Tag: Cynthia White-living with a disability

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I Never Complain, but…

QWERTY middle finger picAll this talk of viruses disabling computer programs. There are other ways of disabling us users, and I’m not referring to disability.

What is it with this younger generation, anyway? They come out of the womb air typing—like they already know QWERTY’s keyboard layout. Really! It took me a high school senior class to memorize my typewriter’s layout, though my class drill assignments looked like Greek on a modern-day sheet of papyrus. I mean, with 50-65% typing errors, it was sort-of illegible.

Even now, I have deceptive looking hands. My five-year-old Grand Niece says my hands are “tangled,” meaning: I can’t grip things. They look like they belong to a keyboard maestro with long skinny fingers and a palm spread to rival The Shaq. Hey, I’m not complaining about my unusual hands, I’m complaining about our 21st century digital communications.

Since I was born in the first half of the 20th century—a long time ago—hertz and gigahertz mean nothing to me but frustration. Forget kilo, mega, and gigabytes. Our brains store information, hopefully; computers store space or bytes? Where I come from, a byte means a “bite of food,” or a limb, if you’re a child in the throws of anger. Anyway, we used to have bully bullies. In addition, we now have cyber bullies. I can’t take it anymore! I’m tired of being pinned against my password wall!

I’m being bullied into taking “Brain Energizer” supplements to boost memory and ward off disabling Alzheimer’s Disease; because I can’t remember all my passwords to my varied treasure chests of Gold? NO! They’re to my many portals of business goings-on. It’s not my fault!

For security’s sake, when I come up with a password, I’m asked if I want my program to remember it. Of course. It’s a time saver to click “Yes;” so I click “Yes.” If they remember it, why should I. Right? Wrong!

you can find out more generico cialis on line Attempting to be casual and rehearse the unwinding procedures, for example, contemplation or yoga.
When my Shaq fingers make a mistake, they ask me to verify my password. Excuse me! They were the ones who asked me if I wanted them to remember it. When I type in my username, that horizontal line of bold black dots clues me that they remember; it’s right there, hidden in plain sight, to login.

My question is: “How does this clock-and-dagger password drama relate to my identity?” Hackers, BE HACKED! Computers, my brain intelligence has out-witted your byte space. I’ve been byte-n enough.

I have a manila envelop titled “Usernames and Passwords” filled with each venture’s name, email address, username, and password…written in reliable, old-fashioned long-hand.

I love my long digits; especially my multi-functional middle finger—for the express purpose of typing, of course.

P.S. Just returned from my Chicago convention. I’ll have the update, and warnings of “accessible” tours, next week. Stay tuned.

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Equilibrium of Nature

Are you stressed, lonely, bored, or all of the above and SCI? Do you relieve these anxieties with serotonin producing comfort foods like bread, pasta, chocolate, or ice cream, wind down with alcohol, mellow out with drugs, or work it out with exercise or sex?

The last two have been proven to be beneficial, but if “All the world’s a stage,” (Shakespeare) did you know that you can relieve stress, feel connected, and find equilibrium (mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual) in the show of Nature? Preferably in the wild outdoors, but pictures of Nature bring comfort on these levels, as well.

Consider going anywhere green. (Green lends balance, renewal, and peace.) There are 80 national and state parks. Take a pick!

Then, there are scenic drives like the 444-miles of Natchez Trace Parkway (MS), Tennessee’s Great Smokey Mountains, 469-miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway (NC-VA) over the Shenandoah Mountains and through North Carolina’s Asheville in the Appalachian Mountains.

(FYI: The Biltmore Estate is a MUST SEE! Overcome with amazement at George Washington Vanderbilt’s vision (8,000 acres worth), I couldn’t sleep for two weeks after touring its mansion (175,000 square feet and 250 rooms) and gardens (75 acres), which are 95% wheelchair accessible. It is a self-supporting estate. I was more impressed with The Biltmore than the many European mansions I have visited.)

Organize a trip to Arizona’s brownish-orange (B-vitamin enhancing) clay, or New Mexico to drink in its landscape of neutral desert rocks, thirsty plans, and sand (browns calm and ground), and its eternal sunset colors—golden yellows (ease depression and increase energy), ochre, orange (stimulates happiness and joy), and rust; maybe a greenish-yellow margarita, or two; always helps what ails you.

Maybe, take in Wyoming’s Doppelgänger reflections of blue (for vitality, knowledge, intuition, mental relaxation) lakes, snow-capped mountains, and evergreens.

Then, there is oxygenated Oregon; great for renewed energy and cerebral creativity.
An impotent order generic cialis browse around this man might say something like he has lost his world while it is totally wrong.

Take in an ocean view with its turquoise (calming, sleep inducing) waters, like a trek along California’s Big Sur, a Caribbean cruise, or Jamaica, mon.

Your geographical location determines the landscape, or lack thereof. If you are a city-dweller, there must be art and science museums, public parks and gardens, a zoo, an animal shelter, or aquarium, most always wheelchair accssible. Plan weekly look-forward-to trips somewhere. Reward your dedication to work. Remind yourself that you’re not a lost island or, relieve a rut.

If your mobility limits these participations, rent travel and adventure videos. My favorite are “Warren Miller Entertainment” videos (extreme snow skiing, snowboarding, etc.), because I loved snow skiing and relish Nature. “The Wonders of God’s Creation: Animal Kingdom, Planet Earth, and Human Life” is awesome. And, there’s youtube.

You can purchase paintings and pictures of whatever calms and inspires you—the Northern lights, mountain tops, sunrises and sunsets, moon-lit evening skies, clouds, rain, rainbows, rainforests, waterfalls, whales, seascapes, trees, flowers, animals, insects, etc; Nature is limitless. She’s waiting for you.

I am calmed, refreshed, inspired, and renewed when I commune with Nature. As well, my home is filled with objects of Nature. I even frame note cards and cut pictures out of magazines to frame. I have pictures of lightening on my refrigerator that I cut out of a National Geographic magazine.

Sometimes, I let scissors do the walking.

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“Help!” (Not the Beatles) – A Wheelchair Assist

WELL! I have had an eye-opener-of-a-day!! (Pay attention to double exclamations.) I went through my drive-thru shower this morning only to realize that I COULD NOT make the landing (transfer) onto my helipad (commode). Wheelchair positioning alongside the right of my commode is essential for a successful transfer. Three-fourths of the way, I could not disengage from my rubber ROHO!!

“Help, I need somebody,
Help, not just anybody,
Help, you know I need somebody, help.”

–the Beatles

For a safe transfer, I depend on my shower-wet rubber cushion. It was not in slip-n-slide mode. My left buttocks sat on a dry cushion; my right, on the dry left side of the toilet seat. I was stuck, literally. Teetering, I balanced with my left hand on my cushion, while trying to heave my dead weight over onto the toilet seat. NADA!!

I’m not a once-does-it kind-of-girl, so with Olympian efforts amidst multiple Hail Marys (prayers, not passes, although it was in desperation), I finally retreated back onto my ROHO, reentered my shower for a second water-lube, and tried again.
Forget it. It wasn’t happening!

“When I was younger, so much younger, than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self-assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.”

–the Beatles

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To assist my regular commode transfers, I sprinkle baby powder on its seat. Powder lessens the skin-against-wood toilet seat friction. After a shower, I depend on water for an assist.

I used to have an antique ball-and-claw tub fitted with a hydraulic-lift seat secured by suction-cup feet under its base. That was definitely when I was younger. The precarious struggles off the rotating seat, over the tub’s rim, and into my wheelchair gave birth to my drive-thru shower design. (I’m also an interior designer.) A drive-in shower seemed much safer, and certainly has been until, lately, when my body and strength changed.

“And now my life has changed in so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,…”

–the Beatles

To remedy my impasse, I had to transfer into bed, dry off, slather up with my lotion, and dress in bed. But, I did it!!

“…Won’t you please, please, help me, help me, help me, oh.”

–the Beatles

Waiting for some “Help!”-ful comments; but not from you, Paul.

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Wheelchair Exercise in Optimism-Part Two

When your schedule is un-expectantly interrupted, are you flexible enough to calmly and thoughtfully move to Plan-B; or, are you so self-centered you haven’t considered a Plan-B (because you assume everyone is on your Plan-A) that you pitch a hissy-fit, blaming the interrupter for screwing up your day? Do you see your glass as half-full or half-empty? Do you call a rose bush a “rose bush” or a “thorn bush?” Do you appreciate the dappled sunlight in the woods, just see trees or, do you really give a flip? These are points of view or perspective.

When you experience something unfortunate, even horrific, can you truthfully find something to be grateful for, or do you throw a pity party, hold a grudge, speak evil of the “perpetrator”, act spitefully toward them, and harbor un-forgiveness? Are you familiar with the sayings, “Ill-as-a-hornet” and “Happy-as-a-lark?” Which of the above best describes your behavior on any given day? These are attitudes, states-of-mind, or dispositions.

Sibling order, environments in which we were reared, experiences we have weathered, temperaments and personalities we are born with influence who we are, but we are not doomed by any of these. We have choices and we make these choices unlimited times each day. Every one of us is who we are by our choices. No other person is to blame, or can receive all the credit. Do you feel alone or empty?

When we find ourselves, day-after-day and year-after-year, re-living and ruminating an event in the past, bad or good, it’s time to open the prison gates and be freed.

If another person was involved in the event, the other person has blissfully moved on—oblivious to our hate—or is dealing with his/her own demons, WITHOUT A THOUGHT OF YOU.

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If it was a disease, illness, accident or natural catastrophe that caught you off-guard, push on. If you haven’t been touched by sorrow or hardship yet, buckle up. Not one of us will dodge the bullet, not even Neo. Life happens! We all suffer; how we deal with it is the solution to our happiness.

I would much rather see the world happily through rose-colored glasses (Remember, denial is my happy place.), without self-induced stress and with normal blood pressure than, viewing the world drearily through a heavy fog, with plaque-filled arteries and un-repairable, frayed DNA.

What about you?

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Views From My Chariot: A Wheelchair Oddity IS HERE!

Annually, around 11,000 SCIs occur in the United States. Fifty years ago, the life expectancy for people living with a SCI was only a couple of years. Now, it is next to anyone else’s with the same number one cause of death: heart attack.

Celebrities, like Christopher Reeve, have helped raise awareness of living with SCI, as well as money for research. But, there are the rest of us, with limited funds, who continue to beat the odds by living healthy, happy, productive lives. I am one of those among you living triumphantly from a wheelchair. Let me tell you how I’ve done it.

That’s me!

My book, Views From My Chariot: A Wheelchair Oddity, recounts snippets of who I was before my car wreck—living an adventurous, enviable life among movie stars and musicians—and snippets during my adjustment on my chariot ride that changed me into the whole person I have become. It is a two-part book.

The first part is a fun, humorous, yet pithy vignette Memoir. When my flight of fancy was interrupted by disability, a journey of self-discovery ensued, revealing a secret, even I was incognizant of: I was a fearful, detached person. This revelation allowed me to break through the crippling chrysalis that had bound and paralyzed me before my wreck, into an emotional freedom and physical independence I had never known when walking.
Yoga and meditation are useful in managing emotional browse around now order cheap levitra issues.

The second part, Appendix: Let’s talk, is a self-help/reference guide for gaining this emotional freedom and physical independence. It is chock-full of humorous, personal anecdotes in dealing with and alleviating daily vexations (mischievous pets included), as well as descriptions, prices, and sources for purchasing helpful assistive aides, products, and equipment I have found to be essential, or just because I like them. They range from pain patches and health care, home renovation and decoration, kitchen gizmos with recipes included, to exercise equipment, and much more. All these are referenced in the Notes at the end of my book—a wealth of information for anyone adjusting to an interruption of disability, disease, or illness; also, a must for family, friends, caretakers, and professionals on the journey with us.

If you are accomplished at reading-between-the-lines, you will glean extra credit on your life journey toward peace and productivity.

TODAY, I AM ANNOUCING: Views From My Chariot: A Wheelchair Oddity IS NOW AVAILABE! Click http://booklocker.com/books/6235.html  to get on its page, and you’ll be on your way to have it conveniently delivered to you. I’ve offered a FREE excerpt for your preview.

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Off The Cuff

What’s with laughing gas? I had heard about it for years and been offered it in dental offices. It sounded a bit drug-ish, and drugs don’t like me. I don’t have one prescription. Mainly because a little of anything goes a long way with me, and I need to maintain my wits (and balance) living from a wheelchair. My memory has a short wick, and my bladder has a slow leak; I need to remember my schedule!

Anyway, I was anxious about having something major done by an endodontist or oral surgeon—can’t recall, so I accepted the offer with the contingency that I receive the lowest dose.

The assistant strapped this Hannibal Lecter-like mask over my face—assuring me that its cool hissing mist was on #2. Dimming the lights, she patted my arm with the instruction, “Call if you need anything.” She exited the operatory as James Blount piped in on the Musak, or Pandora, or who cares? I cried, and cried, and cried….
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Laughing gas?