It was a surprisingly warm day for October. Joe and I decided that we’d head over to our favourite place to have tea, a shop with a very small patio. We lucked out and got a table. Joe went in and got our drinks and we set about chatting and people watching. It was […]
We were at an arcade and Ruby had challenged me to a game of air hockey. I’ve not played in years. I found that being in a wheelchair I didn’t have the reach necessary to be able to play well and, frankly, I didn’t have the endurance either to be up, leaning forward and reaching […]
So, we’d made the reservation. I’m careful with reservations. “Fully accessible!” I’m told by a chipper person who’s taking down the details regarding time and number of people attending. “Fully accessible,” is a term much mistrusted in the disability community. At least my immediate community tenses with caution when hearing that two word phrase. We […]
“Oh, yes, we are fully accessible.” So we arrive at the Skylon Tower in Niagara Falls aiming at spending time in the arcade and then going up for a birthday lunch for both Ruby and Sadie who have September birthdays. I get out of the car and into my chair and roll over to the […]
I came round, like I always do, to the ramp that takes me up to where we often shop. As I did I noticed a big strapping man, with a tight tee shirt over a trim and muscular torso, over his shoulder was a gym bag with the emblem of the exercise facility inside the […]
I was sitting talking with someone about this weekend coming. I’m a little anxious about it and was expressing my concerns. You all know, because I’ve written about it so often, I’ve been working on my strength with a goal to increase my independence when I’m in my manual chair. This came about because, when […]
I have never fit it. Perhaps I should say more clearly, I have never felt that I fit in. As a very young boy I knew deep inside of me that I was different from other people. I lived in a small mining town where boys were boys and girls wore frills. It was the […]
Disability, in the minds of many, is an experience to be learned from, either as directly experienced or though second-hand experience as a parent or a care provider. “I’ve learned so much about life from having a disability.” “My clients have taught me more than I have ever taught them.” Haberdash and bullshit! If you […]
I thought about ashes. I tore the envelope open and ashes flew out. I was startled and stunned. Looking in the envelope for explanation I found amongst the ashes bits of paper that had not been consumed by flames, looking at it, I saw that it was from my book, “I Contact: Sexuality and People […]
Probably no one saw him. He was only there for the briefest of seconds. But it mattered to me that he was there and it mattered even more what he was doing. It was in one of the bigger scenes in “The Magnificent 7” which opened this weekend in Toronto. After our travels to the […]
