"I've been called a lot of names over the years," twenty-five year old Dan Wardrop says, "but I've only been beaten up once."

Dan suffered the name-calling and the beating because he has spinal encephalitis, a disease that leaves you physically uncoordinated and often affects your ability to speak clearly.

In Dan's case he has a very limited range of motion in one arm and little use of the fingers on that hand. The other arm has a 50% range of motion and he can use three of those fingers.

Dan didn't have a lot of friends growing up, especially in high school. In fact he still doesn't have a lot of friends outside his Tai Chi class -- He's been practicing Tai Chi for the past six years, something he says has helped him greatly.

The challenge of dealing with his physical and social difficulties led to a deep depression by the age of fourteen and finally, a decision to drop out of school in Grade 11.

Fourteen to seventeen were the critical years, Dan told me. Since then, although the depression hasn't improved much, it hasn't got worse either. The big difference, he says, is that he has been getting better. That's been especially true over the past six months to a year.

He attributes these positive changes to the fact that he began working with Bud Roworth and later, Debbie Provencher from the Vancouver Island Vocational and Rehabilitation Services.

Like most young people, Dan began dreaming about driving a car in his early teens but he never did anything about it because of his disability. He didn't think he could pass the test.

With the philosophy that you'll never know if you don't try, Debbie encouraged him to go to Vancouver to take a driving simulation test and he did. Unfortunately the results were not what they had hoped for … His reaction time was too slow.

Most of us would perceive this as a failure but it wasn't. It was a turning point.

"I felt good about myself because I had tried," Dan says, "and after that I began to look forward to other new challenges.

Both Roworth and Provencher are amazed at Dan's progress in a relatively short period of time.

"Dan has a fabulous memory," Provenchier says and when they discovered his interest in library systems, they managed to get him a work experience opportunity first in a video store and later at the Quarterway School library followed by a summer volunteer position at the Malaspina library and then back to Quarterway.

During this time he has also started doing the high school upgrading program at Malaspina, moved into his own apartment for the first time and, in the process, gained a huge amount of self-confidence.

"I am definitely more assertive, more responsible and more mature," Dan says.

His career goal at the moment is to finish his upgrading and then take a two-year library technician's diploma. That goal might change over the years, he says, but at least he has a goal that he's working toward.

Dan's advice for others who are facing some kind of personal challenge is first, to face up to your problem whatever it might be and then to find someone to talk to. That person might be a friend, he says, but better yet, find a counselor.

"I say do it," he stressed. "The rewards are limitless."

Dan Wardrop has proven that old adage. There's no doubt, the most difficult step in any journey is the first one.