Thursday, January 15, 2009

Constant Advocacy

I'm back at school now, and have been back for about a week. Am tired already. Am tired of advocating for myself- sending e-mails to make sure my classrooms are accessible, making sure I can use my laptop in class, making sure the elevators are working...

Oh, elevators. There is one which controls my access to two of the buildings in which I have class- It's been working on and off since I started school on Jan. 8, and today was an off day. And I realised, as a first year student with a disability, sobbed on my shoulder about how not fair it was that the elevator was broken, that I just wasn't there anymore. I've been at uni for 10 tems now. Elevators have broken before my career at uni, will break after my career at uni. I will just sit back and wait for them to fix it. I don't care about how 'fair' or not it is anymore.

There are really days I feel tired of fighting.

And then I read a post like J's
And I think that if that little dynamo can be so courageous- I just might have one more letter or signature in me.

3 comments:

Lisa said...

Well said. She's a constant reminder for me too.

Torina said...

I can only imagine how tiresome it is to constantly battle accessibility and other issues that you face. I only do a fraction of that with my daughter and it is still a battle.

Speaking of accessibility and disability, I have been meaning to ask you something. My daughter Tara (age 13) has cerebral palsy. It is fairly mild. She is now able to walk okay without any supports. She can even run and jump, though she has only been able to do this for about 5 years, and not always without incident. Anyway, maintaining her muscle mass is a big challenge for us. She is over 20 pounds underweight for her height (5'1") and I am sure it is because of her inability to retain muscle mass. Do you have any special advice for other people with CP to help keep the nerves and tendons loose and to build muscles? We do basic stuff with her (adaptive PE, Gonstead chiropracty, lots of physical activity) but I'm sure there are things I don't know about. Her neurologist has been fairly unhelpful and I am trying to get Tara into a decent OT/PT program but don't have a clue what I should be looking for.

Sorry about writing a book, but there aren't too many folks as qualified as you are in this area :)

Thanks in advance for any hot tips :)

Ashley said...

Torina-

I happen to be trained as a motivational speaker and consultant on active living for folks with disabilities- Am looking through my stuff now and will e-mail you privately.

And I love books-as-comments