The other day I was reading an article on how traveling on airlines are far from “accessibly” friendly to those in wheelchairs. In this article the story started out by featuring a wheelchair user in his mid-twenties named, and you may know him, Shane Burcaw.

If you have not heard of Shane before he suffers from muscular dystrophy and has been in a wheelchair since he was a child. Due to multiple contortions of his body he has to fly in a very intentional manner. His only weighs about 65 lbs., so he has to take a child’s car seat on the plane with him. He then experimented with multiple iterations of high-quality foam, which he spent nearly $8,000 on, to fit on the left and right of him in order to avoid pressure points. He actually did a video with his now fiancé on how he does this.

He’s marvelously funny and very articulate. He started a blog nearly a decade ago and is now a public speaker as well as having a very successful YouTube channel with his fiancé where they talk about relationships, and daily dating life. I highly recommend you check it out, but that’s not the point of this story.

The article sparked me to think about ‘inspirational” disabled people and those wonderful stories you read about those overcoming the greatest of odds in the face of the most adverse situations. Where do we hear most of the stories? Why on social media of course – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, you name it, and the stories are out there.

read more…

The obstacles many of us face with disabilities on a daily basis are challenging enough without having to constantly fight the uphill battle for basic medical supplies we need with insurance companies, durable medical suppliers, and the labyrinth of government assistance.  Many of us strive to create and live our lives to the fullest, but we are, oftentimes, faced with one roadblock after another.  The sheer determination and will of living with a disability is commendable enough, but there are so many people with disabilities who take that extra step to break the barriers within the business community in order to help their fellow disabled live a more independent life.

Read on Push living Magazine: https://pushliving.com/disabled-entrepreneurs-the-power-of-change/

Writing is a therapeutic activity for me as it helps calm my mind, reduces my pain levels, and allows me to try and help others from afar.  Over the last two weeks I repeatedly opened a new word document to write my next article only to find myself closing the program down after a few sentences.  This process repeated over and over again, and I chalked it up to writers block.

The other day as I was sitting on my computer thinking more critically about why I could not put words on paper as I kept fidgeting in every direction in my wheelchair unable to find a comfortable position.  I started to notice the pain in my neck has slowly been increasing over the last several weeks for no immediately obvious reason.  I had not changed anything in my routine, my diet, my exercise program, etc., but the piercing feeling of knives running down the scar on the back of my neck from one of my surgeries continued to persist.  This new pain has prevented me from maintaining my laser focus as I am usually accustomed to.

This prompted me to think about chronic pain more critically.  I scrolled back through many of my articles over the last several years and realized I have never taken the time to describe what chronic pain means to me and likely for the millions who suffer from it too.

Pain stems from inflammation in the body because inflammation is part of the immune system’s response to danger.  It’s a hugely complicated process to prepare our body to fight off hostile forces.  There are two main types of pain in our body – Acute Pain and Chronic Pain.

Acute pain usually comes on suddenly and is caused by something specific.  Acute pain does not last longer than six months and goes away when there’s no longer an underlying cause for the pain such as surgery, broken bones, dental work, burns or cuts, etc.

Chronic pain is ongoing and usually last longer than six months.  This type of pain can continue even after the injury or illness that caused it has healed or gone away.  Pain signals remain active in the nervous system for weeks, months, or years.  Chronic pain can include headaches, nerve pain, cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, etc.

A majority of folks who sustain a spinal cord injury suffer from extreme chronic pain in many forms after their accident. Before I broke my neck I would look at somebody in a wheelchair and wonder what they felt? … I thought they couldn’t feel their legs or their stomach, etc. I was epically wrong! read more…

One of the first things we tend do in the morning is head to the computer to check emails, read the news, browse social media, etc. Many of these tasks are automatic, as we push the power button on our computer, move our mouse to the right icon to open the internet, and use the dexterity in our fingers to type the keys so seamlessly. Fortunately, touchscreen technology has made these things much more convenient. However, while some people are able to do everything on their touchscreen, some need complex software to be able to go about their daily lives at work.

A challenge faced by many who are quadriplegic and don’t have the use of our hands or arms, is how to automate many of these processes to make technology less intimidating, since many of us depend on “devices” in this day and age.

I need the full computing power of a laptop every day to work as a day trader, editor, writer, and to interact with the world, as I am home most of the time throughout the week. While I have a caregiver to help with my physical needs, the one area of privacy I need in my life is when I enter the digital world. I want to be as independent as possible.

Over the years, I’ve experimented with different adaptive technology equipment and software.  I’ve gathered input from many of my fellow spinal cord injury friends on what they use to interact in the digital world.  For many whose jobs don’t require constant use of a laptop or desktop, a tablet is sufficient for them, and they can use their paralyzed fingers to do all of their typing.  However, my needs are different and I’ve put together a list of adapted technologies with videos and links to show you how I work around some of the physical challenges I face.

Read the rest on Push Living Magazine: https://pushliving.com/adaptive-technology-life-hacks/