It's Fall...ing

I remember a time many, many seasons ago when Fall was everything to me.  It was finally football season, the first fire in the fireplace, sweatshirts, the smell of spiced cider, the sounds of my mother screaming, "Watch out, the cars can't stop in wet leaves".

Now in my memory, I couldn't remember any massive pile-ups due to wet leaves in rush hour or any kind of  catastrophic accident where three or more cars tried to stop on a road with wet leaves landed down on the interstate skidding upside down until stopping on a kitty.  My mother insisted that if I ever slipped and fell on the wet leaves, that some industrial size asphalt spreader would surely run me over creating a skid mark through eleven blocks and two zip codes.  She made it sound as if the minute you got into your vehicle, it had a wet leaf sensor that would automatically disengage any braking system within the car.  

Well that strategy worked for her until about my 11th birthday when a neighbor showed me how fun it was to skid through the leaves in a car.  Now I come from a generation where we didn't have seatbelts unless you had a luxury car.  We rode bike without helmets and did wheelies on skateboards without elbow and wrist pads.  So I guess my mother was doing her part to keep her three boys from becoming bumper meat, but it helps if there is some kind of data to back up your hypothesis.  I wouldn't know for many years that her theorem did have some legitimacy to it, but it's rate of occurrence was far less substantial than I had been lead to believe.  Even though it was done to prevent her sons from being even more incorrigible then we already were, I still like to think of Fall as a serene time before the doors all close for the winter and our youths were filled with fun.

Now, when you've just stoked the fireplace and your sipping that sip of wine, reach over and grab:

Handi-Crapped: Surviving Our Healthcare System: Bastard, Insensitive: 9781737644613: Amazon.com: Books

  

A humorous look at our healthcare system with the twists and turns of a car spun out in the wet leaves.  Be well.  

Legislative Resolution (Simple)

As I review legislation for people with disabilities, I stumble over some facts or data that jump out at me and I'd like to pass this along for a few reasons:

1. I've highlighted the names of the senators who supported this Simple Resolution (explained later) because they are clearly supporters of our disabilities.  There are 27 out of 100 senators here, that support us, I do no know where the others stand. 
2. The fact that 60% of COVID-19 deaths involved a person with a disability is a shame!  How can we represent such a disproportionate percentage of COVID-19 deaths.  There should be a governmental or private industry investigation/report initiated immediately on such a disparative issue.  We need answers in order to reduce our percentage and deaths for this and other potential viruses.  

Below if Simple Resolution 348.  You should know that a simple resolution does not have the power of a law but it an agreement of sorts of the co-sponsors of the resolution.  These resolutions can become law if we press our legislators to move on them.  Please review for your buy-in or action.  Anything is appreciated.  WE make the laws!  

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S. RES. 348

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

August 9, 2021

Mr. Casey (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Brown, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Reed, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Markey, Ms. Warren, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Hassan, Ms. Cantwell, Ms. Stabenow, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Padilla, Mr. Murphy, Mr. King, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Smith, Mr. Booker, and Ms. Klobuchar) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the importance of independent living for individuals with disabilities made possible by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and calling for further action to strengthen home and community living for individuals with disabilities.

Whereas, in enacting the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.), Congress recognized that historically, society has tended to isolate and segregate individuals with disabilities, and, despite some improvements, such forms of discrimination against individuals with disabilities continue to be a serious and pervasive social problem;

Whereas the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 recognized the rights of individuals with disabilities to fully participate in their communities through independent living, equality of opportunity, and economic self-sufficiency;

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and 22 years after the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Olmstead v. L.C., 527 U.S. 581 (1999), many individuals with disabilities continue to live in segregated institutional settings because of a lack of support services;

Whereas continued instances of segregated institutional settings have hindered the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in communities, schools, and workplaces, undermining the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990;

Whereas people with disabilities living in institutional and long-term care settings suffered disproportionate rates of infection and death during the COVID–19 pandemic, with data showing 60 percent of COVID–19 deaths involved a person with a disability;

Whereas people of color with disabilities experience disproportionately greater barriers to quality, accessible health care, education, and employment opportunities, infringing on the right of such people under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to full participation in their communities;

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, people with disabilities continue to face higher rates of unemployment and barriers to accessible workplaces and access to competitive integrated employment opportunities.

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, some telecommunication, electronic, and information technologies continue to be developed without the goal of full accessibility and inclusion for all people of the United States; and

Whereas, 31 years after the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, many businesses, public and private organizations, transportation systems, and services are still not accessible to all individuals with disabilities: Now, therefore, be it

Disocial Media

 

Since becoming disabled, I’ve had my share of ups and downs.  It seems like both 100 years and 100 hours since my life changing series of events.  In the very beginning of my journey, I was told get “get into therapy” as quickly as I could to stem the wave of depression and provide encouragement for my recovery.  For reasons that I’m not all that sure about even now, I resisted discussing my new normal outside of my very small circle of family.  I’ve never really been one to put my personal life out there for everyone to see. 

Then I did some searching in social media for groups that my new body might be able to relate to.  There were more than I thought, so I tried a couple.  It has been amazing what others have done for me and what we do for each other.  It’s not just that we all share just a physical issue either, we share the struggles, the tears and the laughs we need to encourage each other in our times of need.  I have been in several groups during my life that have bonded me to others closely enough to be considered family.  I’ve never bonded as quickly as I have with some of these people.  They are literally from all over the world, but our challenges don’t share a language, or geographic zone or even a geopolitical standing, we just share humanity for each other. 

It almost makes me think that if everyone could see the struggles in others first, wouldn’t we be more tolerant and compassionate with each other?  After all, aren’t we all made up of struggles…and worries…and insecurities?  Actually, we’re not so different from each other after all.  You hope that we all get the latest in care and methods due to the severities of our injuries.  This is not the case, the only commonality we all seem to share is that the people with the most money tend to get the best treatment and this is a shame. 

We are talking about a group of individuals that have extreme situations to deal with.  We all have different doctors/physical therapists/prosthetists and support people, so information is critical to our recoveries.  It’s something to see how different the directions and recovery times have been for those even with very similar situations.  Healthcare is not typical across our ranks and nether is our level of care.  Maybe one day, the world will see patients for their challenges instead of their socioeconomic groups, but until then, there is always social media and the hope of a smile, a laugh or just a short time without being disabled…I think that’s pretty nice.  So thank you to the much-maligned social media.  Be well!