Archive for Disabilities

Batman Movies on the Big Screen

| August 16, 2012 | No comments

When is the last time you went to the movies and seen someone in a wheelchair?

You don’t see it often but I saw at least three people in wheelchairs at the opening night of the Dark Night Rises movie, in which they played the first two movies as well in a row.

I was shocked when I first saw them rolling in but excited at the same time. This could be a sign that people with disabilities are finally getting out into the community and living their life, no matter what anyone says to them. I believe that we all as humans may be different than each other but it should not stop anyone from living their life and treating others like they would themselves.

I want to see many more people in wheelchairs and with disabilities, when I go the the movies, events, to play pool, etc!

I am going to keep squeaking until it happens!!!

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Living With A Disability | Tags: , , , , , ,

Azmyth Concert

| August 13, 2012 | No comments

Have you ever been to a concert even though you may be in a wheelchair?

Well I have been to a couple and it is amazing. I was at a concert a couple a weeks ago by Azmyth and a few other rock bands.

I was first invited to an Azmyth concert by the band leader. He told me that he invited me because he likes my great attitude and all the things I do in the community. At this concert with my great friends/band members, Tim, Alex and the others, I had a blast. It was great seeing them again and of course getting out of the house.  However, the best thing was being the only guy in the crowd with a wheelchair and I was rocking out with the music.

I love showing people that even though someone may be different and have some limitations, they ae still like everyone else and can live a normal life with maybe some help here and there.

Get off that butt and start doing because even though I love being the only person in a wheelchair in the crowd, I would love to see others in wheelchairs and with disabilities out there living their life.

Squeak, Squeak, Squeak!

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Living With A Disability | Tags: , , , , , ,

Interview On WOCA Radio

| July 10, 2012 | No comments

WOCA 96.7FM & 1370AM

You can here the interview here. http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/23802314

Friday July 6 was my interview on WOCA to talk about my book, “The Squeaky Wheelchair.”

I had a great time on the radio and loved I inspire so many people. You may think that you can’t do thinks because of your disability, struggles, etc. but you CAN!  I have faith in you and know that if you just went out and tried things, you will be amazed and show others that you can.

Think about this quote and starting moving towards a better future, “How Bad Do You Want It?”

Squeak those wheels and grow your interdependence!

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Growing Up Disabled | Tags: , , , , ,

Family Café (part 2)

| July 7, 2012 | 2 comments

Saturday has arrived. We woke up at around 7 A.M. and I struggled out of the high, hotel room bed. Two beds were next to each other with a good size gap in between.

I was sitting up and about to transfer to my wheelchair when I lost footing and fell to the group. I was working hard to get up but I finally got up and sat in my wheelchair. After that we all got ready and went downstairs to the exhibit hall.  There I r-opened my booth but took some time to look around while I waited for people to start showing up. People start showing up and all throughout the day I had people come up to my booth for info and to buy my book.

Soon it was 1 P.M. which was an hour before I had to be upstairs to do my presentation. A few minutes later I saw my great friends Andrew and Jaime who I got to meet in my Partners in Policy Making class of 2010. We chatted for a while and then they went to look around as I ran my booth some more. 2 P.M. came along it was time to head upstairs for my presentation and get setup. You can hear my presentation below.

My presentation went great and I decided to go see my friends Heather and Michelle’s presentation on service dogs. After their wonderful presentation we all got together and decided to go to Golden Coral for dinner, great dinner with conversation.

Saturday ended and we were ready for Sunday to come so we can pack up to leave and go to Disney with my great friend Heather.

Great time, great life and more, you can have it too but you have to work for it!

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Growing Up Disabled, Living With A Disability | Tags: , , , , , ,

Family Café (part 1):

| June 29, 2012 | No comments

You are probably asking what Family Café is. No, it’s not a restaurant but an amazing annual conference.

The Family Cafe Annual Conference began with a simple idea. Why not bring together individuals with disabilities and their families with state agencies, non-profit organizations and other service providers.  This was done so families could network with each other, learn what services are available to them, and find out the best way to go about accessing those services. The conference provides a unique environment where families could connect with peers, commercial service providers, and public entities. The Family Cafe has always believed that well-informed people make the best possible decisions for themselves and their loved ones. Our Annual Conference provides the opportunity to put that principle into action.

That initial vision has spawned the largest state-wide conference of its kind in the nation. The 14th Annual Family Cafe Conference, which occurred this past June, hosted more than 7,800 people, and included 160 educational sessions.

On June 14 my dad, nephew and I headed down to Orlando the day before the conference started. We checked in and waited in our hotel room until we could go set up my booth. We went downstairs and met my great friends Heather and Michelle.  We all walked down to the exhibit hall to set up my booth and my friend’s booth.

After we set up our booth we got together in the lobby and waited for my friends to get ready for dinner. My friend Jennifer, Heather and Michelle came to dinner with us at Don Pablo’s. We all had a great dinner with great conversation.

 

We went back to hotel and decided to hang out by the pool. I put on my swimsuit and went down to the pool to swim. We decided to head to bed since it was getting late.

Friday arose and it was time to register and go down to the exhibit hall to run my booth. I set out my new book I wrote called, “The Squeaky Wheelchair” and put out all my literature for my motivational speaking tour and contact info. The day went along as I met a lot of people and sold and autographed about ten books.

I was getting tired so all my friends decided we wanted to get together again and go to dinner. We went to dinner and again had a great night of friends and conversation. Again it was time for bed since we had to get up early for presenting and running my booth.

Stay tuned for more of this great conference story/adventure.

Squeak, I think I need some WD 40.

 

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Education, Growing Up Disabled, Living With A Disability | Tags: , , , , ,

Sarasota schools again try to fire teacher O’Neill

| June 28, 2012 | No comments

Some teachers can abuse children with disabilities with no consequences.

SARASOTA COUNTY, Florida – More than three years after they first tried to fire teacher Diana O’Neill, Sarasota school district leaders may again be frustrated in their latest attempt to dismiss the embattled teacher who was disciplined for abusing profoundly disabled students.

The latest attempt comes after the Second District Court of Appeals affirmed a state panel’s decision to suspend O’Neill’s teaching certificate for two months. Sarasota County Schools Superintendent Lori White mailed O’Neill a termination letter on June 20 stating she will ask the School Board to fire her at its July 24 meeting.

But O’Neill could thwart that move, at least temporarily, by requesting yet another administrative hearing or protesting the decision through the district’s grievance process, a move that would keep her in her $77,000 a year job possibly for several more months.

Read full story.

 

 

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Education, News Story | Tags: , , , , , ,

Previous 10 special needs of special needs parents

| June 26, 2012 | No comments

Great blog from a mom raising a child with a disability.  Check out her blog on http://www.gillianmarchenko.com/

“As a mother to two little girls who have Down syndrome, I need parents of typically developing kids to know something.

I have needs.”

Read more.

 

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Growing Up Disabled, Living With A Disability, Raising A Disabled Child | Tags: , , ,

Parents Sue Fort Bend Special Ed Teacher Accused of Abuse

| June 21, 2012 | 3 comments

Two Fort Bend County families are suing their children’s former special education teacher months after allegations surfaced that she put a child with autism in a filing cabinet, ripped another’s hair out of her head and behaved erratically in the classroom.

Julie Gosch, 47, who had taught at Juan Seguin Elementary since 2003, resigned this year. Two teacher’s aides who worked with her sent emails to the school administrators, alleging neglect and inappropriate and abusive behavior.

Attorneys for the families provided the Chronicle with what they said were the emails, which claimed Gosch called her students “retarded,” saying “you guys are losers” and taught the aides to “accidentally” hit the children.

After aides came forward in January, the Fort Bend Independent School District and its police department investigated the allegations. Officials said Gosch’s last day of work was Jan. 27, the day the aides came forward with the written statements.

Fort Bend ISD officials said the teacher has not been the subject of any previous allegations of abuse.

Read more.

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Education, Growing Up Disabled, Living With A Disability, News Story, Raising A Disabled Child | Tags: , , , , , ,

Friendships You Will See

| June 18, 2012 | No comments

I have not had it easy in life because of my disability. Finding friends, getting a girlfriend, etc have all been difficult.

Have you had that same situation? You are probably asking why you can’t find friends and the like. Well, let me tell you that part of your problem is sitting on your behind a doing nothing. “You won’t get anything if you do nothing!”

You read above that I have trouble finding friends, a girlfriend, etc. Let me tell you a story that happened in my life the other day. I was sitting around at my house, playing on Facebook and feeling bored than ever. I had no one around and no transportation. I decided to post something on Facebook, “Good afternoon friends. Anyone want to hang out tonight, maybe eat at Mojos grill, go bowling, play pool, etc?”

I received no response so I thought I would message some people on Facebook, I send my friend Karen, who I met at Ocala Business Leaders and other events, if she wanted to hang out and do something. She asked if I had ideas; so I suggest dinner and maybe a movie, bowling or something. We decided to go to a dinner and a movie.

She came and picked me up, we went to Applebee’s and then after Applebee’s we went to the movies to see Snow White and the Huntsman. We loved the movie and decided we were going to make a night of it so we went to Mochi’s.

The night ended as she dropped me off, what a great night with a great friend! The moral of the story is, that you have to take chances, posting on Facebook, sending a message, calling someone, etc, because you never know when you might meet a new friend or even have a current friend respond and want to do something. You may one day meet a boyfriend or girlfriend, get out there, take chances and don’t let a few no’s bring you down and stop you.

Let’s enjoy life because we are all human beings and we were put on earth not just to sit on our butts.

Squeak those wheels because it will happen!

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Living With A Disability | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Cooking on Wheels

| June 11, 2012 | No comments

What do you have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and how do you make it?

I know there are so many people with disabilities that wonder how they are going to cook and even if they are able to cook. Here is my story; how Chef Moon makes his delicious dishes.

I cook the same is anyone else, with just a few modifications so I don’t hurt myself. One dish that’s easy to make but hard at the same time is spaghetti. The way I make spaghetti is by doing everything on the stove. This allows me from having to transfer the pot of hot water to the sink and possibly spilling and burning myself.

I start by filling the pot up in the sink and carefully transferring over my lap to the stove. As the water boils, I get out all the utensils I need,  including strainer, big mixing bowl and something to stir the spaghetti.

I then break the spaghetti into the boiling pot of water and stirring until done.

Next I take and put the strainer in the mixing bowl and take the boiling pot of water with spaghetti and poor into strainer.  Then with the strainer with spaghetti I it put into serving bowl.

I do all this cooking without hurting or burning myself.

I make lasagna, meatloaf, and other great dishes all by myself. There are ways people with disabilities can do to cook without having help and using the microwave all the time.

Try cooking something at first with someone’s help, then move into cooking on your own.

We got this my friends, squeak, squeak.

Category: Being Disabled, Disabilities, Living With A Disability | Tags: , , ,
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