The Launch: Luke Anderson

After an offroad cycling accident, Luke Anderson acquired a spinal cord injury. He talks in this video about how he is launched into trying out new things. One is film making. He speaks about overcoming barriers , fears and what he calls being a "stubbornly independent person" before his accident and how that has led him to new experiences.

Update: Teacher loses job for duct taping disabled student to wheelchair

In an update to a story posted here last week, a teacher was denied a contact after duct taping a disabled boy's only functional arm to his wheelchair. Special education teacher Leslie Garcia was denied a teaching contract for next year by the San Luis Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) executive board.

Anthony Birden's grandmother stated "They took away his dignity. They took away his freedom to use the only limb that works on his little body. He couldn't reach for his water. He couldn't reach for anything." The middle school student has shaken baby syndrome and is non ambulatory and nonverbal. He communicates with his right hand.

Wheelchairs are Liberating

"Confined to a wheelchair"

"Wheelchair bound"

How often do we hear these phrases or read them in newspaper articles?

Unfortunately, pretty often. But many wheelchair users don't feel that way. Gary Karp talks in this video about how he is liberated by his wheelchair.



I have spent time confined since I acquired my disability. There was the waiting period for a variance to get a ramp when my wheelchair couldn't get up and down the steps. That was being confined. There was the time before I was able to get my power chair and I couldn't push a manual chair, so I stayed in a recliner. That was being confined.

But I've never been confined by my wheelchair.

The word bound brings to mind action. I'm bound and determined to get things done, to go places to get inside places that present challenges or obstacles. But I'm not bound to a wheelchair. I'm in and out of it. It's not attached anywhere. It's a piece of equipment, a tool to achieve mobility. And yet it's seen so differently by some people.

I know my wheelchair is sometimes seen first, before I am. I can't control how people perceive me in my wheelchair or the assumptions they make. I can, however, hit the joystick and go full speed down empty sidewalks with my hair blowing in the wind.I can use my wheelchair to work, to play in the leaves, to travel, to shop, to visit friends, to eat out, to get where I need to go. Does that sound confining?

Wheelchair users find our own words to link to wheelchairs, which dispel those images that trap us in. Think of your wheelchair as a toy, says Aaron Fotheringham, as he does back flips in his. Some will think of a wheelchair as a gift, if they've been home bound.

I sometimes think of my wheelchair as a place for my cat to nap. Cats have good taste. The cushions are comfy.

The possibilities are unlimited.

Memorial Day: Forgotten Veterans

via You Tube:

After the Office of the Medical Investigator told Bernalillo County officials about a build-up of unclaimed cremated remains, the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services is taking action.

The remains of 14 veterans, from nursing homes, will be placed in urns with military symbols and the Unforgotten Hero logo. A ceremony will be held June 3.

'Access begins in the heart'

At the Enabling Faith conference held this past month in New Jersey, advocates sent this message to a religiously diverse audience: "people with disabilities will be welcomed, valued and honored at religious services. Not shuttled off to a separate program, the "crying room,'' or the last pew, but invited to be full participants in spiritual events."

Ginny Thornburgh, director of the American Association of People with Disabilities Interfaith Initiative and author of "That All May Worship.' stated that access includes thinking in new ways and begins in the heart, stressing it is "about social justice, not pity." She added that inclusion "creates an environment "where no one is treated like a troublemaker or a nuisance, but is honored and enjoyed."

Living with Spina Bifida: Abigail

Abigail talks about living with spina bifida, the importance of her family and reaching for goals.



If you have a child with disabilities and would like to find out more about adaptive sports, check out We Push Sports.

Who's Counting?

Perhaps it's because for years I traveled with these two friends, but when we were reunited at the Abilities Expo, being together felt as if we'd never been apart.

Without missing a beat, we immediately slid into the way we are together, laughing at old jokes and smiling at each other's foibles. And in the six hours we shared the same space, these friends whom I see these days only via email, Facebook and hear from on the phone reminded me why relationships can remain strong over distance.

We know how to be with each other. They reach over without asking and open my straw, slip it into my drink with the familiarity that comes from all those shared spaces in real time years ago. When I thank them for their help, they ask "What help?"

I tell them that when I ask a stranger for help, I'm sometimes told "You should bring someone along to help". My inability to do physical things is seen as an unacceptable burden, a bother to some very vocal people.

This kind of attitude is why we have warehoused people with disabilities in institutions for years, out of sight. It's as if some in our society are afraid of what would happen in a world where people who need help getting straws out of paper covers were set loose. Do they imagine hordes of us hitting Starbucks at noon, causing havoc by holding up the line and asking "Can you open this for me?"

My friends open doors and straws and cans without thinking. They know what I can and can't do physically. We don't debate whether they should do it. We don't judge why I need the help. I'm a quadriplegic. I lack dexterity. We get that all relationships are, at their best, interdependent.

When I asked them at the end of the day how many times they had to help me, my friends' eyes glazed over. "Two?" one says. "Ten," the other says. "Even it it was ten," my first friend says, "at what point should you have to pay for help just to go out? Needing two things? Five things a day? Ten things a day?"

We were all suddenly silent. The waitress brought the bill. I struggled with my money and my friend reached over and grabbed the dollars, made change and put the bills in my wallet.

"Eleven," I said.

To which my friend said "Who's counting?"

But I'm reminded on almost a daily basis that some people are.

Brad Goldman, artist

I met Brad Goldman at the Abilities Expo. Brad, who has cerebral palsy, is an artist who has been designing custom greeting cards since he was ten years old and has his own business called BRADesigns. His display showed how varied his work is. His note cards were beautifully drawn and packaged. He also sells holiday and special occasion cards.

You can see a sampling of his work online.

Brad was just one of the many talented vendors with disabilities at the expo.

For more information or to place an order please contact Brad: brad@bradesigns.com

Just back from the Abilities Expo

I just returned from the New York Metro Abilities Expo. If you've never been to an expo, I suggest you check one out if you can. They have everything from wheelchairs to adaptive sports exhibitions to information booths and more. It's a great place to network and explore different ways of doing things.

I was especially impressed with the young man who climbed up the adaptive rock climbing exhibit. He made it all the way to the top while his service dog looked up protectively. My friend was able to get a picture and I'll try to post it when she sends it to me.

I also saw the Wheelchair Super X. I don't have a video from today, but below is a video from the LA Expo.



About half a dozen youngsters in power chairs raced around the super x track before the demonstration began. They started out a bit tenuous and then picked up speed with their parents running after them. Guess who won? I saw some journalists there taping and if I find any video I'll link to it.

UPDATE: here's some great pictures of the expo from ThisAbled including the rock climbing and a motorcycle with ramp access!

More to come....

Teacher duct tapes disabled boy's arm to wheelchair

Anthony Birden, a 12 year old with shaken baby syndrome, who can only communicate with his right hand, had that hand restrained with duct tape by a teacher in Colorado. Teacher Leslie Garcia said it was the only way she could make him stop doing a gagging movement. The boy's grandmother says that is the way the child communicates.

The district attorney decided not to charge the teacher. However, the incident continues to be investigated by the Center for People with Disabilities, who believe the act is against state law. After they submit a report, they will follow up with the school. A review by the federal office of civil rights may take place.

"This shouldn't have happened," says Stephen Bohrer, the executive director of the San Luis Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or BOCES. It's the agency that trains and places special education teachers throughout the San Luis Valley. "We have policies in place, we have handbooks in place that would forbid it," says Bohrer.

A video report can be seen here.

Click here to read more.

An act to prevent the use of mechanical and physical restraints and seclusion of students in schools was passed by the House March 3, 2010 (Keeping All Students Safe Act, H.R. 4247). It was received in the Senate and read twice before being referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Disability Blog Carnival : Tell the Story is up!

Head on over to Barriers, Bridges and Books for the newest disability blog carnival with the theme of Tell the Story. As usual, wonderful diverse posts on a variety of perspectives from bloggers. Enjoy!

Let's all dream on

Artie walked last night on Glee. He even danced on two feet.

I knew it was coming.

In an episode entitled Dream On (with Neal Patrick Harris guest starring), Artie went through all kinds of changes about the possibility of curing his spinal cord injury. He tried to get up on crutches to walk and fell. He researched treatments and wound up in the counselor's office, where his hopes were greeted with the fact that it's research and years away.

What Artie took away from that is he decided to sing rather than dance in a Glee number, saying that his partner deserved better and that anyone could dance better than him except Finn. That may be true, but it's not because he's using a wheelchair. It's because he doesn't know how to dance in a wheelchair.

First of all, it's difficult for me to wrap my brain around a nondisabled actor playing a disabled guy in a wheelchair who gets out of the wheelchair in a dream sequence to pretend he's nondisabled - because that's his dream. Say what?

The problem with all this is that children and teens, who still buy into the fantasy of the entertainment world, are watching Glee in large numbers. Meanwhile, kids I love are being excluded in real life from class trips and social and educational opportunities, mainly because of how society thinks about disability. Just think about the messages sent in last night's episode:

You can't walk, so you can't dance.
You can't walk, so you can sit over there and wait while I get you a pretzel upstairs.
You can't walk, so sit in one spot and hold this for me.

And then:

I can't walk, so get another partner.
I can't walk, so I can't dance, I'll just sing.
I can't walk, so I can't realize my dream.

Message after message of what Artie, the kid in a wheelchair, can't do. No wonder kids with disabilities are still excluded from opportunities. It's not because of their wheelchairs or because they can't walk far enough- it's because of how we think about disability. How teachers, educators and peers think about it. How they themselves are taught to think about it.

Maybe we advocates need to start breaking into song to show that to "dream on" only about walking or being nondisabled is a silly ableist fantasy.

And to let people know that we can do what they can, in a different way - and sometimes we can do even more.

Not overheard from a wheelchair

Walmart on a Sunday around here is like going to an Apple store when they bring a new product out. It's always busy. Let's go to Target, I tell my mother. But Walmart is cheaper, she says. Yeah, I tell her, but it's far less crowded in other stores.

Of course things can happen anywhere, not just in Walmart. Things tend to happen when it's more crowded, although I've had them happen in a place that's almost empty when another customer sees me as in their way and, without warning or saying anything, just pulls merchandise over my head or knocks into me.

When I used a manual chair, it was easier for me to extricate myself out of situations where I became surrounded by people. In my power chair, nicknamed the Beast, I'm reluctant, because I don't want to injure anyone. So when I'm looking at an item and someone steps behind or in front of me where there isn't really room, I'll ask them not to do that and they inevitably say "It's okay."

What's okay? I think. That if I breathe on my joystick your foot will be run over? That I can no longer move an inch now? That you're hanging over me and lifting merchandise over my head which inevitably you drop on me?

No, it's not okay.

I'll only be a minute, they say. (I think these folks are related to those who illegally use parking spots.)

Yesterday a woman literally hung her body behind the back of my power chair, knocking one of my wheelchair accessories into my face and glasses. She then dropped merchandise on my head,("oops!" she said) which hurt by the way, and when I asked her to back off since I couldn't move (someone else did the same to me in front), she said she wasn't doing anything wrong. Then she went into a tirade at me because she didn't go in front of me, she went in back of me so what was the issue? Clearly I was being unreasonable.

My face hurt. My head hurt. And, yes, this is the tirade she spewed at me while I sat there, physically trapped by her because I asked her to not hang over the back of my power chair.

Not overheard from a wheelchair: not an apology that she dropped something on my head, pushed my accessory into my face. In fact, I discovered later, my accessory is broken but since it was behind me, I couldn't tell.

Anyhow, while we all debate what causes this kind of behavior, I have to go work now to pay for things like new accessories. That stings because there are other items I could use, really use and they move lower on the list because of someone else's carelessness.

And although it can happen anywhere, next time I'll say "No, Mom, going to Walmart is not cheaper." At least not for me.

Video review of a Quad Reacher: The Cripper

Chris shows in this video what this quad reacher called The Cripper can do. Some pretty amazing stuff! It's on my wish list.

My love/hate relationship with Glee

I have a love/hate relationship with Glee.

I love that they have hired actors with disabilities for several characters with disabilities in the show.

I hate how they are sometimes portrayed.

For instance, last night's episode "Laryngitis" featured a male quadriplegic who was shown only in bed for both scenes. (I believe they said he was a C-4. I'm talking about the fictional character, not the actual actor). I have friends who are C-4's and they do stay in bed, but at night. During the day they are in wheelchairs.

There was a story line about how this character drove his power chair into the pool so perhaps someone can argue that he had no wheelchair. All I know is that the image of this quad in bed is seared in my mind- and now in many viewers' minds. I hate that.

I hate that because I spend a lot of time undoing myths and assumptions about what it's like to live with paralysis. Some assume I have no life. Some assume I am bedridden. Some assume I am sick all the time. Some assume I can't work. Some assume I'm ready to drive my power chair into a pool because if it happened to them they would. You get the picture.

I was hoping to see a vibrant character who was a quad. I was dreaming that his song would be sung from his wheelchair dressed to the hilt, not naked under a blanket from a hospital bed.

I don't think I'm asking too much, but many will say I am I suppose.

As for the scene about holding hands and whether quads can feel it - some can, some can't. I can't, but where the script told the actor to say that he remembered what it felt like when someone holds his hand, I think my response would be that when someone holds my hand, I feel it in my heart.

In my heart, I hope to see the talented young actor back again in his wheelchair. He gave a great performance. He sang beautifully. And I love that he was given a chance on TV.

I do love Glee for that. It's all a beginning.

Now how about hiring a writer who knows what living with quadriplegia can be like?

To all you mothers, in every sense of the word

Even when it's Mother's Day, the ableists are out. They are folks who, among other things, are bound and determined to treat people with disabilities badly because they think they can.

I felt sorry for my mother when we ran into a waitress who acted as if I wasn't capable of ordering my own meal yesterday. I watched as her eyes filled with tears when I was insulted in front of her.

I pushed back. That's what advocates do, even on Mother's Day. Maybe particularly on Mother's Day. I believe I did it for all the mothers out there, in every sense of the word.

After a few exchanges, it became clear that not only was I capable of ordering my own meal, I was capable of a lot more. There was push back, of course, and I pointed out that some thought I was an uppity cripple when I refused to allow myself to be insulted. Mouths dropped open, people almost swooned at my open use of the word. You see, folks like this think it and act on it and don't know how to react when you just put it out there.

The way I see it is if I want to use the word, that's a lot different than someone using it as a taunt.

Cripple is fine as a word
When used crip to crip
But not as a taunt
Or a slam
Then cripple just ripples
Hate and disdain
Of me – as I am.

Copyright 2009 A Different Light

And people don't have to call you a name to treat you badly. Actions speak louder than words.

When I was done, my mother smiled at me.

So did the guy whose wife pushed him into the restaurant and parked him at a table caddy corner to ours. He was a middle aged man and he looked frightened, although the restaurant was practically empty. I spotted him as a newbie, someone who recently acquired a disability.

His head was down at first. He stared at the table, not wanting to be there. I heard his wife say "You need to get out." Turns out she's a nurse. He kept staring at that table, boring holes into it.

After the little incident with the waitress, the guy at the adjacent table was no longer staring at the table. He was smiling at me, his head held high.

I noticed that when the waitress went to take the order over at his table, she didn't treat the guy in the wheelchair as if he was stupid.

That's the great thing about pushing back. Maybe we don't change what people think, but we can start by calling them out when they act inappropriately. It isn't often when I do this that I see the ripple effect where the next guy in the wheelchair is treated a bit better or encounters less of a hassle. But this time it worked, at least for one more customer.

So Happy Mother's day to everyone, to those who advocate for us and with us and encourage us to advocate for ourselves. And to all those mothers who think advocates are uppity cripples, well Happy Mother's Day to you too.

Just don't expect any of us to take your ableist crap, even on Mother's Day.

Disability Pride Parade

via YouTube:

Disability Pride is a film about a community fighting to be seen and heard, to be acknowledged as able and proud.

The film weaves 'on the street' interviews with verite footage of the 6th Annual Disability Pride Parade in 2009 to convey human experiences that promote the belief that disability is a natural part of human diversity and can take pride in its heritage and culture.

The parade, held every year in Chicago, is the first of its kind in the world and people travel far and wide to attend the event. The next parade is on July 24, 2010 and the filmmaker's hope that this film can persuade more people to attend and show their support for Disability Rights

Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010

Today is Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010 and the posts are growing in number! Head on over to Diary of a Goldfish to read them and join in this diverse and welcoming event.