Lily265

Welcome to Disaboom.com!

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:36:00 GMT

Disaboom.com is an online community for people living with a physical disability or functional limitation. Family members, friends, caregivers and health professionals will also benefit from the resources offered on Disaboom.com.

Non-profit organizations have joined as members of Disaboom.com to expand their outreach to the community. You can identify the non-profit organizations by their logo as an avatar, and then you can view the profile to find an overview of the organization's mission and programs along with a link to their web site.

Resources offered on Disaboom.com include:

* Social Networking Environment which allows members to connect with other people and share information.

Discussion Forums: Health Conditions, Lifestyles, Toolbox

Private Message System: E-Mail Other Members

Additional Social Networking Features will be released in the first quarter of 2008.

* Health Articles / Living/Lifestyles Articles

Large library of articles written in easy-to-understand language. Additional articles are being added to the library practically every day!

* Media Room showcases videos of people with disabilities meeting daily challenges and having fun along the way! Videos from Disaboom members may be reviewed and displayed here.

* Career Center: Job postings database which consistently exceeds over 600,000 positions available all over the country and internationally! Future planned services include the ability for a job seeker to post a resume online in a searchable database.

* Reviews: The Reviews section offers members an opportunity to share information about accessibility in public venues such as restaurants and hotels, or by services such as rental car companies. Members can create their own reviews using the checklist provided to rate the accessibility of a particular business. If you are looking for a new place to dine or vacation, this is a wonderful resource to help you make a choice based on feedback from people who have been there. A business may have multiple reviews, giving you several points of view!

http://www.disaboom.com

What is Multiple Sclerosis?

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:14:00 GMT

Images, Pictures, Emoticons

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:28:00 GMT

I'm a basic smiley face emoticon kind of person, but since being on Disaboom I've come to realize that there's more to life than just a smile! So I signed up for a PhotoBucket account because it seemed pretty easy to manage. Of course the first image I found and added to my Album was a smiley face! Don't you love it!

Sleepless with MS - 09/12/07

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 07:20:00 GMT

It's 3:00am and I'm back again... You know, I started wondering what other people who are up at 3:00am would be doing right now.

Crazy as it sounds, a lot of people are up and working at this time of night. I found a post from a cartoonist who was uploading his latest creation onto his website. Another person was writing and testing Perl (ouch). And yet another was a single mom working full-time, going to school online at night, to make a better life for her family.

There are people who wish they could sleep, but can't. These people try to find things to do that will make them tired enough to go back to bed. Household chores, paying the bills, baking bread. Some were writing in their journals (obviously). Those who really wanted to get back to sleep quickly later reported sitting quietly in their favorite chair or listening to relaxing music.

Speaking of music, I found one lady who is "so moved by song lyrics" that she could not sleep because of the emotions racing through her body. Another man is regularly woken up from sleep by severe panic attacks, so he has to get up and walk the dog to calm down. He reports that he's becoming "scared to sleep." Me? I'm writing this post, brushing my dogs, eating cereal, watching TV, and working on a closed captioning project. Looks like I'll be up for a while...

"You know the day destroys the night
Night divides the day
Tried to run
Tried to hide
Break on through to the other side"

- Jim Morrison, The Doors

Sleepless with MS - 09/11/07

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 06:23:00 GMT

Why I am awake at 2:00am in the morning? Actually, I know the answer to this one. It's because my work schedule has changed a little bit and my body is trying to adjust -- or trying to tell me to knock it off! Sleep issues are a problem for many people with multiple sclerosis. And occupational sleep disorders are on the rise as more American's work longer hours and non-traditional shifts.

So why don't I just go back to bed? Well, that's the kicker. I was in bed but woke up after only a few hours. Many of you can relate to that. MS makes my legs restless and my body ache, and then I just have to get up and move. So although I'm very fatigued, my body wants to move and then my mind follows suit.

What can you do at 2:00am? Well, nothing, if you want to try and go back to sleep right away. If I think sleep is possible, I get up and move around a little bit but don't get on the computer or start doing housework. I keep everything as quiet as possible and just soak in the silence. Of course, that doesn't always work -- hence the late night discussion you see here.

Any there any benefits to being awake at 2:00am? I've had to think about this one over the years. I've found that I enjoy the sounds of the city as it settles into a silent slumber. On certain nights I've listened to thunderstorms rumbling through the city, gaining in intensity until it's almost deafening, and then fading out over the plains as if it's traveling for an infinity. And I've read thousands of books and worked hundreds of crossword puzzles, so I'm expanding my mind. (yeah, right).

Hmm...I seem to be getting sleepy. Maybe all this thinking and writing is a good thing at times! Good night and sweet dreams.

Lily :)

Music as Therapy

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 16:29:00 GMT

Music -- A Universally Understood Form of Communication and Expression

Music is part of our spirit, our soul, our very being. It's essential to our well-being, and is successfully being used as therapy for disabled individuals. Listening to music and making music provide benefits for different disabilities.

I played clarinet in school and my special guy friend, Paul, plays guitar. We both had music as strong influences throughout our childhood. And music is one of the main things that brought us together. When I asked him what was the biggest factor to cause him to make the transition from listening to music to playing music, he said, "Seeing the Beatles perform on the "Ed Sullivan Show" -- an event which truly changed the face of America's culture. With a sly grin, he then said, "And I keep playing to justify my expensive guitar habit!"

Everyone responds to music in some way. Even when people can't speak the same language, they find a sense of community and ways to express themselves through music.

In future blogs posts, I want to explore a variety of therapy programs that benefit those with disabilities. This will include music programs for autism/savant syndrome, traumatic brain injury and as relaxation therapy. I would also be interested in hearing about your experiences and opinions on music as therapy.

Lily :)

Disaboom

"If there ain't music in the next life, I ain't going." ~ Paul Vadakin

Brain Teasers, Puzzles and Quizzes - Volume 2

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:49:00 GMT

Today's trivia comes to us from the August 20, 2007 edition of Tidbits of Denver. It's all about stimulating the brain, so please join in!

QUESTIONS:

1. What was the name of the dog in The Wizard of Oz?

2. What was the original name of the holiday we call Veterans day?

3. What instrument did the entertainer Liberace play?

4. Which melts faster, dirty snow or clean snow?

5. True or False: Girl crickets can't chirp.

ANSWERS:

1. Toto

2. Armistice Day in honor of World War II veterans

3. Piano

4. Dirty snow

5. True

"Experience is not what happens to you; it is what you do with what happens to you:

~ Aldous Huxley

Brain Teasers, Puzzles and Quizzes

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 13:55:00 GMT

As we all know, it's important to constantly stimulate the brain to retain mental clarity as we age. It's also particularly important for people with multiple sclerosis. As myelin deteriorates, we have more difficulty with cognition and short-term memory. So it's time to get that brain working! :)

A QUIZ FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOW EVERYTHING

This is a quiz for people who know everything! I found out in a hurry that it's tough. These are not trick questions. They are straight questions with straight answers.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get inside the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters " dw" and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Can you name at least half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with the letter "S."

Answers below !

Answers To Quiz:

1. The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends. Boxing.

2. North American landmark constantly moving backward. Niagara Falls (The rim is worn down about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of water that rush over it every minute.)

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons . Asparagus and rhubarb.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside. Strawberry.

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside the bottle. (The bottles are placed over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.)

6. Three English words beginning with dw. Dwarf, dwell and dwindle.

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar. Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, question mark, exclamation point, quotation marks, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh. Lettuce.

9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with "s". Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

Living with Multiple Sclerosis

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 20:19:00 GMT

I was diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS over 21 years ago. It was very scary at first because there weren't a lot of answers about the course of the disease. But I was young and energetic and was able to continue living my life pretty much the way I always had.

As I get older, however, the disease has created more challenges, specifically with fatigue and mental congition. As a result, I had become more isolated from friends, family and the community in general. My ability to earn a living has changed as well. I can no longer maintain the hectic work schedule that I had in the past and my earnings potential has decreased.

I've gone through the cycles of dealing with this disease -- Why Me? Depression. Obsessive Clinical Research. And finally, coming to terms and learning to count my blessings every single day.

Yes, I'm exhausted most of the time and have to plan my days and use my energy efficiently. Yes, I have problems with balance, coordination and vision. And a whole range of other problems that rear their ugly heads from time to time. I'm no longer able to do some activities and I'm limited on others. But I am ready to give up on life?

The answer is a resounding NO!

I wake up in the morning to birds singing and sun shining. I wave and smile at people in my neighborhood and they wave and smile back. I read the morning paper and can laugh or cry at the world around me. I can no longer wear high-heeled shoes, but I've can still strike a pose in cute tennis shoes. I listen to music and dance with my dogs, laughing the whole time. My boyfriends plays guitar and sings just for me.

I've found that the best way to deal with the disease is by opening lines of communication with others who are dealing with the same thing. No one knows the troubles I've seen -- except someone who has been there. And it's amazing how much it helps to ask people, not doctors, about their experiences. Clinical information, although very important, can sometimes be the very thing that sends you spiraling into depression. So I think it's very important to find communities that allow you to share real-life stories with others.

My message is: Reach out and touch someone. Someone will touch back. You are not alone.

Good Times

Lily -- Disaboom Customer Service — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 02:57:00 GMT

Now we're really having fun! Join the community! :)