Broken Lives Matter

Getting out of town for a little bit! My train leaves WELL before the sun comes up tomorrow, and then I hear it's supposed to rain all weekend:( Boo. Well fortunately I'll be spending most of the time in a barrier-free, mostly-accessible hotel thanks to the generosity of family and strangers, so I'm happy:) This entry is a bit late today, it's true, but if it's any consolation, I had an anxious feeling in my stomach this afternoon! Like my subconscious mind KNEW I should be blogging, but my conscious mind just hadn't caught up yet. So I'm writing from the library basement again; they have the printer I needed to get my ticket, and they too are barrier free and even MORE accessible than the hotel:) So of course I'm here, and of course I don't mind that I had to walk here from my place; the fresh air was very nice after a whole day inside doing last minute things before travel. And now a word on public travel. As much as I've complained about i...

Happy Early Thanksgiving, Lovelies! Since I've started writing only on Thursdays, but tomorrow is a holiday, I'm treating us all to an early entry to make the separation easier:) Tonight the concept of inclusion has come to mind. And actually, of course, it's not JUST tonight; it's all the time. Any time I see evidence of somebody with mental or physical challenges being passed over, as I was, and continue to be. Because of my misadventures in job application, I've found that it's not only unfair to expect EMPLOYERS to hire somebody over-qualified and under-experienced, who is also limited in physical abilities on the job. It is also unfair to expect MYSELF to meet the demands of any kind of position that would require a lot of physical activity and/or labor--even if it's just being on my feet all day; my body is simply unable to safely sustain that kind of work. So..as a consequence I'm left out of the workaday world:( And I am left out of the e...

Lately it has become an oft-echoed sentiment: "So Happy It's Thursday!" with the capitalized initials spelling a word I simply will not declare on this blog. But today I am one of those who happily shouts it. My computer was brought back from the (for all intents and purposes) dead Tuesday, and today I had an appointment with "Prosthetics and Orthotics" that has left me positively buoyant:) For one thing, it was earlier than I'm usually up and about, meaning I got back to my place pretty early, and with plenty of time to continue my original plan for the day, with absolutely no interference from an "AFO" (ankle-foot othosis/leg brace to supposedly correct my supposedly incorrect walking stride). I had a surprisingly lengthy consultation with one of the orthotics specialists, trying on one of the kinds of AFOs that the physical therapists prescribed, and walking around in it to see how it suited me. Which--not surprisingly--was not very well at ...

My computer is going to be picked up at "repaired"--if possible--on Tuesday. I finally bit the bullet and made the call yesterday, foregoing the free walk-in that would have come with two bus rides, in favor of not having to go anywhere in the Winter Weather that's forecast for my area from now until at least the middle of next week. So we'll see how that goes. I have to tell you, I am quite dismayed by how the recent news--showing an unmitigated disrespect for human life--bodes for the disabled community in these coldest, hardest months of the year:( In fact the weather doesn't seem to be providing ANY insulation from malice. It used to be that during the winter we could all rest at least a little bit easy, knowing that a fair number of would-be law-breakers would opt to stay home in the warmth and not participate in any nonsense while there was ice and snow. Now, they're just moving their operations to the warmer climes! A mass shooting at a synagogue in P...