Calling In Miscommunicated
The snooze alarm had been going off for half an hour before it finally penetrated my brain enough to make me wonder what time it was. I peered blearily at the alarm clock with one eye, an act which suddenly made both eyes open wide so fast I may have sprained an eyelid. It was…
Freaks
I love the way kids react to my wheelchair. They’re fascinated, checking out the knobs, buttons and repeatedly coming back to the one thing that is verboten due to risk of injury: my joystick. They’ll ask a quick question or two about why I’m in the chair and why I can’t walk and we get…
Worthwhile Endeavours: A Poem about Disability Stigma
Updated November 10, 2021 There is so much stigma surrounding getting disability support. Not only do you have to prove to the syetem that you’re essentially legally dead, but others judge you for not working and treat you with suspision if you dare to enjoy your life. My poem Worthwhile Endeavours is a reaction to…
A Job Opportunity: Solving the Challenges of Writer Overwhelm
Updated November 30, 2021 The impossibility of juggling chronic illness, everyday tasks and writing good books at a decent pace pops up on a regular basis in my life. Every time, I look at my list — or List — and despair at ever catching up or being even vaguely proactive and organized. Did I…
All Dressed Up & Nowhere to Go
What I need to go outside my immediate neighborhood, I call WheelTrans. WheelTrans is Toronto’s paratransit service, run by the TTC (our public transportation system) and it is designed to provide transportation for people with disabilities who can’t use public transit so they can participate in the community on an equal basis with everyone else….
Sidestepping into Happiness
I was talking to a friend the other day about how this particular set of holidays used to be my annual experience of manic depression. Well, not the actual disease, but perhaps a little bit of insight into what it feels like. Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year and there is nothing about…
More Than a Little Overwhelmed
> Yesterday, I found out that I had won Best Disability Blog in the Canadian Blog Awards and I am dorky and uncool enough to admit that I am ridiculously excited. Being nominated was a thrill and winning is an even bigger thrill. A couple of weeks ago, I watched Barbara Walters “10 most fascinating…
Hobbled
A little while ago, I ran into (not literally) a woman I know, making her way slowly and painfully and on crutches into the building in which she lives. As she has been using a wheelchair permanently for over a year now, no longer able to walk further than tiny distances requiring only a few…
A Disability Blog?
Thanks to all of you voting, I’ve made it to the second round of the Canadian Blog Awards in the Best Disability Blog category and I’m beyond thrilled (does that make me more dorky?). Last week, I was all humble, saying that it was an honour just to be nominated and it is an honour…
Celebration x3
I used to be a bit of a culture vulture – went to concerts, museums and galleries, the opera and dance (modern, traditional ballet sort of bores me) – and most of the time, I went either with my mother or Ken. It was our “thing” and I have a lot of good memories connected…
I Thought It Was a Science?
Earlier this week, I read a post on one of the HealthCentral sites by one of their medical experts. This doctor started by saying she did not “believe in” a particular medical problem and continued to explain how she had come around by experiencing it herself. The particular site, doctor and medical problem are irrelevant…
Effortless: What Walking Looks Like to Someone Who Can’t Walk
I was 14 the last time I walked on my own steam and I did so with crutches and what felt like knives slicing through my joints at every step. Years of untreated juvenile arthritis had ravaged my body. Thirty years later, walking no longer makes sense to me – I have no muscle memory…