Update Power Wheelchair Alert

Here is an Alert to send to your member of Congress and to help this week! The other day when I was in a meeting with Senate Finance we were discussing the future Medicare cuts.

Those cuts came at the cost to many people who have disabilities and use power wheelchairs. Not only are we going to be dealing with Competitive Bidding, but  now the elimination of the First Month Purchase option is in those new cuts proposed by Senate Finance.

Toyota develops technology for brain waves to steer wheelchair
On Monday June 29, 2009, 9:14 am EDT
Honda motor co. ltd.
Toyota motor corp.

TOKYO (AP) -- Toyota Motor Corp. says it has developed a way of steering a wheelchair by just detecting brain waves, without the person having to move a muscle or shout a command.

by Charles W. Bryant

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. This is true in the case of skateboarding and the extreme sports that followed. When waves were nonexistent in Southern California in the 1970s, surfers took to the streets on skateboards. Skating in Los Angeles parking lots worked for a while, but it became clear that verticality was key to the evolving sport. Empty swimming pools met this need, and they soon gave way to half pipes and the invention of the skate park. The park at Carlsbad, Calif., credited as being the world's first, opened for business in 1976, and the world of extreme sports hasn't been the same since. Skate pipes got taller, ramps became steeper and skaters soon found themselves leaving the "rim" of the pipe and catching air. Things only went up from there.

Hey, I remember some of my college friends pushing me to the drive up liquor store at the University of Wyoming when I attended college there in 1983. It was sort of a funny event, because I was the only one old enough to purchase the booze, and Pete and Darrell were too lazy to push me through the crowd at the bar.  The guy at the window used to joke with me and say, “Madonna, if you can’t ring the bell like the rest of the cars, I am not serving you.”  Of course, he was joking.

I received this story from PK at Pride and wanted to pass it on.  I think that if you are denied service due to your disability, and you are not walking to the drive up, then you should be served.    Those great guys at the Little Brown Jug, across from the University of Wyoming, did it all the time. Now, the good thing was I never got a PUI.  That was what Pete called pushing while under the influence.

Whistleblower: Tough customer won't end siege of Castle
JAMES ELI SHIFFER, Star Tribune

It was after midnight when Ariel Wade rolled into the drive-through at the 24-hour White Castle, one block from the State Capitol. Wade rolled away "madder than fish grease" after the staff refused to hand over any burgers.

We, the undersigned, call on President Obama and the bipartisan leadership in Congress to work together to enact health care reform legislation in this Congress that truly meets the needs of individuals with disabilities and chronic health conditions and their families. The more than 50 million Americans with disabilities have waited long enough for a health care system that includes both quality, affordable acute care and consumer-directed long-term services and supports. Now is the time to:

AAPD site to sign Petition

How is it that people who are perfectly abled bodied think that the only restroom stall they need is the disabled stall?  Today I was traveling back from Anaheim, California, and a woman was standing in the only wheelchair accessible stall changing her shoes; I could see underneath the stall door.  I  looked at the other three stalls, and they were smaller than the end one that the woman was in, as she conversed with her friend on her cell phone.

Responsible for the formation of MobileWOMEN.org, she is credited for enpowering women with disabilities with useful knowledge regarding their life circumstaces.  Presently, she is the Chairperson of Women Without Limits, United Spinal Association's Women's Advisory Committee.  She was a co-founder and on the Board of Directors of a unique non-profit organization, Discovery Through Design. She participated in the Raw Beauty Project, "an innovative visual arts project designed to inspire the public to create new perceptions, transform stereotypes and breakthrough personal obstacles by expanding awareness of women with physical challenges," featuring women undeterred by their physical disabilities. Last year, she was named CareCure's newest moderator.  For the last twenty-five years, the list of Wendy Crawford's achievements has been seemingly endless.

We women are strong human beings, and when we have to go through breast cancer, it is amazing what women can overcome. Just like us women who have overcome disabilities, some of us will know the affects of breast cancer.   It will be the double whammy.

I know we are working hard to raise families, and sometimes life gives us lemons;  let's just not make Lemonade.  Let's make a difference.  My aunt had breast cancer and survived.  She passed away at 74 years old when it resurfaced.  This woman was an inspiration to me; even after my accident, she was afraid of nothing; I always think I have a bit of my Aunt Freida in me. So here is your chance to make a difference.