May 17, 2015 | can do, changing perspectives, Kids, Laughter, Lessons |
On an early summer evening about a year ago, my friend Andrea called to see how I was doing. It was a habit we were settling into again that I was joyfully getting used to. We have been friends for many years, but casual phone calls have not always been so easy to...
Mar 5, 2015 | choices, compassion, Disabilitiy, Disability and Relationships, Dogs, Health, Lessons, Mental Illness, negative perceptions, Psychiatric Diagnosis |
I am losing one of the biggest supports in my life today. It’s hard for me to look back to who I used to be, to the scared, angry, insecure woman I was when we met. I didn’t know how to communicate effectively back then. I yelled and screamed more often...
Aug 30, 2014 | Accommodations, Attitudes, communicating respect, Disabilitiy, disability etiquette, empowering language, Governor Cuomo, handicapped, Lessons, negative perceptions, Parking Signs, Physical therapy |
According to a story on Yahoo news, about a month ago New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill that will update the logo on signs designating spaces for people with disabilities and remove the word “handicapped” from them as well. I have said for a long time that...
Aug 16, 2014 | Accessibility, caregivers, compassion, Depression, Disabilitiy, Friends, Heroes, Lessons, Movies, News |
Robin Williams committed suicide last week. I heard the devastating news during a casual conversation with my good friend Andrea, but it took a few days to sink in. Once it did, there was an aching emptiness in my soul that I still can’t shake. I feel like I lost a...
Aug 7, 2014 | Accommodations, CP, Disabilitiy, Education, inclusion, Lessons |
Toward the end of July in 1990, I was a twenty-one-year-old recent college graduate who was struggling to find my place in the world. I had picked the college that I had attended based on the compact campus, and because, at the time, it was known as one of the...
Jul 6, 2014 | Attitudes, Disability and Relationships, inclusion, Lessons, loneliness, negative perceptions, overcoming challenges, people with disabilities |
It was enlightening and frustrating all at the same time. The game was called Scruples. Popular in the mid 1980’s, it was a game where all the players were posed morally challenging questions such as: “You invited a friend over for dinner who is a...
