. He decided to do his first practicum at Self-Reliance which is the center for independent living in Tampa. He visited the facility in late November of 2003 and was somewhat leery about it. He would have to take two city buses each way and spend over two hours one way getting there and back home again. The center is only like ten miles away from Fontana Hall, but city buses take a long time to get from place to place. He decided to try it the next semester.

After the Christmas holiday Scott was taking the practicum class and another class while working at Self-Reliance for sixteen hours a week. He would leave home around 9:00am and wouldn’t get to the center until around 11:00am. He would then leave the center around 3:00pm and wouldn’t return home until 5:00pm which was a very long day for Scott. He would have to do this for four days a week while being in school one day a week. The worst thing about working at Self-Reliance was that they just moved into a new building which wasn’t totally accessible for people in wheelchairs. He would have to go to the local drug store to use the restroom which he wasn’t comfortable about leaving the center. They were working on getting a wheelchair accessible restroom, but the director could not tell him when this would occur due to their budget. He did this for about a week or so, but he could not deal with the long bus ride and not having a restroom that was accessible to him. He talked to the professor that was teaching the class about his concerns about his practicum. The professor told him to talk to the other professor that was in charge of the practicum sites.

This professor and Scott had a good relationship from the start. Scott and the professor both agreed that the best solution to his problem was for Scott to do his practicum with Students Disability Services on campus which helps students with disabilities. Scott made arrangements to talk to the assistant director of the S.D.S. office which she and Scott had a good working relationship during the last five years. She was also physically disabled herself, and she had earned her master’s degree from the same program fifteen years before. She spoke to the director and agreed to allow Scott to work there for sixteen hours a week which was broken up into four days.

During this time Scott was continuing building his business and was talking to the professor about using his own agency for the practicum and internship, but there were concerns about Scott being the boss of his own company and the professor was extremely concerned about supervision part of the practicum. Scott started working at the Students Disability Services office where he was responsible for delivering exams around the huge campus. His electric wheelchair could make several runs to each building around the huge campus in a few hours that persons who were walking to deliver exams would take them a half hour to deliver one test where Scott could do the same thing within ten minutes in his wheelchair. He was also working on several research topics for the Student Disability Services office and would sit in on staff meetings on Friday mornings which he enjoyed.

As the semester progressed he and the professor would discuss using his own agency to do his next practicum and later internship. There were still questions about supervision for Scott being his own boss. The assistant director of the Students Disability Services office also indicated to the professor that she didn’t think it was appropriate for Scott to do his next practicum there due to their overall duties in the office. She suggested that they work out something with him for him to use his own agency because he was doing more types of jobs with his own agency then he was doing at the Students Disability Services office. Scott had developed a good working relationship with several people that work for the state at the Department of Children and Family Services in Tallahassee through his agency and being on the Interagency Quality Council.

He suggested to Dr. Ferrandino that worked on the practicum sites that he would acquire somebody from Tallahassee to be his supervisor for his agency. He especially was considering this one professor that works for the state to help him with the supervision part of the practicum. Scott emailed this professor about whether or not he would help him with the practicum, but he wanted to know more information what he would be responsible for. He also wanted to talk to Scott’s professor to find out how he would handle this. This professor that works for the state knew Scott for several years and was extremely helpful for him if he had problems with a certain thing with his business because Scott is doing business with the state and this professor is responsible for quality assurance with vendors.

Scott finally worked it out so he could use his agency for his practicum and internship classes to be able to complete the program. It worked out extremely well for everyone concerned because living in Florida there are limited agencies that work with people with physical or developmental disabilities. During the summer semester, Scott worked on his practicum through his agency and he attended another Interagency Quality Council meeting which was held near the university in June. The summer semester ended and Scott earned an "A" in the class, and he was entering his last semester at the University of South Florida. He would be taking two classes in the fall semester which were the internship class and the group theory class about how to counsel people in groups. The professor that was assisting Scott with his internship was quite impressed with his overall accomplishments being physically disabled and receiving the same types of services that he was also providing through the state.

During the fall semester, the state of Florida was hit by four hurricanes which was quite difficult for Scott to deal with living pretty much on his own. The last hurricane that hit Miami in late September there was supposed to be another Interagency Quality Council meeting in Miami that week. The meeting was cancelled and rescheduled for December. The semester was progressing along quite nicely for Scott however, he would be required to take and pass what is known as comprehensive exams to be able to graduate with his master’s degree. This would be the final requirement so he could graduate in December with his master’s degree. During the same time his agency acquired a few new clients that would use his agency for their services. The director of the program and Scott were discussing how to have him to take this comprehensive exam for several months before.

Scott thought everything was set up for him to take the exam on a certain date. The Friday before the exam he called Dr. Dixon and asked her about the final preparations for him. He didn’t talk to her because she had already left for a meeting in Washington D.C. during the next week but she left him a message about him tape recording his answers to the questions. He didn’t feel comfortable with this idea due to his speech impairment and not knowing if certain professors would be able to understand his entire answers to the questions on tape. He was very concerned about this and Dr. Dixon who was the director of the rehabilitation and mental health counseling program and was also his academic advisor for the last four years. She was extremely helpful towards Scott and his overall accommodations in his classes. The next week was supposed to be the exam, and Scott was unsure about how he would take it and do his best. He also talked with Dr. Ferrandino that he really liked and who was teaching the class on the internship about his situation with the exam.

There were several attempts to reach Dr. Dixon in Washington D.C. during this time to see a solution for his concerns. After she came back on the next Friday which was the exam she left a message for Scott to call her back on that Monday to see what the department has come up with for Scott to take the exam. The department finally recommended that someone from the Students Disability Services would proctor the test for Scott, but this person had to be an excellent writer that could write everything down in the proper language for Scott to be able to do his best.

The Students Disability Services office had a court reporter on file to have her come to the university and help students with disabilities take their exams. This idea was excellent for everyone concerned. Scott would be allowed as much time as he needed to take the exam. The woman would be available in the late afternoon because she had to drive over thirty miles each way to be able to work with Scott on this last project. The final arrangements was for him to take three afternoons to complete the exam with each session lasting a few hours each. There were twelve questions total and each student would be required to answer ten of them. They all dealt with what the students have learned during the program. Scott finally started taking the exam on a Thursday afternoon and then once again on that Friday. He answered seven of the ten questions by the end of Friday and only had three more questions to answer on the next Monday.

The next Monday Scott decided to go to the mall in the early afternoon and to have lunch there before the exam. On the way back home his left wheel on his wheelchair broke, and he had difficulties steering his chair. He finally got over to school to meet with the woman who was helping him with the exam. He met the secretary for the program, and she told him that the lady was still in court and she could not come that night to help him. She wanted to make arrangements for that Tuesday, but Scott told her that he had to get his wheelchair fixed the next day. This was the week of Thanksgiving so the school would be closed Thursday and Friday. He made arrangements with the secretary for him to complete the last set of questions that next Monday night after Thanksgiving. He went home to Naples to spend the weekend with his parents. His parents finally brought him back to Tampa in the mid afternoon the Monday, and there was a message on Scott’s answering machine telling him that the lady could not make it that night so could he make it the next night. Scott was somewhat concerned about starting and stopping the exam for almost ten days. He finally took the last set of questions and he felt confident that he did well on the exam. He finally took his last final exam for the group therapy class the day after he finished with the comprehensive exam to be able to graduate with his master’s degree.

The next week he would be in Miami attending another Interagency Quality Council meeting which he is very much involved with. His parents would be driving him back and forth from Naples to Tampa back to Naples then to Miami and then back to Tampa which was over one thousand miles for his parents to travel for him. He attended the IQC meeting in Miami the week he was supposed to graduate. He was calling the secretary for the program every couple of days to find out whether or not he passed the exam. He called the secretary one morning and left her a message about whether or not he passed. That afternoon he received a message on his cell phone that he did pass the exam and would be allowed to graduate on that next Saturday. His parents were so proud of him. He had made arrangements to attend the graduation ceremony on Saturday, December 11th at the USF Sundome. He and his parents would drive back from Miami to Tampa and stay in a hotel that Friday before he graduated. His agency now has ten clients and nine employees working for him. He attended the graduation ceremony early on Saturday morning, and he finally earned his master’s degree.

Everyone who knows Scott is quite amazed with his ambition and drive to accomplish things that were considered to be impossible for him. He now plans on building up his agency to help people who are like him and to continue developing new concepts and theories regarding individuals with disabilities. He never gave into negative stereotypes and what can or cannot be accomplished in life. He hopes that he can play a critical role in helping the state of Florida in providing better services for individuals with developmental disabilities. Scott has accomplished everything that he set out for even with a somewhat severe physical disability. He has earned his master’s degree and did graduate in good standing. He continues to build his agency which continues to help him lead a extremely full and productive life.

He thanks his parents Don and Christine Barrish who have supported him throughout his life and without them he could not have done this. He also wants to thank Dr. Steve Dunaway who works for the Agency for Persons with Disabilities and who helped him with being his supervisor for his practicum and internship. He also wishes to thank Dr. Joe Ferrandino and Dr. Dixon who supported Scott from the start in his graduate studies. He also wants to thank Melissa Cortez who helps him in the mornings and who has typed all of this. She has been working with Scott for one year now. He also wants to thank all the individuals that work for his agency especially Kurt who was his first employee, and they also have an unique friendship.

THE END!