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I was born with a disability called arthrogryposis. These are entries I've written about life with a disability, accessibility, assistive technology, and other disability issues.
Mon 04/26/2010 4:23 PM
I occasionally use my state's paratransit program to get home from work when Chris has to work late or otherwise can't be there to take me home. A few weeks ago I called to schedule a ride after not having used it in a couple of years, and discovered two things...
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Mon 01/11/2010 1:29 PM
Lately when I spend time at my home computer, my hands have been getting cold and the back of my right hand even goes numb... a rather unpleasant sensation. It doesn't happen if I crank the heat up high enough, but then my computer overheats, especially if I'm playing The Sims 3...
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Wed 11/18/2009 2:51 PM
A couple of years ago I discovered what just might be the most useful "gimplement" (that's a tool, or implement, that makes life easier for gimpy people like me - otherwise known as a daily living aid) I have ever owned...
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Thu 10/29/2009 1:25 PM
Shopping for clothes is usually an extremely frustrating experience for me. Differences in the shape of my body, and in my ability to get certain items on and off independently, mean that I have to be very particular about the styles I select...
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Wed 08/05/2009 2:28 PM
"No fair, I wish I could work barefoot." I hear this all the time from delivery people and other visitors who come in to the office...
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Thu 07/23/2009 4:24 PM
Over at the GimpGirl Community on LiveJournal, a member asked for opinions on all of the "politically correct" language being used to describe us - specifically, the trend of "person-first" language, in which we are to say "person with a disability" or "person who is blind (or deaf)" rather than "disabled person" or "blind (deaf) person", because putting the person before the disability is somehow less offensive to us "people with disabilities"...
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Thu 03/12/2009 3:52 PM
Chris found this for me this morning: There is a pair of nine-week-old Chihuahua puppies here in Rhode Island who were born without front legs. They were taken in by an organization called Just A Touch Rescue, and they are receiving physical therapy to teach them how to manage life on two legs...
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Thu 03/05/2009 2:47 PM
We all love to make fun of those silly TV commercials for the latest and greatest miracle product that is "not available in stores" and "available only through this exclusive TV offer". We laugh at them because the claims are often far too good to be true, and the product rarely lives up to the hype...
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Fri 01/30/2009 2:56 PM
Gimpstorming. It's a process by which a gimpy person, like myself, tries to devise his or her own way to do something they couldn't previously do...
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Thu 01/22/2009 4:16 PM
Hey, City of Warwick, since you're so hard up for cash... instead of just reminding people that the law says you can fine them for not shoveling their sidewalks, how about you go out there and start issuing those fines?
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Thu 12/18/2008 3:47 PM
If Santa could bring me a new knee this Christmas, I wouldn't ask for anything else. My right knee decided two weeks ago, for no good reason, that it hates me...
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Tue 10/07/2008 1:46 PM
Congratulations to Barbara Baker, winner of the Gopher III pick up tool! Your prize will be mailed by the end of this week...
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Fri 10/03/2008 2:15 PM
Does no one want this Gopher III reacher? The giveaway ends at midnight tonight, and so far there's only one comment and I'm not even sure if that comment was intended as an official entry...
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Fri 09/26/2008 3:05 PM
I recently had the opportunity to get ahold of a Gopher III reach tool for fairly cheap, so I decided to try it out. Alas, as I had feared, I don't have enough squeeze strength in my hands to operate it...
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Thu 09/25/2008 2:37 PM
Check out this video of Kyle aka "0nehandedbandit" from AbleGamers playing Guitar Hero, on the hard difficulty level, with one hand (and one foot)...
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Thu 09/18/2008 1:21 PM
Poor Chris has had a rough couple of weeks. Two weekends ago he started having some really bad back pain. By Friday he hadn't had much relief so he decided to go see a chiropractor for the first time ever...
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Wed 08/27/2008 1:03 PM
Remember how I mentioned that I'm always cold, but if I turn up the thermostat even one degree, I get hot? Not to mention how annoying it must be to others that I'm constantly changing the temperature on them...
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Mon 08/25/2008 4:42 PM
According to human rights organizations, more than 200,000 US school children were spanked or paddled in school in the past year. And a disproportionately high number of these kids were students with physical or mental disabilities...
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Fri 08/22/2008 11:21 AM
I don't normally stir up controversy but on this I just have to speak up. Sparked by the use of a particular word in the movie Tropic Thunder, there has been a campaign making its way through the web to get people to pledge to "stop using the r-word"...
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Mon 08/18/2008 1:57 PM
For the last few weeks I've been dealing with this off-and-on stiff and painful neck. It started right about the time we went to see The Dark Knight, so at first I thought it was just from looking up at the big screen for so long...
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Thu 07/31/2008 9:34 PM
Here in Rhode Island, paratransit service comes with a lot of rules. You must schedule your ride at least a day in advance - no spontaneously deciding you want to go somewhere... yet this is considered equivalent to regular public transit...
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Wed 07/23/2008 6:12 PM
The number and type of disabled dolls available is increasing, and I and others think it's fantastic. But there are some people who don't feel the same way...
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Tue 07/15/2008 8:37 PM
Then Josh Blue took the stage, and it was non-stop roaring laughter from that point on. Our faces literally hurt by the time it was over...
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Tue 07/08/2008 8:54 PM
DisabilityNation recently reported that according to a survey, one in five gamers is disabled. You can count me as one of them...
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Tue 06/10/2008 12:36 PM
We talked for a few hours, and had a ton of things in common. And then, that's when the part of the conversation happened that made my jaw hit the floor...
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Wed 04/23/2008 6:32 PM
I did find some online at a food service supplier, but I'm hoping to find them in a slightly smaller quantity so that I don't have to spend quite so much money at one time. Or at the very least, somewhere local so that I don't have to pay for shipping...
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Wed 04/16/2008 3:04 PM
Calls are answered in the order in which they are received, they admonish, so hanging up and calling again will only further the delay...
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Tue 02/26/2008 10:28 PM
It was toward the end of the shot that they panned past us, so it very well may get edited out when the episode airs, but you never know. It is expected to air sometime in May, and if I know ahead of time I will give everyone a heads up...
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Wed 11/14/2007 9:47 AM
I just want a plain bottle... popup would be great, but I'll even settle for a screw cap that I don't have to push down, line up, do yoga or offer up my firstborn to open...
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Sat 06/09/2007 8:50 AM
I can't even explain why or how, but I was immediately more motivated than I ever have been. Maybe it was the fact that this site offers more features than eDiets, while being completely free, or maybe it was because I saw no less than three different disability support groups, and knew that if these other people with disabilities could do it, then I could too...
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Thu 03/15/2007 3:57 PM
Sure, I'm not immune to the typical complaints about work that everyone has. There are times I want to strangle people I work with, and there are days when I don't want to go or even get out of bed.
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Wed 02/28/2007 8:29 PM
To an outsider it may seem like I'm strangely obsessed with bathrooms. It's something that's constantly on my mind when planning whether to go out, where to go, and how long I can stay...
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Wed 02/21/2007 10:03 PM
It's time that condo boards learn that they can't just make any rule they damn well feel like. Bylaws can't directly violate local, state, and federal laws, such as a little thing called the Americans with Disabilities Act...
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Tue 01/30/2007 9:31 PM
Historically, disabled users often had to wait up to eighteen months for assistive technology products to support a new operating system...
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Mon 01/22/2007 9:50 AM
Worse, the ad presents the message that the newly disabled character has lost his girlfriend because of his disability, further promoting the stereotype that persons with disabilities are incapable of carrying on romantic relationships...
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Fri 11/24/2006 12:43 PM
Aside from issues of lack of access to screening and other preventative care, the article also cites as a possible reason the special considerations some disabled women may have to make when choosing courses of treatment...
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Sat 04/29/2006 2:21 PM
I've kept one link, but updated its description, added one that should have been there a long time ago, and added one newer one...
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Tue 02/28/2006 2:43 PM
Maybe I've just been grumpy, but things like this have really been pissing me off lately...
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Sun 02/12/2006 7:20 AM
Every so often I should just force myself to post a sort of mental dump...
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Mon 09/01/2003 10:28 PM
Should we deny MDA's clients these services simply because of bad decision making by leaders in the organization?
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Sun 02/09/2003 12:12 AM
My message here is to parents and other caretakers of disabled adults: We are adults! Our physical dependence on you does not give you the right to continue to control our lives as if we were children...
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