Meet William Volkmann

We were lucky to catch up with William Volkmann recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi William, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?

Being born with a disability, in my case Cerebral Palsy, to make it in society you must have an extraordinary amount of confidence and self-esteem. Society tends to knock people down with a disability, a generalized stigma. I learned this from an early age, I walked unusually way, and my mother would take me to the malls, and people would stare at a 6-year-old kid. My mother instilled in me that I was not the problem they were. When I was the first student with an intellectual or developmental disability to enter a New Jersey public school after the ADA was passed, many barriers remained, it would be up to me to break those barriers and stigmas. My parents sued the township we lived in, my mother built me up with the confidence and self-esteem to do it. I went to work breaking those stigmas and barriers down. Surprisingly enough my fellow students embraced me much sooner than the faculty. Yes, there were moments when students said troubling things to me, but that is when my confidence kicked in and my friends would stick up for me. The school district wanted me to fail, but the more things they put in my way I broke them down, and the more confidence I gained. A few years later all students with I/DD were able to attend public schools. I moved around a lot of states from high school and being the way, you project confidence and have plenty of self-esteem is the key to success. Many people told me I could not do things for example drive a car, live on my own, or move by myself to San Diego, but that gave me more drive built more confidence to do it. Yes, I get knocked down, but it is how you learn for it, and never giving up is the key to success. Right now, I am writing a TV Show that will change the perceptions of people with disabilities in how society views us, but also how we view ourselves. Again, people doubt that I can do this, but I know I can and how important it will be to change people’s lives.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am building a brand to empower people with disabilities to achieve the confidence, self-esteem, and courage they need to live a fulfilled life just like everyone else. I mention my TV show is based on my life in high school as a person, not my disability. It is about what you can do, not what you cannot do. It will show trials and dark moments of my life, but how I overcame them to be a successful person. It is a show for everyone, not just people with disabilities, in the way you can change perceptions of yourself and how to build confidence and self-esteem. It is a comedy/drama set in the 90s to uplift people and change the way people with disabilities are viewed and fully integrated into society. 65 million Americans have a disability we are the largest minority group in the country, and we need to be heard.

I work for a company that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. A big goal for next year is to open a coffee shop that can train people with I/DD to get a job, let them expand their minds, dream big, and know what is possible. I am so tired of people putting us in a box, we are all different, with different talents and gifts let us show you what we can do.

I also going to be a Life Coach for people with disabilities. I know when I was younger people would tell me what I could do, but I would not always believe them. I wish I had someone with a disability who I could talk to and who would encourage me and help me figure out ways to accomplish my goals and dreams.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, it was being knocked down by barriers, or people saying you cannot do something. If you believe in yourselves there is no limit to what you can do. I still remember the court ordered the school district to buy me a laptop for school, it took them two years to get me something, but it was a big typewriter or word processor, and they put it on the cart from the 1940s. Well, I just made sure my handwriting was better, so I would not need to use that. It is about adapting and figuring out other ways to do stuff.

Another is once you have confidence and self-esteem put yourself out there, meet people, and build connections. Those connections will lead to success. I found this out later in life, this is something if I could go back in time I would tell my younger self.

Take Risk it could be scary, but if you have a good plan, well thought out, be confident in putting it into action. Adjust, if it fails the first time, but you are confident in what is possible regroup build it from what you learned from your first failure, and set out and put it back into action. Just never give up.

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

I wrote a TV Show, I had various people read the script and they loved it. Now it the next step getting it in front of the right people who can meet with me and read it. Developing the real purpose around the show, it is a vehicle for change we need to have in the way we view people with disabilities and empower them to achieve their goals and dreams. It is about breaking down barriers like a wrecking ball, changing perceptions and stigmas. Building confidence and self-esteem plus courage in those who have disabilities. Like I said there are 65 million Americans with a disability. A half trillion dollars in disposable income is untapped. There is some untapped potential with people with disabilities that would change society for the better.

I have some connections and friends who are helping me with this but always can use more help.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @bvolkmann1
• Linkedin: William Volkmann