6 Questions on Passion

I've wished in the last year that I'd taken some time to be reflective / introspective about my life and after spotting this meme on Jay's blog I decided to take the opportunity.

What puts a smile on your face?

Following what makes you truly happy is a wonderful way to figuring out what you were put on Earth for. Think about something that you do or that perhaps you used to do that brings you total happiness!

Furry creatures like dogs, cats and horses, NOT mice or squrils or things like that. 18 months ago I was visiting my brother all the way in California and one of his cats curled up on the right side pillow and another curled up behind my bent knees. I tend to toss back and forth and sleep diagional so it was hard to get a deep sleep while trying not to disturb them, but they put me completely at peace. It's also hard to be at a barn with all the dogs and ponies without being as mobile (and short) as I was when I was a tween. It's hard for me to bend over to pet dogs, and it bothers me that over the years I made a consious decision to make my balance worse. I've been longing to bury my head in my ponies neck, but I've been too afraid s/he'll move and I'll fall over. I wish I didn't always feel like I have to keep my distance these days.

What do you find easy?

What we find easy for us to do, will be related to what we are passionate about. It’s very hard to hate something that is very easy for us!

Information and referal. I always pay attention when people mention resources and love, love, LOVE when I can hook someone up with agencies/services that solve their problems and improve their lives.

What sparks your creativity?

Think about something in your life where you seem to always expand its horizon, always coming up with new, fun, and exciting ideas relating to that subject. Whatever makes you creative is something that you are passionate about.

I haven't been super creative in years, since the last time I had an extended hypomanic episode :( It's sad because creativity is one of the things I value the most.

What do you like to talk about?

Most of the time, we aren’t aware of this. A good way to figure this out properly, is to ask your friends. Ask them what they believe you like to talk about the most, what topic makes your eyes brighten up, and changes your entire behaviour.

I like to complain about the injustuces in my world. The lack of housing vouchers, people like nursing facility social workers who purposely hide community resources, lack of knoweldge of affordable health care, for example. When I'm at On Our Own I frequently talk about depression, whether it's the things I'm not doing like dishes, or the things I am doing, like horseback riding and personal trainer appointments, or the rush I get from activism.

What makes you unafraid of failure?

When you do what you are passionate about, you have total confidence in your abilities. This makes you not worry about failing, because in your mind, how can you fail when you do what you love?

I'm always affraid of failing because I've failed so much in my life that I mostly expect to fail. Sometimes though I purposely go into something with very low expectations, like bowling, or horseback riding. I can't fail when I have realistic expectations.

What would you regret not having tried?

If you were at the end of your life, what would you regret not having pursued? What would you have liked to do, that you didn’t get a chance to?

I deeply regret not going back to school and not having been able to finish my degree when I was so close to being done. I wish I wasn't taking an extended break.

On Rolling In the Street: the Saga

Yet another horsey post. You're just going to have to put up with them, I can't help it! Lately I've been thinking about horses more then I think about botox, which is really hard to do, because when I think about Bentley I think about botox and how we can change it up so I can "get back in the saddle" again (I've been riding bareback) without feeling the need to cry. I wish I'd actually paid attention to "you have to stretch your adductors or you won't be able to ride a horse." They actually weren't kidding! But enough with the tangents...

Therapy Doc wrote a post yesterday that was very loosely about horses (and posted pictures like the one to the right that made me go OOOOO PONIES! and squeal a bit in my head, like I used to do out loud when I was 5) and a bit less loosely about riding her bike on the shoulder of a busy road.

Riding in the street and ponies: 2 things that are very closely related in my life. If I have the choice, of course I roll places on the sidewalk, but sometimes you are just completely stuck. Some scenarios: Say you get to the end of a block and a curb cut is either completely missing or being torn up by a construction crew. The one on the other side is fine. What do you do? Go home or roll back half a block to a driveway and then dash as fast as you can?

Snow is the worst because people tend to shovel snow into curb cuts and the amount of snaking back and forth between street and sidewalk is maddening. My mom lives in what could by some be considered a remote area, but really it touches one of the biggest cities in the state. So it's a little woodsy. I have no sympathy for you mom. I live in a more urban area compared to her, even though I'm not in the city. She once commented to me about how much easier it must be for me in the snow. I said "You have no idea. You have a car! People don't shovel sidewalks and bus stops!" The aftermath of snomagedden had me constantly praying for my life. The bus stop outside my building always gets cleared ASAP but when I got somewhere I'd discover their bus stop had 5ft of snow on it and so the bus couldn't pick me up to go home.

Some information: Paratransit will only drop you off within 0.75mi of "fixed route transit." That means a bus/light rail/subway/metro stop. It was designed to make accessible what is available to the able bodied and less disabled public. If somewhere isn't reasonably accessible to them (0.76mi, they're strict) paratransit won't go there.

Which brings me back to ponies. Ponies don't generally live close to bus routes. Can you imagine a horse trying to catch a bus? I was thinking of riding at ROSES but they're way out of range. Found this other place, called up twice and said "Can you tell me if you go to this address?" Twice I was told yes. But then I tried to book a ride. A no go. A google maps investigation revealed that they are 0.9mi from the closest bus stop. So I looked into getting a PA. He moved after a few weeks, which is just as well, because he had a thing for me and it was awkward. Must do a back post about that.

In the few weeks he was around, I stared at bus stops and buildings along the road. One day I spoke with a friend, a wheelchair user who likes to describe herself as being the size of an 8yo. "I think I found a place," I said, "but it is still 0.3mi up the road." I figured car drivers have a harder time seeing her, and if she would do it...

"You can't roll 0.3mi in your new chair?" was the response.

"Well there's no sidewalk, but the shoulder is really wide and the road isn't all that busy."

I would never roll in a lane. I'm nuts, but I'm not suicidal. I also would never do this in the dark, but this was May, or would never get dropped off at the closest place they would take me (0.1mi closer) because it is across the street, and I would never cross traffic in the middle of the road. This place is on the same side of the street, and it's actually next door. It borders on their hayfield. ARGH! They refuse to take me next door because although their property is well within limits, their driveway isn't!

"So what's the problem?" she asked.

"[I listed some people] will freak out."

"Well don't tell them."

Except how are the people at the barn not going to find out? They did freak out. But what would YOU do? Look for a new PA to pay $3o to drive you round trip or pay paratransit $3.70. You know what I'd do... We're trying to figure out how to get some sort of bubble placed around the place since their property is within limits. If it wasn't I'd let it go.

In the meantime I was convincing drivers to drop me where I was really going instead of next door, explaining the situation. Most of them were cool and understood to keep it on the down low. Until the last week of June when someone thought she was being helpful and called the address change into her supervisor. I'm lucky they didn't kick me off, but they're watching me, I'm on their radar.

So for now my trainer is picking me up from next door, but I'm still OK with rolling down the street. It's not rush hour, it's not busy, it's broad daylight, and the choice was pay a PA or get half hr massages, so I won't feel the need to cry [see 1st paragraph]. What would YOU do?

PINT

Thanks Georgina Dollface!

Questions & Answers (Eventually)

This picture above [2 street signs on a pole, the one pointing to the left says questions and the one to the right says answers] from Ellen's post last month on Love that Max inspired this post. Eva and Jenni both have question and answer segments on their blogs, maybe I will too. Although I've never felt all that curious, and I assume that most of my readers have disabilities, maybe you don't. Or maybe you do and still have a question. When doing a self-advocacy training for teens/20 somethings with DD, a woman with a DD stopped me during my intro and said "I've heard all people with bipolar are violent." A valid assumption given media. So ask away in the comments and I promise to get back to you in a post sometime in the future. When I have writers block it'll give me something to write about.

How I Feel About Parents Who Refuse Vaccinations

I've linked to this article from Slate before

From January 3, 1967 [a 4 slide Peanuts cartoon]

Slide 1 Linus: WHY DO I HAVE TO GET A MEASLES SHOT?

Slide 2 Linus: WHO EVER WORRIES ABOUT MEASLES? WHAT'S A LITTLE "RUBEOLA" AMONG FRIENDS?

Slide 3 Lucy: YOUR STUPIDITY IS APPALLING!!!

Slide 4 Linus: MOST STUPIDITY IS!

Thanks Penny!

(Penny posted this on Facebook for an entirely different reason -- her views are not necessarily the same)

It's [Inter]national Delurking Week!

I think I got it wrong last year. Delurking week is the second full week of the year, not the first. If you want to participate on your own blog just google image delurking week. There are all kinds of great images to choose from besides this cat, which is so adorable I just want to take it home with me.

What is delurking week you ask? Well when you regularly read a blog or a message board but you have never posted / commented you are called a "lurker". Someone said that sounds kind of sinister, but that's what it is. Bloggers by our very nature are rather narcissistic, and we LOVE when people leave comments. Blogging to me is not one sided, it's an attempt to start a conversation. Sometimes I might even get the slightest bit depressed if I don't get as many comments from a post as I thought I would.

Delurking Week is a time when we bloggers peer pressure you to come out of the shadows and say "HELLO!" I know I've gathered a lot of public followers this past year, but I also know that most of you don't comment and that there are quite a few more of you that are regular readers and aren't public. So...

COME OUT, COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE!

I want to meet you, I really do. Tell me a little bit about yourself. It's the least you can do, you sure know a lot about me.

I'll also be doing a bit of delurking this week too. I'm guilty of not always commenting as well...

Firsts

I think I saw someone do this last year, but I don't remember who. Here is the first sentence of my first post of every month of 2010:

Jan: I know there are many more people that read my blog and don't comment than people who read my blog and comment

Feb: If you've visited my blog at all over the last three weeks you probably noticed my plea for money fixed at the top of this blog.

March: WHY I WANT YOUR SUPPORT FOR DISABILITY RIGHTS!

April: In my B&N the teen self help section is right next to the bathroom, and so I've often found myself flipping through the anxiety workbook for teens on the way to or from.

May: It's that time of year again!

June: To quote one of Maryland's long time CIL directors, from the other day, we don't do case management.

July: video and no text

Aug: About 2 weeks ago I put out a call to some bloggers I am FB friends with.

Sept: I've been meaning to get this up--it's too bad you can't read my shirt.

Oct: ECT ruins lives.

Nov: I don't know how I got to Virginia Wood's blog.

Dec: Our Fallen Brothers and Sister

Happy Early New Year

From both me and Georgina Dollface. Thanks for letting me "borrow" your doodle!

PINT

Thanks DeafMom!

HORSES AND CRIPS!!!!!

It's the BEST combination!!!!!

I was looking at an article on the Baltimore Sun website and they have this little video player thing on the side, as do apparently all newspapers run by this media group, as I saw a similar looking video player on an Ohio blogger's blog. Anyhoo, I guess they have many of the same videos on every site??? This place isn't even in Maryland. But whatev! Things like this are always a double edged sword for me as they make me both happy and forlorn.

A Roundup

First, Some blogs

Big Noise was briefly on my blogroll, but Cilla was never posting. Apparently she got inspired by Mike. Keep a look out. She may be back on soon if she keeps this up.

Through Networked Blogs on Facebook (here is Uppity Crip's page) I found Sasha is a Monster. Looks interesting. She's Jewish, in her 20s and has BP II. Remind you a little of anyone?

I also somehow recently came across Love on Wheelz. Google Love on Wheels and you come up with other stuff. The title of the latest post is offensive, but the writing is good.

I also recently rediscovered Deeply Problematic, good if you ever want to read blog posts that make you think. If you like thinking about the intersection of feminsm and disability that is.

Next, A Blog Post

Of course it's by Therese:

Alas, I came to the end of the day with some successes, and I realized that it's definitely not the noteworthy achievements that should be celebrated if you are, like me, impaired by bad brain chemistry. It's the days where you choose over and over again to get well, even though the other side is beckoning you to sleep in, eat pizza and ice cream, skip the exercise, and blow off work.

Then, Some Articles

A few weeks ago Emma posted that she had an article (a really good one) published in Disability Now. Read People Say the Strangest Things. I also found other great articles on DN:

As someone who uses a wheelchair and is interested in human services, I was really interested in Facing out the Elephant. Other good Mental Health related articles are Questions of Balance: Work and Mental Health and Trisha Talking the Talk, both of which have made PINT apperiances on this blog.

I can't finish with DN without mentioning their article about the current goings on of DAN, ADAPT's counterpart in England. Read Direct Action! Life on the Streets. I find DN so much better and to have so much more of a wealth of stories then New Mobility, the closest US counterpart I can think of. Oh, yes, DN has work by Americans too. There's Coming to Terms by NYLN's Betsy Valnes.

Lastly, an article in Monday's Baltimore Sun State Health Chief Pledges to Safeguard Public Mental Health Dollars

Wood's Rules: How Do I Get The Most Out of My Therapy?

I don't know how I got to Virginia Wood's blog. I'm a public follower but she'll never be on my blog roll. She doesn't post frequently enough. As you may have guessed, the main reason I take people off my blog roll (after I find a replacement) is failure to post. Anyway, I never read the blogs I follow that are not on my blog roll, I just don't feel like scrolling through my dashboard. So, I don't know what brought me to check out her blog again back in August, but I did and noticed that she links to a very opinionated practice website. I mean, look at it, check out the FAQs-- the one about using insurance to cover therapy. Most people can not afford to keep insurance out of the equation, even if they are using out of network benefits, which in my case are good thank god. Why make people feel uncomfortable about it? At $80-$150 a pop depending on qualifications and geographic location, if you have a serious mental illness, you'll go bankrupt.

Totally going off on a tangent... The point of this post is that I looked around her site (I find it tacky and distasteful that she continually links to her facebook fan page) and found a list of how to benefit most from therapy. "This is really good," I thought. "I should blog about it." And then I forgot. Until last Friday that is, when Therese posted Sue Atkinson's 9 rules for surviving therapy. These lists are completely different and I think it's beneficial to look at them both.

• Talk
• Talk a lot
• Talk some more

I went to a therapist for awhile and sat there and stared at him ALOT. We stared at each other, and then I'd look at him and say "WHAT," if he didn't decide to start opening his mail or walk over to check his email while he waited for me to say something. Sometimes he would tell me the weather report. Often he could tell that I was about to say "WHAT" and would say it first.

I was rather surprised when I started talking to this shrink the 1st appointment, even though I couldn't stand her at the time. It felt WEIRD not to just stare at her, but then again, she isn't an asshole. I guess that was the 1st good sign -- me talking more then she does. That is, after all, the point.

• Keep a journal [or a blog AND every once in awhile go back and look at old stuff, reviewing both the new posts and revelations about old posts with your shrink]

Recently a friend asked me if I write poetry and I said "Not that much, but I did write this, back when I was so messed up I had therapy 2X a week." The catalyst for writing it was something my psychiatrist had asked me earlier the day I wrote it that I hadn't been able to articulate in her office. I just needed another half hour to chew it over, and I was able to give a much more extensive answer then I ever could have done in her office. She was immensely grateful I took the time...

• Write down your dreams

I know everyone dreams every night, but is it weird that I only ever remember my nightmares? That I don't write down. I can remember that I was so freaked out about getting somewhere on time (something that is hard for me) that I woke up in a panic 2hrs early...

• Don't drink or drug 24 hours before or after your session--or better yet, stop using altogether

Why is it that all my treating professionals think it is wrong to use alcohol as an alternative treatment for pain management?

• Attend regularly--especially when you don't want to

That's when I make sure that I go. Even if my apathy makes me late. Not that I think it does me any good... I'm too depressed to get anything out of the actual session. However, having a reason to shower, get dressed, get out of bed, get some fresh air, does me a world of good.

• Pay attention to, and talk about, your feelings about your therapist and your therapy. Or, from the other list, even if after ten agonizing sessions you still think that the therapist hates your guts, it may be worth going on, but tell him or her.

I've never had a shrink that hated my guts, but I have had a few where I hated their guts. I'm batting 1 out of 4 in the bad shrink department (out of 8 total). How do you know if a therapist is truly bad (3 out of the 4) or if you do just have to really stick things out (the 1 out of the 4)? I don't know...

To be continued...

Whatever Happened to...

Christine of The Power of Housewife Word of Mouth? I have taken her off my blog roll to add a blog, Cracks in the Pavement, by my friends, fellow ADAPTers, who wanted to blog about the lives of a disabled engaged couple. Go check them out! They're CUTE! Christine hasn't blogged since January.

Whatever happened to Cheryl of Wishing and Discovering? She stopped publicly following me quite some time ago, but was still blogging. I clicked on her blog yesterday to say "Hi. How ya doin? You haven't blogged in awhile..." (2 months) and her blog is completely gone, as you can see. I never read her last post, was it a good bye post? I have taken her off my blog roll and added the brand spankin new blog, Smart Ass Cripple, by the ever more famous ADAPTer Mike Ervin. You can find both of these new blogs on my blogroll under the new section of "ADAPTers who Blog." (Joe if you don't start blogging again soon, I'm taking you down)

Lastly, whatever happened to the character Dr Gabriel Fife on Private Practice? As much as I like crip characters on TV who actually are honest to god cripples, he didn't really fit in with the cast. But was there a good bye episode for him that I've completely forgotten about, or did he just simply vanish?

ADAPT Activists to Storm, Washington, DC

For immediate release

Contact:

Cheryl Gottlieb (Maryland ADAPT), (301) 758-4473

www.adapt.org

ADAPT activists to Storm Washington DC; Vow to Fight State Cuts to Medicaid Home Services

Fighting dangerous state Medicaid budget cuts across the country, the national grassroots disability rights action group ADAPT is planning direct actions at several venues in Washington, DC between September 19 to 22 to demand that states save Medicaid-funded home and community based services. These services support low income people with disabilities and who are aging to stay in their own homes instead of being forced into nursing facilities to obtain services. During this critical election season, ADAPT plans to make it clear that saving Medicaid services is key to winning the disability vote.

"During this time of fiscal panic, governors are looking for ways to save dollars," notes William Fields, a Baltimore City Resident. "Hundreds of us are coming to Washington because Congress and the White House need to step up efforts to protect Medicaid community services in the states. I use home services and without someone to assist me, I'd be waiting on some nursing home aide to change me or feed me whenever she was done with the other fifty people living in the same facility. With home services, I am in charge of my life."

Current Medicaid law mandates that states use their Medicaid programs to pay for nursing homes, but the law does not equally mandate that states pay for the same services in a person's own home. Today, most states recognize that providing home and community based services (HCBS) is a less expensive solution than institutions. However, in these tight fiscal times, Medicaid dollars funding "optional" services like HCBS are first on the budget chopping block, while the mandatory institutional budgets are rarely touched. ADAPT's current "Defending Our Freedom" campaign is a direct response to states' attacks against HCBS, services that allow people with disabilities to take care of themselves, raise their families and be part of society.

"Without the home services funded by Medicaid, hundreds, if not thousands, of people with disabilities in my state would be forced to live in nursing homes or institutions," said Joe Stramondo of Michigan ADAPT. "Some states are virtually on the edge of bankruptcy. It makes no sense to spend extra dollars on institutions when those same dollars could fund more people with disabilities to live in the communities of our choice."

To learn more about Defending Our Freedom, please visit http://www.adapt.org/adapt-campaign.php

Guest Post: Just Wondering by Deborah

My second and last guest post is by Deborah who writes at Pipecleaner Dreams and cross posted this on her blog today. Deborah has 4 disabled teenage/ young adult children, and has an interesting view as a parent that I could never share--I'm not a parent. I thank you for writing Deborah as you fufilled my goal of bringing different viewpoints to this blog over my vacation. Right is a picture of Deborah and her family from this past 4th of July.

We parents of children with disabilities spend a great deal of time advocating for our children. And, that advocacy often involves some sort of inclusion for our children with their non-disabled peers. We will say that we long for the vision of all children, regardless of ability level, playing together, learning together, just generally being one big happy group. But what about within the world of disabilities – do we advocate for that same level of inclusion? I’m not so sure…

I’ve noticed over the 13 or so years that I have had children receiving special education services in my school district that even within the disability world we tend to segregate.

Children with milder disabilities, even some with invisible disabilities, do not socialize or learn with children that have severe disabilities. Parents of children with Down Syndrome, for example, usually win the battle to have their children educated in the general education classroom. The children move freely among their non-disabled peers. But my children with significant or severe disabilities are kept in separate classrooms, often in separate areas of the school, using separate lunch tables, and with limited or no access to their non-disabled peers. That seems to be ok with those parents of the Down Syndrome children. But it usually is not ok with the parents of the children with severe disabilities.

And then there are those times and events that include children with emotional or behavioral issues. Parents of children with disabilities that don’t have those issues can often be seen drawing their children closer, away from the ‘wilder’ children. Or, parents of children with Deafness will often only facilitate socialization only with other Deaf children, relying on the whole Deaf Community argument for their rationale.

More and more, I hear about ‘Autism’ classrooms. Are we sure that isolating children with Autism will make their adults lives easier and happier? Are we afraid to have children who are blind, or have ADHD, or who have orthopedic issues interact with the child with Autism? I know that I have heard many, many times that “I don’t want my child around that child with Autism. He will learn even more negative behaviors.”

Umm….So is inclusion only good when it suits us – when we think our children with disabilities will learn positive things from others? Are we being a tad hypocritical?

Guest Post: Experiancing Disability by Emma

My first guest post is by Emma of A Writer in a Wheelchair. She describes herself as "a 28 year old Brit who loves to write and spends her life on wheels." I'd write more of an intro, but I'm late getting this up and am rushing to get ready for a wedding. If you like what you're reading please take a look at Emma's blog. I hope you don't mind me using your facebook photo. Thank you for writing Emma!

I was thinking the other day about what happens when people who aren’t disabled experience the world from wheelchairs. I suppose similar things happen when they try other sorts of equipment but it’s always wheelchairs that get mentioned to me.

A friend of mine had brain surgery when she was younger. It was a couple of years before I met her and I’ve known her about ten years so it was a good while ago. I’ve heard her on several occasions talk about the (I think) couple of months she spent in a chair whilst recovering. The thing she seems to have taken away most was the memory of places she’d always gone, shops etc, that she couldn’t whilst she uses the chair. She’s literally used the words “You wouldn’t believe the places you can’t go” to me before. And all I could think was “Well, actually, I could.”

Someone else I know had a very nasty accident and again was in a chair for a long while (and then on crutches for a while more). We don’t know each other well but the first time we saw each other once she’d recovered a bit she was telling me how she knew what I go through now. And how she’d gone out for lunch and been shocked to find she couldn’t get in. She’d ended up making a formal complaint.

I just wanted to say “Welcome to my world” – she didn’t know what I go through but she’d gotten an idea. And my trip out to lunch wouldn’t have been ruined because I would have checked in advance out of necessity. Either I would have gone somewhere else or (if she did go where I think she did) I would have known from speaking to them that they have moveable ramps to get you in.

Actually, that makes me think of another example which I wasn’t going to include but I think I will. I recently went to a barbecue at someone’s house for members of a group we both belong to (it belonged to someone’s daughter I think). I wasn’t able to go to the toilet because of where cars had been left belonging to people who weren’t there, room for people to get through but not those of us on wheels. We spoke to the organiser and he suggested we go through another door. I pointed out that it had a step and he said “Oh, does it?”

I know several people who have done disability awareness courses and whose experiences on those courses have had a lasting affect. One guy I know who went on one is adamant more people need to do them (he works doing customer services for a train company and helps a lot of disabled people on and off of trains which actually is how I know him). Seeing the opposite side has obviously helped him a lot. Apparently one local organisation that runs those sorts of disability awareness courses always sticks people in wheelchairs and sends them to a specific take away because they always ignore people in wheelchairs.

Personally I’m not 100% convinced that more people do need to do them because I think that makes too much of it and perhaps even lessens their impact. But I do find it interesting to see how people react. However I would love to come to a day where people don’t react like that.

A positive story to end on. My parents took a relative with them to a funeral. She’s elderly and they took an old wheelchair with them for her to use. Afterwards she spoke to my parents and apologised because she never realised how hard being in a chair can be. I don’t think I would have agreed with that specific phrasing but I do know what she means. And it was a reaction that is much, much easier for me to deal with.

How have you found that others react to experiencing disability?

Calling all Bloggers (or just blog readers)...

About 2 weeks ago I put out a call to some bloggers I am FB friends with. I'm going on vacation starting early Friday morning and I thought instead of not posting I would line up some guest posters. Unfortunately I only got 1 response as some people are busy recovering from knee surgery or going through other tough times, some are just plain busy, and some never answered at all.

So I am putting this out to everyone now. Not just my FB blogger friends. If you have a blog and I'm not FB friends w/you, if I'm FB friends (or real friends, that's a shocker, people have real live friends still) w/you and you don't have a blog, if you're just a regular reader and don't have a blog, if you want an outlet for any topic you want, comment here and I'll try to hook up with you.

DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON

The Season for Death???

There are a lot of older ladies and gents that live in my building. So many, that people have wondered why I chose to live in a retirement community. The truth is though that there is a core group of people 70+ that linger in the lobby and that is who you see. Not everyone else coming and going.

Last night I saw the 4th obituary of the summer posted in the lobby. Management writes their apt # in marker at the top. I have lived here a year and have not seen any previous obits that I can recall. Not that I knew any of those people (and they were old, none of them were sudden), but this coupled with Susan's post, and even Jenni's post about her cat, as well as a conversation I had yesterday afternoon with a friend about another friend who had passed several months ago, just has me in a funk.

What is it with all of this death? I'm not spiritual, not into god, but I can't help but wonder what this all means...

Empowering PWDs Blogswarm

I just found out about this event from Glenda and have copied the info below. Yes, I will be writing. I know... what a shocker. I hope some of you join as well. Here, copied from a previous post, is my definition of what a blogswarm is:

A blogswarm is like a blog carnival on a larger scale, where as many as hundreds of bloggers (as opposed to 10s like in a carnival) commit to blogging on a certain topic on a certain day, usually in hopes of gaining mainstream media attention or just greater awareness and understanding of an important topics. Here is the Anti-telethon Blogswarm (Kara, please update one of your blogs), DUH City & of course the ever popular BADD 2009.

Hello Friend,

I just wanted to take a second and let you know about an upcoming BloggersUnite event, People First: Empowering People with Disabilities. It is taking place on July 24, 2010 and the goal of this event is to raise awareness about the challenges that face people with disabilities every day and how we can help eliminate these challenges.

By sharing stories of how you, a friend, a colleague, or maybe a family member have dealt with the challenges of living with a disability, we can raise awareness about this issue and bring down some of the barriers to equal accessibility and participation that exist today for people with disabilities.

If you don’t have a personal story to share, you can still help! Write about an organization that provides support to people with disabilities or that is helping to provide equal access. Let you readers know some facts about the number of people living with disabilities, the challenges they face, and how each of us can work towards creating a society that provides equal access to everyone regardless of our physical or mental abilities.

Whatever you choose to write about, we’d be thrilled to have you write a post as part of this event. Read more information about the event.

Thanks for reading and have a great day,

Jason Teitelman

Cat Has CP

Apparently it's called Cerebellar Hypoplasia (CH) when you're a cat. There are more youtube videos of other cats with CH if you care to look. Found through Bethany S, via FB newsfeed