Left Thumb Blogger

For Women Only

2008-11-18T19:44:39Z

It is my time of month, yet again. I never used to dread it. When I began this nonsense, my period was something that happened once a month and, after cuddling with my heating pad for an hour or popping a Tyenol, everything was relatively fine and I'd carry on with my day. But as I age, the cramps feel like my fallopian tubes are being squeezed in an ever tightening vice grip. And there's no way to shut off the tap. If this is a preview to menopause with cerebral palsy, I'm not looking for to the actual event.

What is the point to this pain, hassle and discomfort each month for the next umpteen years? I will never have a baby growing inside of my womb. Despite how much Darrell and I would love to have a child, it isn't in the cards for us. Each month I am reminded of this as I flush another potential human down the toilet, literally. Each month I am saddened by that which will never be. Each month I inwardly mourn the magic of child, the human potential, the scientific discovery or the beautiful art or the earth-saving idea that will never be realized.

What is the point?

What is point of keeping my uterus and related parts? They will never be used. They only cause pain and discomfort. Why keep them? Without out these parts could I possibly feel even less than a woman then I do now without a baby?

If having these parts removed didn't mean hospitalization, anesthesia, doctors and even more pain for a while, I might seriously consider a hysterectomy. For now, I will take a deep breath and carry on until it all hits again next month. As a woman, that is what I do.

Come On Body, Work with Me!

2008-11-14T01:42:19Z

Some days my body and mind are in sync, working like a well-oiled machine. I have plenty of energy for a productive day, and I go bed feeling accomplished and satisfied. Other days my body rebels against me.

After needing to get up once or twice during the night, I drag my bootie out of my warm cozy bed, more tired than when I went to bed. I go about my morning routine of getting dressed and having breakfast, trying desperately to resist the urge to crawl back into my warm bed. My pain is more noticeable than usual. The thought of sitting at my computer, writing - or pretend to go through the motions - does nothing to motivate me. When I do go to bed, I end up beating up myself for not doing more when I have so much to do and for, essentially, wasting a day.

Today was one of those days. Last night was a rough night: my pillow wasn't positioned just so, the spot in my back needed to pop but wouldn't, and I had to pee at 5am, and even though I went back to bed until 9 - putting my daily schedule off - I didn't really go back to sleep. I knew it would be one of those days: I have projects to finish and posts to write, but no energy to do any of it.

Rather than pretending to work and get nothing done, I decided, with strong encouragement from my husband, to do something else. All that I felt like like doing was lying on the couch and watching one of Barry Manilow's DVDs that I had bought in Vegas but hadn't had time to watch yet. So, that is what I did! Lying on the couch in the middle of a weekday, covered with a blankie, with my kitty curled up behind my knees and the autumn sun pouring in felt so good; it felt so luxurious.

Tonight, when I do go to bed, I will try not to feel guilty for having an unproductive day. Hopefully, tomorrow my body will work with me and I will accomplish much.

Telemarketers Need Disability Awareness Training

2008-11-12T18:57:51Z

The phone rang last night:

"Can I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Watson, please?"

I'm actually Mrs. Watson Hyatt, but close enough. "Yes, I'm Mrs. Watson." Dead silence. "Yes, hi?"

"Is your Mom home?"

Well, given that it is 7:30 and she doesn't like driving in the dark, there is a very good likelihood she is home. But, THIS is not her home.

"I'll call back later." Click.

Fine, call back later, but Mom still won't be here and I will still speak like this!

I have had countless phone exchanges such as that one through the years. And, I find each one equally frustrating! I know I shouldn't let them get to me - the calls are no big deal in the overall scheme of things. But, not to be taken as a capable, intelligent woman, to be asked if my mommy is home, because of my speech still hurts. There are even a few tears at times. This caller hung up before I had the chance; I didn't even get the satisfaction of hanging up on her!

I know I am not alone in facing this phone frustration. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, approximately 7.5 million people in the United States have trouble using their voices.

Do telemarketers and call centre employees not receive any training on how interact with people with speech impairments or heavy accents? You would think mastering skills in verbal communication would be essential for success in this type of job, no?

Is Your Mobility Device Part of Your Persona?

2008-11-10T18:59:27Z

In my blue Orion 3-wheel scooter, I soared along the sidewalk. Coming up the hill to our place, I soared like an eagle.

While out on errands on Wednesday afternoon, my brakes failed. Going up the hill, only to roll backwards should I stop was not a reassuring feeling. Not wanting his wife in something with questionable safety, Darrell decided now was time to take possession of the new scooter that had been on hold for me since before our Las Vegas trip.

The new scooter was simply a newer model of my Orion. The only major difference was its colour - it's red. Red was my favourite colour as child. And, I have dreamt about owning a red sports car (like who hasn't?!)

But a red scooter? Isn't red loud and attention-grabber? That is all I need!

While waiting for the scooter to be delivered Thursday morning, I was discussing my dilemma on Twitter. Someone suggested that I could charge like a bull. Me, a charging bull? Hopefully not too often! Someone else offered soaring like a red-tailed hawk. Now that had potential! Do hawks soar like eagles? Are they as powerful and graceful as eagles?

Later another friend suggested Red Hot Mama. The funny thing is, back in university, a friend nicknamed me Motorcycle Mama. Red Hot Motorcycle Mama is an obvious choice!

Now that the rain has finally stopped, excuse while I take my shiny red scooter out for my first ride and allow me to try on Red Hot Motorcycle Mama for size!

Has your mobility device become part of your persona?

How to Submit Disaboom Posts to StumbleUpon

2008-11-06T20:28:00Z

In my last Blogging 101 post, I shared how to discover sites by stumbling. Have you tried stumbling a bit? Did you come across any interesting pages? Did you find stumbling a wee bit addictive? ("Oh, just one page to see what comes up!")

The pages that StumbleUpon serves up to you are submitted to the system by fellow StumbleUpon members. In a sense, StumbleUpon is a database of the best webpages and blog posts as determined by the StumbleUpon community. As a member, you can submit to the database to share with other members and to drive traffic to that post.

When reading an excellent article or post on Disaboom, you can easily submit it to StumbleUpon. With the Disaboom post still on your screen, click on the thumb up button on your StumbleUpon toolbar:

If you are the first to give the post a thumb up, a submission form will appear:

To submit a post:

Clean up the Title field - you want only the post/page title here
Write a couple of sentences about the page in the Review box.
Select the most appropriate topic. There are 501 to choose from, including those from the dropdown menu.
Add up to five tags, separated with a comma, either chosen from the topic list or keywords from the post. For example, tags appropriate for posts from Disaboom may include: activism, disabilities, health, technology. Unlike with search engine optimization, the key here is to use broad terms for tags.
Indicate whether post is adult content.
Click on Submit This Site.

Caution: If you are the first to discover a post and you choose not to submit the form (say, if you are in a rush or if you aren’t sure what to write for a review), hitting your Back button or moving on to the next post can send that post into the StumbleUpon graveyard, which is not good! When presented with the Submission Form, please complete the brief review process.

To check whether a page has been reviewed, click the Comment button:

If the post has been reviewed, you you can add a review from there. If the post has yet to be reviewed and if you still wish to submit it, return to the post, click the thumb up button and complete the submission form.

Do you have a question about using StumbleUpon? Leave a comment below.

Blog on!

Read more Blogging 101...

Discovering Sites by Stumbling

2008-11-03T18:40:00Z

In my last post, I shared how to get started with the social networking tool StumbleUpon and how to determine if you are stumbling one site (i.e. Disaboom) too much.

Today, I'd like to backtrack a bit and explain what stumbling is about and how to stumble.

Once you join StumbleUpon (it's free) and select a few of your interests from a list of over 500, you install the StumbleUpon toolbar, which looks like this:

The toolbar can be used for discovering interesting webpages. By clicking on the Stumble! button,

the system will serve you a webpage related to one of your interests. Clicking on the Stumble! button again and it will serve you another page...and another...

Using the Stumbling! button today, I discovered:

101 Useful Resources for Online Entrepreneurs
Funny Sleeping Cats (How cute!
Opening new worlds: The disability boom (About Disaboom's boss!)
Brain Trust: 100 Ivy League Business & Entrepreneurship Courses You Can Take for Free

Warning: Stumbling can be addictive yet quite educational!

When you come across a page you particularly like while stumbling, give it a thumb up!

If you particularly do not like a page, give a thumb down:

However, use the thumb down sparingly, for example, on:

slow loading pages
non existent or error laden pages
ad-heavy pages
voting pages from other social media
pop-ups & pop-unders

If you do not have a strong opinion either way, it is best to move onto the next stumble. Save your thumbs up for the best content.

Happy stumbling!

In the next post, I will explain how to submit pages to StumbleUpon.

Blog on!

Have a blogging question? Leave a comment below.

Read more Blogging 101...

Do You Stumble Too Much?

2008-10-29T21:49:38Z

Using the social networking tool StumbleUpon is a great way to discovering interesting websites, to meet people who share similar interests and to dramatically increase traffic to one's own website.

Getting started with StumbleUpon is as easy as one, two:

Join StumbleUpon and select your interests - you have 501 to choose from. Selecting your interests determines which pages StumbleUpon will show you. Choose a few for now, then add more later if you wish.
Install the toolbar (available for Internet Explorer and Firefox, a workaround exists for Opera and Safari)

Now you are ready to begin stumbling!

Much can be done using StumbleUpon and the toolbar. Today's tip is to help you determine whether you are stumbling or "thumbing up" a particular website, such as Disaboom, too much. In this case, too much of one thing can be a bad thing.

Once you have your profile page set up and have stumbled a few pages (how to stumble will be covered in a future post), viewing My Favorites in the grid display provides thumbnails of pages you have stumbled. This is an easy way to see how many times you have stumbled pages from the same domain (e.g., from www.disaboom.com, even though they may be from different blogs on Disaboom). Over stumbling a domain can have a diminishing effect in terms of traffic, and can actually ban the domain and your account from StumbleUpon, which is a not what you want!

A good rule of thumb is one in twenty-five stumbles for the same domain or blog; some people say one in fifty to be safe. Looking at this screen shot of my own stumbles, I did not do Disaboom any favours with these stumbles. This is one why learning how to use StumbleUpon correctly is so important. Doing the wrong thing, despite good intentions, can have disastrous consequences. Save your stumbles for excellent posts!

Have a blogging question? Leave a comment below.

Read more Blogging 101...

Boobs on Wheels: Where is Breast Cancer Awareness for Women Using Wheelchairs?

2008-10-27T20:12:34Z

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month - a month dedicated to increasing early breast cancer detection awareness. Regular breast self-examinations and clinical breast exams beginning at age 20, and mammograms beginning 40 (or earlier depending upon family history) can assist in detecting cancer early - a sound breast care plan for all women. However, I have yet to see an awareness campaign showing a woman in a wheelchair at a mammography machine. (I'd be gladly corrected if such a campaign exists!)

Even though I do use an electric scooter for mobility, I am able to stand with some support. But my balance does falter at times. One of my worst fears is to be standing at one of these machines, with my boob in the vice grip, and for my balance to go. Oww!

Surely, machines exists that women in wheelchairs can wheel up to, but how many screening clinics have them? For that matter, how many clinics, particularly in smaller towns, are even wheelchair-accessible? And, how many screening technicians know how to effectively interact and communicate with women with disabilities?

According to Facts for Life: Women with Disabilities (PDF file) provided by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

Women with disabilities are as likely to have breast
cancer as other women. In some cases, having a
disability increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer.
Some risk factors for breast cancer, like exposure to
large amounts of radiation, never being pregnant or
not getting regular exercise are more common among
women with disabilities than among women without
disabilities. Because of this, it is important that women
with disabilities, like all women, get screened for
breast cancer.

If women with disabilities can be at greater risk of breast cancer, why is there not an awareness campaign aimed directly at us? (Or, have I missed it?) And, why do the physical barriers to accessing screening and health professionals remain?

Breast Health Access for Women with Disabilities provides practical information on conducting a breast self-exam from a wheelchair. This and other information on the site should be mandatory reading for all health professionals AND women with disabilities.

Off to email the Women's Health Centre's Access Clinic to ask about arranging my first mammogram. Yikes! Have you had one yet? Feel free to share your experience by leaving a comment below.

Where did the Left Thumb Blogger go?

2008-10-19T23:11:16Z

Since returning home from Las Vegas five weeks ago, things have been hectic! So hectic that the clothes I took with me are still sitting in the laundry basket, waiting to be put away. At least they got washed!

As soon as I got home, I had to whip together a video for my newest friend Lorelle VanFossen who I met at BlogWorld in Vegas. She was keynoting the following weekend at WordCamp Portland and needed my video for her presentation. No problem!

Since Lorelle's keynote, the video has been spreading like wildfire through the blogosphere! The response has been amazing and quite humbling.

The following weekend I flew to Castlegar for a board meeting for SPARC BC (Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia). The weekend proved to be an adventure in accessibility! Those clothes are still in the dryer!

Then came an extensive web accessibility audit for a 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games website. Web Accessibility Consultant is one of the many hats I wear.

Somewhere in there was Canadian Thanksgiving and our federal election.

Now, I'm frantically putting together a presentation for a women's networking group for Wednesday. How do I get myself into such things?

Needless to say, I haven't had much time for blogging here, lately. And, I have discovered that, being away from a blog for a while, coming back is difficult. It is similar to putting a wet bathing suit back on. Look at this post as a wet bathing suit, my way to reconnect with the Disaboom community.

So, fill me in. What have you been up to lately? What is new or different in your world?

Being Inspiring Isn't about You

2008-10-07T02:32:30Z

Many people with disabilities often hear "You're such an inspiration" uttered in their direction throughout their lifetime. Personally, I have tended to shrug off such comments with "I'm just me", "I just do what I do", "It's no big deal". I didn't want others minimizing their struggles against mine, or what they assumed were my struggles. Frankly, I have never understood what able-bodies expected myself and others with disabilities to do besides do what we do. Sit around, having a pity party all day? How boring! And, to be honest, at times I have felt the weight and responsibility of the comment; like I had to keep doing whatever I was doing in order to continue being inspirational.

However, that perspective changed last week. A wise friend helped me to see that "You're inspiring" isn't about me, but rather about the other individual. To inspire means to influence, move, or guide; to breathe or blow into or upon; to be in spirit. What the individual is really saying is "You’ve motivated me not feel sorry for myself." By brushing off his compliment, I am dismissing or discounting something he valued; something he needed in that moment to keep going, to keep breathing.

Rather than shrugging of the compliment, I now understand the importance of graciously accepting those words, spoken with sincerity, as a gift and to respond with a "Thank you. I appreciate your kind words."

How do you respond to "You're an inspiration?" Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below.

I Survived Las Vegas!

2008-09-27T02:46:42Z

Hi everyone!

My husband Darrell and I had a fantastic trip to Las Vegas last week! Everything went relatively smoothly:

We made it to airport in plenty of time. Personally, I'd much rather arrive early and wait than be rushed.
We made it through security (both ways) without incident! Although I find that to be the most hectic part when they put everything on the conveyor belt for screening and then move us away to feel us up. Anyone could take our stuff! Then we're left rearranging bits so it fits just so. And, why must they swab the chairs and shoes? What are they looking for?
Both chairs arrived in one piece, both ways. Yes! In that sense, we did hit the jackpot!
I didn't need to pee too desperately until we landed. Then I made a mad dash for the first washroom I could find.
Our wait for the shuttle was merely ten minutes!
The hotel knew we needed an accessible room and had one available. Actually, we had a choice between a room with a roll-in shower or one with a bathtub. We chose the roll-in shower with a shower bench, which they brought up for us. That proved to be our only mistake.

Tuesday evening, after two days of public toilets and butt sweat, I very much needed a shower. After some tenuous maneuvering, I managed to situate myself on the bench and whipped close the shower curtain. Reaching for the shower head, the bench tipped forward on the uneven floor. Holy #$%^! Had I been a para, my face would have been implanted in the cement floor! Luckily, my foot found my scooter, parked on the other side of the curtain, in time! The small shampoo bottle went flying, which meant forgoing washing my hair. Needing to brace myself with my one foot on my scooter while holding the shower head between my knees, not every bit was washed as thoroughly as I would have liked. It was PTAs for the rest of week! (Let your imagination decipher PTA.)

Vegas, Here We Come!

2008-09-13T22:07:29Z

Bags are packed. Kitty-sitter lined up. Tickets checked (still need double- and triple-checking!). Accessible shuttle confirmed at the other end. We're set to leave early Monday morning for Vegas!

Now it is time to panic:

Will all of the elevators between home and the Vancouver airport be fully operational? One "Out of Order" sign and we are hooped!
Will the bus lift be working? (That is part of the reason why we're leaving ample of time to get to the airport by transit.)
Will we both get on the same bus? (The public buses can take only two wheelchairs. If one spot is taken, we'll need to wait for the next bus.)
How thoroughly will security feel me up? (Oh, please let a female security guard be available!)
Will we have time for breakfast? (Last year we only had time to grab Tim Horton's doughnuts before boarding the plane. Then with no lunch, we were quite ready for supper once we found some place to eat in a city we had never been before.)
Will the airlines know what to do with our two power chairs?
Will our chairs arrive intact and working?
Will we get all of our bits n pieces back? (I find the fewer the pieces, the easier to keep track of when crew brings them onboard and off board for us.)
Will I be able to wait pee until we have landed and deplaned? (Of course, we're the last off!)
How long we will need to wait for an accessible shuttle to the hotel? (Last year we waited over an hour.)
Will our room actually be accessible? (After previous incidents while traveling, I am always a little skeptical. If we get the same or similar room as we had last year, then we'll be fine.)

Once we are in our hotel room and back in control of what we're doing, I'll be more relaxed. The process of getting there is what I find nerve-wracking and draining. Our 2.5 hour flight last year took us 12 hours to get from home to our hotel room. We're hoping to beat that time this year!

Tuesday our vacation begins! We will likely check out the Titanic Exhibition at the Tropicana and then explore the MGM Hotel. Apparently there are lions all around? Wednesday we may try venturing downtown to Freemont Street for a lunch buffet and to watch the light show - 12.5 million lights! Thursday is still open. Friday to Sunday is BlogWorld.

The following Monday we do the process in reverse. Our flight is at 9am, which means being at the airport for 6am! How early shall we book the shuttle? Is there any point going to bed Sunday night?

I will tell you all about it (or most of it!) when we return.

Wish us luck!

Magic Happens When Connecting to the Blogosphere

2008-09-09T01:14:47Z

In a previous Blogging 101 post, I described the blogosphere as a tightly woven spider web built upon community and relationships.

Allow me to share a personal experience of how this community works at times:

Last Wednesday I shared how I was looking forward to our trip to Las Vegas (we leave early next Monday morning!) and how I'm looking forward to seeing my bloggy friends at BlogWorld. I specifically named a few of them and hyperlinked to their blogs to share their knowledge and expertise with you.

Then the blogosphere magic began:

Chris Brogan wrote a very kind and thoughtful post about yours truly! I don't know if the link to his blog prompted him to write or if was coincidence. Either way, I appreciated it He then tweeted about his latest post:

When Chris Brogan tweets, people listen! Within a couple of hours, I had 15-20 new Twitter followers within a couple of hours and my blog traffic was spiking.

Then Liz Strauss posted a hilarious response to Chris and tweeted:

My blog enjoyed a significant traffic spike that day:

(If memory serves me correctly, the traffic spike back in March was also thanks to a Brogan tweet!)

Rounding out the trio, my Aussie friend Des Walsh wrote a post about using the dashboard in WordPress - another blogging platform - to track incoming links and, noticing the link from my post to his blog, he mentioned the Left Thumb Blogger and created a link back to my Disaboom blog here.

Linking to other people's blogs doesn't always result in that much response - and that definitely was not my intention when writing my original post last week. But, that is the magic of the blogosphere - you never know when something will go blog wild!

Morale of the story: get out there in the blogosphere and connect with people. Build relationships. Link to other people when you write your blog posts and see what happens.

Blog on!

Have a blogging question? Leave a comment below.

Read more Blogging 101...

Move Over Summer, Here Comes a Full Fall

2008-09-03T19:56:55Z

Wow, where did August go? It seems like merely last week I was celebrating my tenth anniversary. Then I look up and its time to flip the calendar to September!

With the arrival of September comes the end of summer, even though I wasn't done with it, although I was done with the hot temperatures. And fall shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.

In less than two weeks, my husband Darrell and I are off to Las Vegas for our one and only summer vacation and to attend BlogWorld. Last year's conference was a blast, and I am really looking forward to again seeing in-person my blogging heroes Andy Wibbels, Liz Strauss and Chris Brogan, my Aussie friends Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh, and many others.

With the both of us in wheelchairs, its getting to Vegas that I'm not keen about. Even though the flight is only 2.5 hours, the trip from home to hotel room took 12 hours last year! But, at least this year we know what to expect and where things are, so the learning curve will be nowhere near as steep. I find that learning curve the most tiring part of traveling.

We'll be away September 15th-22nd. We come home, unpack, do laundry, and catch up. Then on October 3rd, I fly to Castlegar for the weekend for a board meeting with SPARC BC (the Social Planning and Research Council of British Columbia).

And the following weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada!

And, to add to the fall fullness, a Canadian federal election may be called, campaigned, voted and over before Americans finally vote on November 4th, my birthday.

Those are the highlights from my fall calendar. How is your fall shaping up? Is it as crazy?

Practical Tips Need to Follow Accommodation Demands

2008-08-29T06:18:00Z

I am sitting here, writing another two-part article for Uptake.com. This article is entitled Traveling with Autistic Children: Tips for Fellow Travelers and Parents. Given recent events in the news, most notably a mother and young son being deplaned because of his autistic behavior, my contact eagerly accepted the article idea when I pitched it to her.

I had no problem finding tips for parents on how to ease the experience for their autistic child. I could write several times the required 500 words.

However, the challenge is proving to be finding tips for the fellow traveler. After spending several quality hours with Google, I have yet to find any practical tips for the traveler who finds himself seated beside a child with autism on a flight or at the next table in a restaurant. Be patient, be understanding and be empathic does not tell me, a fellow traveler, how to handle a difficult situation.

I appreciate the need to accommodate individuals with autism, but I need to know how. I agree people with autism have the right to travel and to be in public places, but tell me how to best interact with them.

Tell me:

what to do when I am seated beside an autistic child who is constantly repeating a sound or a gesture;
what to do when the child behind me is kicking my seat non-stop;
what to do when an autistic child has a temper tantrum - do I offer to help or do I look away?;
what to do when I see a beleaguered parent struggling to control her child amidst a sea of glaring and judgmental eyes;
do I talk to the child to distract him;
do I reach out to him or would that exacerbate the situation;
how do I offer to help without offending the parent;
how do I know the difference between an autistic child and a bratty one.

I have been to countless websites on autism looking for practical tips, including the Autism Society of America site where clicking on the "I Want to Help" button takes me to a donation page. I'm not interested in donating, I would like information on how to be understanding and empathic in a situation in which I do not know what to do.

Please, when demanding that your disability be accommodated, tell me, your fellow traveler, how I may assist you.