About

Hello I’m Marie Nicole Zimmerle

My Life Verse

‭Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV‬
[5] Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; [6] in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

About me:

Hi, my name is Marie Nicole Zimmerle., I am 43 years old and I was born with Cerebral Palsy. I am an advocate,singer and dancer.

My journey to embracing and accepting my disability has been a long one. I spent half of my life wanting to be what I believed was normal, and for me that meant denying that I needed a wheelchair even though in my younger years I had grown up as a wheelchair user. I also learned how to walk when I was 8 years old. Being able to be empowered by the disability community has been life-changing. I do not consider this life-change a phase. It is something that I’m willing to embrace for the Long Haul.

My Values

1. Faith: I believe in and trust in Jesus Christ without him I would not exist today he is the creator and sustainer of everything.

2. Community: Up until recently I considered my community to only be my church and the socialization that went along with it. Now that I have grown I see the value of having friends that look like me. Having wheelie friends has been life-changing it’s awesome to connect with people that know exactly what you’re going through.

3. Love: I believe that God calls us to love others even though we may not like them. I also believe that I have grown to love the way that I was created and that wasn’t always the case.

4. Affection: I love giving and getting hugs

5. Cooperation: I try to always be a team player and even though it’s not always my strong suit I put my best foot forward and I’m a team player with others.

6. Understanding: I try to always see where other people are coming from and be an active and good listener without talking

7, patience, this is a value that God has been growing in me my whole life because I need assistance in life. So I try to be as patient with others as possible and like many other traits of mine, this is something that I’m working on.

8., Service: I love serving others whenever I can. My favorite way to serve my community in church is by singing with my church choir and of course, throughout the week my favorite way to serve is by hosting encouragement notes.

9. Learning : I love learning new things especially those things about the disability community that I’ve pushed away for so long.

10. Independence: I enjoy the times that I’m able to be by myself or unaccompanied but with friends. I know that I need extra assistance before I can actually be independent but I value my Independence greatly because it is something that has helped me grow.

11: self-respect: I’ve learned over the past 3 years, the way you carry yourself is the way people will see you. So know your value and be proud of how you were created because it’s not a mistake.

Mission statement of Encouragement Notes

Encouragement notes was created as a passion project in October of 2020 and it was created to help people become the person God created you to be.

Personal mission statement

This is my personal mission statement. I vow from now on to be the best participant I can be in the disability community! I will not look at people with disabilities as weird or other and I will seek to understand their personal stories if told to me. I will open myself up to always learning about our history and where we can go in the future. I promise to be the best example I can be to the younger generation or to somebody who recently joined our community due to injury or illness.

Favorite communication styles

Public speaking to small or large groups.

Small group Bible studies

Phone calls or texting

Blogging

Making Youtube Videos

Coffee with friends

Podcast hosting

I dream of being part of a group that works toward making accessibility backstage in theatres a common thing. All performers deserve professional jobs without the feeling of doing something inspirational or groundbreaking

Volunteer and work experience

Member of the hiring panel for the executive director of Lanterman Regional Center

One day process April 5Th 2025 at Lanterman Regional Center

Member of Lanterman Regional Center Board of Directors

July 24,2024-2026

Encouragement Notes podcast: Host

October 21st, 2020 – present

A member of partners in policy making- a committee put together by ARCA (association of regional Center Agencies)

March 18th 2024-

Graduated

June 16th 2024

Lanterman Regional Center self-advocacy leadership training August 16th through September 8th 2023

Member of Lanterman Regional Center programs and services committee

June 2024 to present

Advocacy and representation interest

I also dream of being the first Elphaba In a Wicked production that is actually green

Cerebral palsy is represented by green

https://www.instagram.com/encouragementnotespodcast?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==