Michael Bortolotto’s courage isn’t limited to a single event in his life, it is his life. Every single moment of it.

Ask Michael where he finds the courage to come back every day, (as he most assuredly does), and he’ll give you his funny, rubber-faced grin and tell you it’s more about the unleashing of what he calls a “Positive Rebel”: a no-holds-barred, man-of-action package of attributes, attitudes and beliefs that shape his life and charge his spirit.

But it has taken raw courage to learn to be this “Positive Rebel”. That energy has given Michael the means to face all of the many physical, mental and social obstacles he encounters as a series of personal challenges. He succeeds with an unfailing determination to overcome and a level of perseverance set on maximum. Then in true rebel style, embodying passion and commitment, Michael reaches out and into the world community where he teaches, motivates, encourages and inspires others to do the same in their own lives.

Michael has always had to learn how to live. Born October 12th, 1962, his parents spent an anxious year and a half watching him and worrying over their son’s lack of development. At Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, they received the shattering diagnosis that Michael suffered from Cerebral Palsy and would never walk or talk. They were advised to put him away in a special home, as was common at the time and leave his life to fate.

But the Bortolottos did not consider that to be an option. Having learned of a sensory stimulation program of patterning exercises developed at the Institutes For the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) in Philadelphia, where patients were manually exercised by groups of people on a regular and daily basis, Michael’s mother rallied community support to undertake the effort. For four years, Michael and his family endured a grueling program where five unstintingly loyal helpers, friends, family and neighbours, manipulated and worked his young body for hours at a time, twice each day.

Their efforts paid off: at six, Michael was not only able to walk and move himself about, he had also achieved a level of intelligible speech that allowed him to join other children his age at school. But there his significant differences became apparent to himself and others and Michael soon realized that the relentless obstacles to be overcome would appear in all shapes and sizes and some would have first and last names.

Because he couldn’t hold a pencil, he learned to memorize his lessons. Because he couldn’t talk or move the way the other children did and needed help to get through the most basic routines of each and every day, he learned what it is to be a perpetual victim of bullying. He suffered both physical and verbal abuse for years during his schooling. But he also learned valuable lessons in how to give fellow students and teachers the information they needed about him to understand their own ignorance and fear of the unknown, and ultimately succeeded in turning one of the worst of the bullies into a friend and lifelong advocate.

Humour has always played an enormous part in Michael’s life and achievements and he uses it liberally. He’s had to. Bitterness does not play a part in Michaels life. Ironically, his career choice at college seems an assertion of that super-human flexibility: Recreation Administration.

Successful at school, launching himself into the working world with a newly earned Diploma in 1987 proved to be a monumental task. Though educated with much to offer, socially he was still considered handicapped and unemployable. Michael decided to hire himself. He began his own company as a recreation consultant and was offered a chance to speak publicly on the challenges of being disabled. It was the “Aha” moment in Michael’s life.

Although the fear and challenge were enormous, Michael’s talent for motivational speaking was natural. He has to date given over 1100 presentations in Canada and the U.S. reaching more than 260,000 people publicly. Since 1987 he has involved himself extensively in the local community, working with Child Development services, as a Board member in the Nanaimo Citizen’s Advocacy group, on numerous committees and councils and presently sits on the Board of Directors for Youth Services in Nanaimo. He has been a Vancouver Island regional representative for the B.C. Coalition for People With Disabilities. As one of his first endeavours Michael led the development of the Nanaimo Independent Living Centre, a project designed to promote the empowerment of disabled individuals. Recently he chaired the Cowichan Valley United Way fund drive. He speaks regularly at local fundraisers and for youth and other non-profit organizations.

Michael’s message is always inspirational and personal. He speaks at corporate seminars and local schools and everywhere in between. He speaks to the individual in every group. He tells people about overcoming challenges, both small and large, such as taking 33 years to learn to tie your own shoes, and riding a bicyle, which only took him six. He talks about breaking down barriers and pushing limits, such as making a thriving career out of public speaking when They didn’t think you would talk, or loving the hiking, golfing, white-water rafting and other physical activities he engages in regularly when They told you you wouldn’t walk. He is passionate in his anti-bullying message; he is powerful in exposing fear as a lack of information and he is persistent in his encouragement of people to see themselves and others from the inside out and use each and every challenge offered as a chance to grow and expand.

Michael makes a difference in people’s lives and they tell him so: “You will laugh, you may cry but you will be a stronger person after listening to Michael”, said Abby Smolic of AGF Funds Inc in Vancouver. And after meeting him, it becomes very hard for anyone to say, “I can’t do that”.