EasyStand Blog Guest Post: A Peek Behind the Curtain of Being an Uncle with SCI

My first official guest post on the EasyStand Blog has now gone live. It provides honest insight into the unique ups and downs of being an uncle with a spinal cord injury. It was actually one of the first three ideas that I wrote down when I was thinking about starting this blog a year ago, so it's nice to finally get it out there. You can check it out here: A Peek Behind the Curtain of Being an Uncle with SCI.

One Man's Annoying / Aggravating / Interesting Access Picture of the Week

A friend emailed this picture to me. It's a screenshot of a TV on a campus of some sort. Across the top it says "Disability Awareness Month." So far so good. But the next line says, "Spot faculty, staff or student in wheelchair and snap a picture with cell phone." Um, ok. Then the last part says, "Drop by Disability Resource Office with picture for chance in drawing for a gift certificate." Say what now?

So when you put it all together what it looks like they're suggesting is "take a picture of someone with a disability, maybe win a prize." Wow. I'd like to argue that this a classic example of good intentions gone sorely wrong, but these intentions just look bad. Period. I have no idea what was going through the mind of the person that thought this idea up because it's about as far from "disability awareness" as you can get. In fact, it's quite offensive.

Incidentally, this this whole thing also reminds me of that "Saved By the Bell" episode where Zach Morris singles out the girl in the wheelchair at the school dance as "the only person here who needs to use a wheelchair." Just a bad deal all around.

Sweet Seats, Except They're for Fans with Disabilities

By all accounts Target Field, new home of the Minnesota Twins, has been given high marks for accessibility. In fact, it's touted as the most accessible stadium in the country. I haven't checked it out myself yet but I plan to sometime this season.

But as is often the case with the good comes the bad. Here is a link to a local news story about how not only are ticket brokers gobbling up a lot of the handicapped accessible seat tickets, because they have soft seats and offer some of the best viewpoints in the park, but they are selling them outright under inexplicable misrepresentations that you don't actually need to have a disability in order to sit in the accessible seats. Huh? Blatant disability ignorance like this does nothing short of piss me off. I really hope that the Twins organization looks into this and fixes the problem accordingly. Soon. Otherwise, if those sections keep selling out as this article mentions then I might not make it this year after all.

One Man's Annoying / Aggravating / Interesting Access Picture of the Week

Got this from a friend. Another picture that requires little commentary. So ignorant it's comical.

Article: We Just Don't Know That Much About The Spinal Cord

I just wanted to direct people's attention to an interesting article on the Huffington Post in which the author vents his frustrations about how doctors, etc. still just don't know very much about the spinal cord. I tend to agree with everything that he says, especially his final concluding statement that we SCI folks deserve better.