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Wheelchair Invisibility
I arrived at the furniture store around 11:45 last Sunday morning. I am in the market for a new recliner. A recliner is not just something in which to relax while watching the television for me – it is as essential to my life as breath itself. I can’t walk. I can’t stand up without…
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A Sisyphean Reflection
This may seem counterintuitive, but I don’t like to stand out in a crowd. I’d much rather just blend in, be one of the guys, and enjoy a kind of social anonymity. I don’t want to be in charge of the thing, the expert on…, or the guy who knows the answer. But life has…
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Speech Therapy
Back during the winter of 2006-07, I was hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai in West Hollywood. Following brain surgery which yielded a diagnosis of PML, I spent about a week in the ICU and then another week “recovering” in the posh “celebrity wing” I’d finagled my way into (just how is a story for another time). The…
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Too hot to handle
I moved to the desert on December 26, 2007. Literally. I decided to spend Christmas with my mom and dad that year, then head out for my new life as a disabled person. So when I arrived here, if you know anything about Palm Springs, it was beautiful. Bright, crisp days, endless sunshine. And temperatures…
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IMINUBU
I have wanted to write a tribute to Ken for some time, and as we celebrate Disability Pride Month this July, now seemed like the right time. Longtime readers of my blog will recognize the name from my coming out story or from my retelling of when and how I first heard about HIV/AIDS. I…
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No such thing as normal
People with disabilities account for 1-in-4 adults in the United States. Think about that; it’s a massive number! Though technically considered a “minority” group, there is nothing minor about it. People with disabilities are the largest and most diverse minority group in the country, representing all abilities, ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, religions, and socio-economic…
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Asking For Help
I got my first “powerchair” (motorized wheelchair) in 2014, seven years after I became wheelchair-bound, and it was nothing short of ecstasy. For the seven years prior, I had grown accustomed to being restricted to a wheelchair; I wasn’t happy about it, but I made the best of it. I lived on my own in…
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Come Fly With Me
I do not understand. When two sides have opposing views, you can generally look at the views in question, even when one side’s views are opposite your own, and see the reasoning that led to the adoption of that view. A good example would be the question of abortion; I think it should be legal,…
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Crawling for Justice
In the winter of 1990, the Congressional legislation to turn a proposed Americans with Disabilities Act into law had stalled in the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation. A lot of the systemic oppression that disabled people faced then (and still in many ways face today) is neglect rather than outright discrimination. If you (or society…
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The Right to Access and Assistance
Disability Pride Month is celebrated every July to draw attention to the disability community and to highlight the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law by President George H.W. Bush on July 26, 1990. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.3 billion people, or 16% of the people on the planet, are living with…
Your mileage may vary.