One of the problems with trying to promote disability awareness is getting people to see things from a disability perspective. It can be hard for people to understand issues without the same frame of reference used raising them.
Oh, I know there are plenty of “simulator” methods out there used to try and show people how disabilities themselves “feel”, but that’s only part of the story – how we interact with our environment as people with disabilities also needs to be explained.
For many years, I’ve been an advocate about disabled-accessible mass-transit here in the DC area. It reached a stage where Pat and I kicked open a website dedicated to bringing to light issues with the system, DC Paratransit Info.
During that time, I’ve learned a great many things about mass-transit, and paratransit, that most people never get involved with – it’s kind of hard to suggest ways to help reduce issues if I couldn’t speak the same language.
Well it’s been an interesting morning so far.
First thing was discovering my fasting blood sugar is 190. Not so good, considering the insulin and Metformin aren’t nearly as effective due to the Solumedrol.
Then we discover the IV line is blocked somewhere – can’t even get the initial saline flush into it. Put in a call to Home Solutions, who’ll send a nurse to resite the line.
So a huge box of supplies arrived last night – a silvered bag full of ice blocks and the meds to go in the fridge, and a frightening array of equipment I’m going to need over the next few days.
Those of you who are regular visitors to my blog might have noticed something.
Although I mention it in my bio, and many of my posts relate to disability, I haven’t really blogged about my disability itself.
There’s a couple of reasons for this: I’m an author, and an artist, and I’d rather people think of those things when they think of me, and not my disability.
Likewise, it’s hard to discuss my disability on a day to day basis, because, to be quite honest, there’s nothing anyone can do about it, I don’t want to risk being pitied, and for me it’d feel like I was just whining about something I can’t change.
I was catching up on my Twitter friends’ feed this evening while waiting for a render to complete, and noticed a mini-rant from Yasmine Galenorn, the author of the Sisters of The Moon novels. With her kind permission, I’m reposting it here to give some context on my own thoughts:
A conversation with Patrick a few days ago reminded me of a post I wrote in 2004, so I thought I’d add a little to it and bring it up to date. Original post is down below.
The conversation was pretty innocuous, talking about the way the sidewalks were totally impassable due to the snow being plowed onto them creating mega berms that will take ages to be cleared, and how it meant we’d have to travel on the road itself to reach the stores.
Originally Posted Dec 26 2007
Some disabilities have obvious effects, some don’t. In either case, it can be hard to explain to someone else just how disabilities can make you feel.
Enter one of *the* best articles on the subject, The Spoon Theory. I’ve been using this ever since I discovered it as a handout to give to people that gives them a better idea of just how draining disability *can* be.
It’s great reading, and handy to use! The rest of the site there’s not too shabby either 
Back in April 2008, I wrote about the work that was done on our nearby park by M-NCPCC.
Shortly after that entry, they got back to us via email, saying
This situation will be corrected and you will once again be able to access the pathway that leads under Riverdale Road.
Unfortunately, there’s apparently still been no movement on this, the railing still cuts right across the park from one side to the other – and, in fact, it’s even worse now once you get past this huge metal barrier, because subsidence has caused a great big crack to appear in an older section of sidewalk.