Haitian amputees create community at L'Escale

via MSNBC's series on Haiti's amputees Building a Life Worth Living:

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In this video, a 4 year old tries out his prosthetic leg for the first time:

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Limbs for Life is collecting used limbs for amputees in Haiti.

The first 24 months after acquiring a spinal cord injury: on YouTube

Andrew, a T-7 paraplegic, has started making videos of the first 24 months after he acquired his spinal cord injury.

In his first video, he introduces himself and talks about his injury.




In this video, he filmed a typical day going to work.



Looking forward to more!

Dear Wheelchairmaker

I ran across this creative video this morning.



Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Helpful videos for new quadriplegics

Greg, who has been a C-4 quadriplegic for nine years, offers a series of YouTube videos showing the way he does things based on years of experience and trial and error. In this opening video, he introduces the series and talks about his wish to help others dealing with quadriplegia.




In this video , Greg talks about how using velcro helps him deal with remotes and keep objects he needs close by.



He also has videos about everything from making a bathroom accessible to using his computer and driving a modified van. Greg also shows how he independently puts on a shirt, brushes his teeth, shaves and washes his hair at a sink with a specialized faucet. You can find the rest of his videos here.

Thanks, Greg.

In search of....curb cuts?

In this video, Wheelchair Kamikaze, our host of past NY tours, goes in search of the Spirit of Audrey Hepburn statue in New York. However, he winds up spending quite a bit of his ride through NY city looking for curb cuts and facing some mighty big trucks head on....

Making Churches More Accessible

A video by the N.C. Conference Committee on Disability Concerns looking at how and why to make United Methodist Churches more accessible to persons with disabilities so that they might more fully participate in the life of the congregation. The video also promotes the need for UM Churches to participate in an online accessibility audit to assess what local churches need to do.

Vindicated

Finally, I can use the word, as long as I stay away from issues that matter.

I am vindicated for drinking coffee.

Liza Minelli signs Quiet Love

Liza Minelli sings and signs the song Quiet Love in this video.

You see, my lover makes no sound
His language is his hands
I watch his fingers dance
and try to understand
I try to understand
his elegant ballet
In my heart I can hear
the words he longs to say
And so I've learned to speak
a language he can hear
To tell him how I feel
whenever he his near
He lives around the block
it's just a little walk
We'll meet tonight at eight
At eight tonight, we'll talk

Oh my love, oh my love
Quiet love, quiet love
I am calm whenever you are near
And somehow I can hear
what your heart wants to say

I have a small surprise
To spring on you tonight
I'm learning how to sign
Please God I get it right
It's something that you do
With confidence and ease
I'm clumsier than you
This might come out Chinese

But come and fill my heart
Its never danced this way
I'm nervous and it's hard
I have so much to say
I've always been afraid
My dream seemed so unreal
But now I bless this world
For how you make me feel

Oh my love, oh my love
You are shy, so am I
But if you would tell me that it's true
You feel the way I do
Then tomorrow can start

As we are, together we'll grow old
For wise men always say
That in silence there's gold.

Try - if you believe

Today a friend of mine with a disability who was unemployed for almost a year starts a new job. Kudos to her for her persistence in the face of what was often a discouraging situation, made worse by interviews held in inaccessible locations and a suggestion by the Department of Vocational Rehab that she work at a call center despite having held high level positions in her professional field. Anyhow I wanted to mark this occasion with a video tribute and share the good news that - yes - some folks are getting hired.

The video below is of the song "I'll Try" written for the animated Peter Pan 2, with a nice monologue by the songwriter included. I know there are lots of people out there facing discouraging situations of different kinds and thought I'd share it.

Baby squirrel hits a wall - and students help

In this video, UCLA students help a baby squirrel get over a wall - creatively.


This video is captioned, but not narrated. It shows an adult squirrel trying to help a baby squirrel over a high wall on campus. After attempts are unsuccessful, a student places his backpack next to the wall but the baby squirrel runs away. After returning, the baby still can't get high enough. Another student stacks up items which the baby squirrel climbs to get up and over.

h/t Twitter

Adam's tour

Adam, who has cerebral palsy, taped his neighborhood in Toronto and talks about living there.



Adam also blogs.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day at United Cerebral Palsy Association

Students from Long Beach Catholic did step dancing to make it the "best St. Patrick's Day ever".

And for a most delightful ending.....

As Meredith finishes up her book, eking out the last of her inspiration (and perspiration), I found this delightful short animation called The Danish Poet that won an Oscar in 2007. It's narrated by Liv Ullmann. From You Tube:

...we follow Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, on a holiday to Norway to meet the famous writer, Sigrid Undset. As Kasper's quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that a spell of bad weather, an angry dog, slippery barn planks, a careless postman, hungry goats and other seemingly unrelated factors might play important roles in the big scheme of things after all.

If you 've never been around an author finishing up a book, perhaps you'll enjoy the film for its clever animation and delightful humor. If you have - or if you are a writer, you'll thoroughly enjoy the message that those who think their creative well has run dry are oh so wrong :)

A wheelchair excursion through the Upper West Side

I thoroughly enjoyed this narrated wheelchair excursion which was full of good humor and hope you do too.

About strangers and angels

One of my friends sent me this video of a song named Strangers and Angels, saying she thought it would be great for this blog. It's co-written by Kara DioGuardi, who is the "new judge on American Idol".

Kara talks about the song with another co-writer before performing it, about how the strangers we meet and the interactions we have with others teach us things, despite our inability to see it. [The song begins halfway through the video at about 3:30.]

Can a quad make a salad?

It depends on your level of injury, but Chris shows some great tips for those who can - from buying ingredients already cut up to resourceful ways to put a salad together sans dexterity - in under 13 minutes! (He also shares a special tip how to balance yourself to get things out of the refrigerator, but make sure you're wearing a seat belt before you try his method- and watch your head.)

Just a video today...

plowing through work, so here's a winter-themed video of a sledding cat from CNN and thinking of my Ski for Light friends, hoping they're having fun in the snow!



and a poem:

Winter - such
A parochial touch
A cup of tea, a shovel
Suburban white so icy bright
A snowball, a fall, a cuddle.

Stand if able: Disability & the church

Here's an interesting video that talks about some metaphors regarding disability, such as disability and sin, and also has a thoughtful discussion on disability and inspiration.

Dancing with the dogs

Here's what happens when I start googling. I found a post about the mysterious piano out in the woods in Cape Cod, which led me to the Cape Cod Times online site. After noticing that they have a Capecast that they show on YouTube, I saw a segment on the Capering Canines of Cape Cod, a group that brings dancing dogs to nursing homes and other places. And then while over at YouTube, I found this video of a dog named Rookie and his owner dancing to a song from Grease, You're The One That I Want and I just had to share it here with my friends who are dog lovers. So here you go....

Playing in a wheelchair

3 year old Matteus, who has spina bifida, is shown playing in his new TiLite wheelchair with his sister, who is on a bike, in their driveway in this video. His laughter is infectious!