We moved! We actually made it. There were times where this felt so distant and so out of reach. But it worked! 1,000 miles and maybe giving our cat a little bit of head trauma later (NOT ON PURPOSE) we are residents in the Raleigh, NC area. We’ve learned that Raleigh and Durham aren’t that close together, the Raleigh airport is probably the prettiest airport I’ve been to, and-contrary to our first 5 days here- it does, in fact, rain. Today is a nice day, I’m writing this at a table by the pool in 85 degree weather. (See picture) I’m really happy we moved. However, making the apartment accessible…
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Hi! I’ve been gone for a month. There is a reason! My partner found out his workplace is closing, but we’re relocating! SO that means we’re moving halfway across the country in just over three weeks. And in my house, I’m the brains, not the power. So I used all of my brains to organize the move the last month and we’re finally in the packing stage. We’ve got the apartment, we’ve got the movers, we’ve got the plane tickets and we have our cat plan. Moving is hard for everyone. Moving with a disability? A logistical nightmare. Expensive. There’s more than just pick a place to live and a…
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I don’t care about being disabled. I don’t care about a magic cure. It’d be convenient to be able to walk and climb and jump and use the bathroom and take a shower just like everyone else, but I’m okay with never knowing how. Most people I tell this to don’t understand why I say this, but it’s a popular sentiment among many people with disabilities. So Much Work Most of us, if there were a cure tomorrow for all disabilities, would spend more time figuring out how to balance, bear weight, walk, dress, tie shoes, jump, stretch, run, drive, cook – any the activities we’ve never done before or…
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The Winter Paralympics started last Friday. But Peacock hid the Opening ceremonies at the bottom of the home page so it took forever to find it. This is completely different coverage than what the Winter Olympics received – and the Winter Olympics received very high ratings. So the Winter Paralympics should be getting a boost from a successful Winter Olympics games, right? Well… NBC promised that coverage would be nearly identical between the Olympics and the Paralympics, but it has been far, far worse and nearly forgotten. For reference, the Olympic Committee is different than Paralympic Committee. They are two separate entities that agree to have these events back to…
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Last week, I wrote about the pros and cons of some forms of transportation. This week, the focus is on paratransit services. Paratransit services are a type of public transit that supplements the fixed route systems for people with disabilities (and most of the time includes seniors). These services are provided to a person with a disability when you live a certain distance away from a bus stop. In my town, it’s one mile. I live .9 miles away from a bus stop and had to get a doctor’s note while in school that says I should not have to go to the bus stop a mile away in my…
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I do not complain about my actual disability at all. My mother even told me that this last weekend. I complain how outside factors make it hard for me to exist outside of my house – and even inside my house it’s hard. I don’t live in an accessible unit. The least accessible part of living in the United States is the lack of transportation options. We have public transportation in some cities, but they’re not the safest places to be, especially as a woman with a physical disability. We have Uber and Lyft, but they challenge disability rights and laws left and right. And wheelchair accessible vehicles aren’t readily…
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When I was in elementary school, I got to play recreation wheelchair basketball and hockey. Not the sled hockey, but still on the ice, and still a lot of crashing. It is probably the best time of my childhood. I would go and play basketball with other people just like me. I don’t remember if we were all the same age. The organizer was an adult man, but I can’t remember any of the people. I just knew I loved it and I wanted to go every time. I also would get McDonald’s after it most of the time, so that was another plus. Importance of Adaptive Sports Organized sports…
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In 2010, the Americans with Disabilities Act received updates to bring the Act into the Digital Age. One of these updates is concert ticketing. Recently, I attended a concert with my mom. Wonderful experience, 11/10 would do it again but maybe not on the coldest night of the year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Fiserv Forum is new, universally designed, and beautiful. The updated 2010 ADA law covers ticket sales and prices, what constitutes as “accessible seating”, the secondary ticket market, holding and releasing tickets for seating and fraud prevention when purchasing accessible tickets. That last part is a MAJOR problem. Purchasing Accessible Tickets Anyone can buy accessible tickets online. There is…
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I was born and raised in northern Wisconsin. If there is one thing that remains a constant, it’s how inaccessible the winter is. It’s miserable. If you don’t know anything about Wisconsin winter, it lasts about six months. If we’re unlucky, it snows for the first time at the end of September and the last snow has happened in the middle of May in my own memory. Currently, as I’m writing this, it is a whole 11 degrees outside. Two weeks ago, it was the coldest day of the year where the high temperature reached -9 degrees (F). I am always cold due to poor circulation and I have Reynaud’s…
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Life hacks are adaptations. They adapt a process of a chore to make that chore more efficient for an individual. It’s an adaptation. People with disabilities constantly adapt activities of daily living to make life easier to manage, often leading to more autonomous and/or independence – many times with adaptive devices. An activity of daily living is any routine task that is part of every day living. For example, eating and bathing. IADLs are more complex every day tasks like shopping, housework and organization, pet care and more. Both able bodied people and disabled people have routines. People with disabilities and those caring for and working with people with disabilities…