I made my mind up instantly. I didn’t like him. On our flight back from San Francisco the plane was jammed full. In our row I had the aisle, Joe the middle and a fellow a few years younger than us had the window. We had preboarded so we got up and let him in. […]
Image description: The Red Ramp at the Ed Roberts Campus, which descends from the second to the first floor in a large spiral and seems to hang from the ceiling with white thread. It’s affected me much more deeply than I thought it would. Indeed, I never really thought about the emotional aspects […]
A picture from a moment in my life. I have to go to the bathroom, really, really, have to go. I get in my chair and push as fast as I can to the accessible, family, washroom. I am in luck there is no one there. I push the door open. I can’t get it […]
Yesterday after a long drive up to Sacramento, and a room not yet ready for us, we decided to kill time by popping over to the mall for lunch. I’ve gotten a lot stronger over the last several months but as we both were busting for the toilet, Joe took hold and practically ran to […]
We were getting on an elevator. It was one of those cool elevators with a glass wall allowing you to watch your ascent or descent. Further, when it was on the ground floor, it looking right into a waterfall giving the rise from or the descent into an even nicer vista. We heard two children […]
Today, I simply didn’t have the patience it takes to be disabled. I learned early on to be forgiving of people in regards to a general kind of ignorance about disability and space and access. But let’s be clear that takes a kind of energy that doesn’t have an endless source. And today, I ran […]
It has been hard for me to follow the Paralympics because I have found very little coverage about it. Thank heavens for the Internet because through a couple of webpages I’ve been keeping up, daily, with Canada’s medal count. I wanted us to do well, I wanted our athletes to excel. I am a disabled […]
We were off to get our hair cut. I was paying close attention to where I was going because the place where we get our hair cut has temporarily been relocated because of construction. I’m not as familiar with this new pathway. I saw her ahead of me, chatting and laughing with a friend. She […]
Wheelchair users are more likely to be killed as a pedestrian when crossing the street. This is a fact that arises from a study that, finally, looks at the experiences of people with disabilities in real world situations. As disturbed as I am by what the study found, I need to state that I’m grateful […]
When I began working in the developmental services sector, those of us who worked directly with people with disabilities were called ‘front line workers.’ I never particularly liked the term, but probably not surprisingly the reason I didn’t like the word was about me and how I felt about my work. I objected to the […]
