Rosemary Musachio’s life has been based on miracles and dreams. Like any other birth, Rosemary’s was a miracle but with a twist. Since she developed cerebral palsy at birth due to brain damage, Rosemary was presumed a vegetable by the doctor who delivered her.
Yet, another miracle happened when Rosemary proved that doctor dead wrong. For every limitation she has, she has been able to overcome it in one way or another. Although she cannot walk, she dances in her wheelchair to music. Although she cannot talk, she uses a word board to communicate quite eloquently. Although she cannot use her hands to perform daily tasks, she uses a head pointer to type on a keyboard.
Despite all her challenges, Rosemary has been able to accomplish a great deal during her life so far. She has made many of her dreams come true, one of which was becoming a writer. A year after graduating Cleveland States University Magma Cum Laude with a B.A. in Communications, she became a monthly columnist for Sun Newspapers in Cleveland, Ohio. Her column, Bit of a Challenge, was the paper’s most popular column, running for ten years. She also had articles published in The Plain Dealer and Italian Gazette. Additionally, she edited and published two monthly disability-related newsletters, The Able Informer and Ability Age. Issues still roam around the Internet. In her spare time, Rosemary writes poetry. In fact, one of her goals is to publish a book of her poetry.
Besides establishing herself as a writer and a poet, Rosemary has pursued another dream of traveling and setting new heights…literally. She has visited Italy (5 times so far), Germany, Austria, France, and Spain. During one of her visits to Italy, she even met the Pope! She also has a daredevil spirit. Several years ago she did tandem hanggliding in Ridgley, Maryland, where she went up twice at 2500ft and 5000ft. A year afterwards she took a ride on a customized motorcycle through eastern Metroparks and Chagrin Falls in Ohio. She even rode horses on a dude ranch in Colorado. No wonder her motto is “If you don’t accept challenges, you are not living.”
In September 2001, Rosemary saw an ad by TecAccess, a Virginia-based technology company, in a disability newsletter. It needed web testers, so she applied for the position. That commenced her fifteen-year career as an electronic and information technology (E&IT) accessibility analyst. Besides TecAccess, she also has worked for two other similar companies. Working for those companies has allowed Rosemary to present at major disability conferences including California State University, Northridge (CSUN), United States Business Leadership Network, and National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA).
Now that Rosemary is the Chief Accessibility Officer for Ruh Global Communications, she has realized another of her dreams. She is following her father’s footsteps since he was a local public relations man. She also loves the creativity that is involved in being a marketing specialist, crafting content and developing campaigns to convey important messages and ideas to the world. Particularly, Rosemary wants to help persons with disabilities like herself get their voices heard loudly.
When people say how inspiring Rosemary is, she shakes her head and rolls her eyes. Of course, she is humbled by and grateful for the compliment. Yet, she feels there’s nothing inspiring about living life to the fullest despite disabilities. Ironically, her parents and friends have been Rosemary’s inspirations. Without their love and support, she might have ended up where that doctor at the naval hospital insinuated to place her.