Disability Relate Products

I was on an internet search for some therapy type bands or something to help my 84 year old mom exercise her legs at home when I came across this site:

Disability Information and Resources

I think it's mainly for wheelers, but it seemed apparent that MSers in general -- wheelchair or no -- might find something useful there.

In digging a little deeper to see who owned the website and why they would be driven to compile such an extensive list of links, I discovered to my amazement that the owner/author is a man named Jim Lubin who became a quadriplegic when he suffered an attack of Transverse Myelitis. This man created this (and many other additional websites) using a sip and puff switch to type in morse code.

I find this to be incredibly inspiring.

He's been featured in many articles through the years and he is also shown in this very informative video on YouTube.com that addresses the issues of computer accessibility for handicapped persons.

I wrote to Jim requesting an interview and am patiently awaiting a reply. In the meantime I couldn't wait to share with you a small portion of the wonderful stuff I came across on his site. Here are some highlights:

• Disability Related Products and Services
• Adaptive Clothing
• Legal and Advocacy Resources
• Disability Organizations
• Alternative Health/Medicine/Therapies
• University/Education Disability Resources

The list could go on and on. If you have a moment, please do visit his site and have a look around. I'm sure you will be just as inspired and filled with awe as I was.

If Jim is kind enough to respond to my email requesting an interview, I will post it here in due time to share with all. If I don't get the interview, well at least I tried and have posted the links to the info here.

I've found new inspiration in this man who is less "able" than I to not dwell on what I may have lost to my MS, but to be inspired to continue on despite whatever losses, using what I still have at my disposal.

I'll be adding a permanent link to his site in my side bar under "Things that Inspire me".

By the way, Mom, (if you are reading) I promise to get back to finding those exercise thingies for you. You know how easily I get distracted.

Until next time, may you be relapse free or at least having a good day. :-)

I must be good at MS; I keep getting awards.

Not everything about Multiple Sclerosis is bad. I've got some perks I can only thank my MS for...opening up a whole new world of cyber friends, and getting to use the blue spot when parking.

As for the former, I had a once-in-a-blue-moon, all-the-planets-aligned, good-hair-day type of experience today. I got TWO (2, yep you read that right) awards for my blog on the very same day. Sally Fields, quit hogging the microphone because I have to shout out to these folks who love me.

First (because I got this one first) I got this pretty award from Danielle who's been a cyber friend since long before I ever got over thinking "blog" was a funny word and actually started using it as a verb.(or is it a noun? Because I blog my blog, so I'm confused.)

Now, Danielle is an artist who dabbles in altered art and blogs about it. She's really very good although she doesn't give herself credit for it. She blogs in a whole different blogosphere from the MSers I know, so here we have the potential for the two cyber worlds to collide and artists will mingle with MSers and find out, in the process, that there are some MSers who are great artists while maybe there is an artist or three out there who also happen to have MS. The two worlds could create some great cross over friendships...

The "You Make My Day" award...
The rules for the "You Make My Day" award are to re-present it to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness, inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through e-mail or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved. So to pass it on and keep the love going ~ here are 10 of the 100's of blogs that keep me inspired and bring a smile to my face. Please check them out when you have a few minutes...perhaps there are some new friends to be made!

Here are 10, (in no particular order and I may be double "awarding" them since I don't know a whole heck of a lot of bloggers and have to give out the other award as well):

For always making me smile, often making me ponder things I hadn't thought of, and sometimes spew my drink on my monitor:

• A Stellarlife (Diane)
• Brass and Ivory (Lisa)
• Brain Cheese (Susan ROFL no, I mean Linda)
• Maggsbunny (Maggie, who's a Fingolimod buddy)
• Disabled Not Dead (Anne)
• Down the MS Path (Vicki)
• Multiple Synchronicities (and sclerosis)
• Sunshine and Moonlight
• Self-injecting Chinese hamsters since 2007
• Mandatory Rest Period (Kim)
  

But wait! There's more! Act within the next ten minutes and... (oh, wait, I thought this was an infomercial for a second). Since all this link copying and pasting is taxing my brain and fingers, you previously mentioned award recipients are now the proud owners of this next award as well....

The "I Less Than Three Your Blog" Award (<3)
Do you know it took me forever to figure out that was a sideways heart? (I mean, before Lisa @ Brass and Ivory presented the explanatory award).


But! Added to the above list of recipients, I'm going to add Danielle of My Little Corner... since it's nice to have something to give a person who gave you an award out of the blue, and I really do Less Than 3 your blog, Danielle! <3

So...now that all this back patting is through and we have sufficiently intermingled the art world with the MS world for a moment...it's back to the regularly scheduled tidbits about being a labrat from here on out since I know that's what most of you have come to expect.

Thanks for playing!

Until next time ~ May you be relapse-free or at least having a good day!