Educate Your Community

Does your business or group need an inspirational speaker?

Gary Harmon was born in 1960 to parents who didn’t know children with disabilities existed, and he was delivered by a doctor who didn’t believe he could live.

Gary was born with no right hand, only a thumb and pinky on his left, collapsed lungs, and no feet.

His physical difference was a result of a condition known as amniotic band syndrome, and since doctors neither then nor now know what “caused” this condition, Gary’s parents experienced some guilt about his disability, and as he puts it, “Shame and I were born on the same day.”

By telling stories about his experiences as a child with a disability growing up in the South, Gary attempts to highlight not what separates us but our commonalities. Gary believes that our differences should give us “unique flavor,” not divide us into different camps.

During his presentation, Gary will tell you about:

1. The doctor who delivered him had never seen a baby with a disability before

2. The same doctor told his parents not to name him

3. Nurses were ordered not to feed him or clean him

4. His military father was uncertain about rearing a child who had a disability

5. He got a good education and was student body president of high school and college

6. He has taught 25 years and started Challenge Accepted.

To hear Gary’s story and to be reminded about the things that unite us as humans finding our way through life, contact Gary by:

E-mail: gharmon617@comcast.net

Phone: (865) 696-5847

Or write:
Challenge Accepted
P.O. Box 50452
Knoxville, TN 37950