Hospital Blogging! Part 2

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Large "H" hospital icon on the left, active wheelchair icon on the right
What do I “give” on when I’m in the hospital?

I let people do things for me … and ask them to do things for me … that I normally do myself. Initially, I even let people do things for me that I probably could do even though I’m sick.

I give an accurate rundown of my regular medication and treatment routines but for the first couple of days, I don’t obsessively follow up about it. If the doctors want to alter my usual meds to help fight whatever I’ve got, that’s fine with me. After a day or two, I start gradually taking the reins back, asking which changes are permanent, which temporary, etc.

I try to remember that some people just naturally speak in condescending, nursery-school tones, to everyone. Also, it seems like there are schools of thought in nurse training in particular that promote being super-sweet, while others seem to opt for more businesslike, or more jovial tones. None of these variations necessarily mean anything about how nurses view me and my disabilities.

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Hospital Blogging!

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Large "H" hospital icon on the left, active wheelchair icon on the right
I’ve got pneumonia, so I am in the hospital, I hope only for a few days. There’s good Wi-Fi here, and I’ve got my laptop, so I’m thinking of doing a little detour into that awkward corner of the disability experience, getting acute care for “normal people sickness”, within the medical system. So many of us, as disabled adults, try to keep the medical world at bay, because usually we have had some fairly traumatic experiences with it due to our disabilities. I’m talking about experiences here, not outcomes. I have had great good fortune since my birth in the medical treatment of my disabilities. Yet, it’s not a world I want to be part of, even in a benign way.

So far, everything is going fine here. It’s my hometown hospital, and by and large they know me and my peculiar needs. The night shift staff were great as they got used to my ventilator and helped me get to bed with all the IVs and wires and such. I slept well.

The truth is, when I am really sick, there is some real relief in relinquishing some of my independence and loner-ism and just giving myself over to what they have planned for me. I also take advantage of the little luxuries, if I can. As a Facebook friend commented last night, “Never underestimate the healing powers of popsicles and jello.” Note to self: request popsicles.

The flip side is that when I start getting pissy about things that go wrong, and I start noticing again the absurdities of the entirely bureaucratic hospital ecosystem, then I know I’m just about well enough to go home! I hope that will be soon. In the meantime, I might have more to blog about.

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ADA 25th Anniversary

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ADA Americans with Disabilities Act 25 1990-2015
Emily Ladau, Words I Wheel By - April 20, 2015

Cara Liebowitz, That Crazy Crippled Chick - April 20, 2015

I’m sick, I guess, and I have a doctor’s appointment today, but I’m at least going to start working on my own thoughts on positive effects of the ADA. Emily and Cara want bloggers to send them articles on this topic, that they will put into a link-up, to mark the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Meanwhile, if you want, use this post’s Comments to offer your thoughts on the ADA. Of course, you may also want to write own post for the link-up. If you do, email it to: wordsiwheelbyblog@gmail.com

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I've had kind of a weird week, including not much time spent on Twitter, and missing last night's #FilmDis discussion, due to illness and sleeping.

That's why I've decided to embed the Storify set up by Alice Wong, the guest host for last night's #Film Dis. She runs the Disability Visibility Project, is a member of Nerds Of Color, and has guested with me on my Disability.TV Podcast, talking about disability on Game Of Thrones.

I'm sorry I missed out last night. Looks like it was a great discussion.

Weekly Wrap-Up

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Illustration of a calendar with a red pin in it
Monday, April 13, 2015
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Saturday, April 18, 2015

Why (Wheelchair Users) Can't Have Nice Things

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Black line drawing image of a bus
Kristen V. Brown, San Francisco Chronicle - April 18, 2015

There are probably people who understand the value of accessibility, but don't realize just how galling this particular story is for wheelchair users. It’s annoying enough when a new business “forgets" to factor in accessibility, then begs forgiveness because they’re new, just starting out, struggling, whatever. But this is an intentionally high-end company that actually bought some wheelchair accessible buses, then intentionally removed the accessibility features. I don’t think they did so because they didn’t want wheelchair users to ride their buses. I suspect it really was all about space. Where else were they supposed to put those juice bars?

I think there’s also some unconscious ableism at work here. Underneath whatever legal calculations the company might have made, gambling on their interpretation of the ADA, I’ll bet there were at least a few thoughts along the lines of: “How many wheelchair users are going to want to take an expensive, luxury bus to work anyway?” Because disabled people don't get cool, high-salary jobs, and we don’t really care about nice things, even if they do reek a bit of embarrassing hipsterism.

Of course, it’s also entirely possible that at least one person at the company thought, maybe for a few seconds: “Wheelchairs take up too much space anyway …” Seriously, don’t you think that thought went through somebody’s mind, even if they never put it into words?

I usually don’t wish failure on startup businesses. However, I hope for the sake of precedent that what the company did is found to be an ADA violation, and that this sets off a chain reaction leading the whole enterprise to go bust. I’m sure the resulting damage to the Bay Area economy will be quite … limited.

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Disability Blogger Link-Up

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The word Blog surrounded by word cloud

Use the blanks below to post a blog post or article on something related to disability … something you want to share.

To make the articles easier to browse, in the “Your name” blank, type the

title of the article

. In the "Your URL" blank, paste the whole website address of the item you are posting.

Then click the "Enter" button. That's it!

Note: If your post doesn't appear immediately, try "refreshing" the page a few times. Sometimes it takes a little while to show up. Also, feel free to post more than one item. Finally, you might want to add a comment at the bottom of this post, to identify yourself or add an explanation or comment about the items you are posting.

Have fun posting and reading! This Link-Up will close at Midnight Eastern on Sunday. Look for the next Link-Up Friday, May 1, 2015.

Podcast Transcripts

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I have just posted a written transcript of the last Disability.TV Podcast, Ep. 22 - Mini-Cast: Ratings Recap. Click here for the transcript.

All future podcasts will be posted with transcripts, and over time, I will add transcripts for past episodes, to eventually make all of them accessible to people with hearing impairments. It’s one of those jobs that are extremely time consuming, or can be quite easy and convenient if you’re willing to spend the money. At this point, I am tentatively going with the paid professional approach.

I’m long overdue getting to this, but it may finally prompt  me to get serious about raising money for the Disability Thinking Blog and the Disability.TV Podcast. You can donate right now using the Paypal widget over on the right side of this blog, but look for something a bit more developed in the near future … such as a GoFundMe or Patreon pitch.

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