KAFO to Work
It had been in my mind for quite some time that in due course I would switch from using a crutch at work to wearing a left KAFO. Now that I had good shoes attached to my KAFOs, with an identical...
View ArticleLaterality
My BIID is asymmetric. That seems odd. My self image corresponds to complete paraplegia. Both legs the same. Both sides of my lower torso the same. It seems absurd for there to be laterality. Yet it is...
View ArticleWheeling at the Library
Once in a while I need to go to the university library as part of my job. There’s obscure stuff which simply isn’t accessible on the internet. Since I was going to work in the morning I was wearing a...
View ArticleDo I Feel the Pain?
Phil asked me in regard to my Third Hike "Do you feel the pain at all?" I’m taking this to refer only to physical pain. It seems like a simple question, and the simple answer is "yes." However, the...
View ArticleIgor
As I write this I am the subject of a practical joke. The new room numbers and nameplates are finally going back up after completion of the construction of the new ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy) wing,...
View ArticleA Private Show
It had not occurred to me until today that something I do in connection with BIID could be considered performance art. Maybe I should start selling tickets. It was one of those days where I had a bunch...
View ArticleRaising the Hemline
Summer is here. Today is the first day this year forecast to be in the 90s(F). Usually I’m wearing shorter skirts by this time of year. However, I’ve been a bit nervous about being too ostentatious...
View ArticleAccepting Gifts
Sometimes I receive gifts from the universe. The latest gift was a car crash. How am I going to use this gift? For starters, it means that I will never need to drive a stick shift again. So I will...
View ArticleWeek Two
It seemed like it would be interesting to write down things that happen at work as a result of being in a wheelchair. I’m writing this in diary style, numbering the days according to actual wheeling...
View ArticleA Little Help From My Friends
Ski season is only a couple of months away. Today I was hiking within the bounds of a ski resort (renowned for its adaptive skiing programs), looking for suitable cliffs. My mind wandered to thinking...
View ArticleHot Pink
Today I wore my above knee hot pink skirt to work. I’m getting bolder as I get more and more comfortable about being myself. People ask me how I’m doing more often than they did before… Before I became...
View ArticleA Little Road Trip
I just got back from a road trip. I had not taken one in a year. It wasn’t clear to me ahead of time that I would have anything at all to write about it, since being in a wheelchair feels so normal...
View ArticleGuest Speaker Reveals All
My friend, a psychology professor, and I arrived simultaneously at the doors of the university building. She offered to open them for me. I said that it’s okay, I’ll do it. They were surprisingly...
View ArticleA Chance Encounter
When I went to get my afternoon latte today, one of the cafeteria employees was sitting next to the Starbucks. He’s about twenty years old, and we always enjoy conversing. We gave each other a big grin...
View ArticleNo Big Deal
My nervousness about BIID disclosure has been steadily decreasing. The party on Saturday seemed like it would be the perfect opportunity for complete disclosure. Things didn’t turn out quite how I was...
View ArticleLast Night
Once in a while one gets out of bed feeling a little different from the night before. It was like that this morning. I’ll just describe the night as is, without attempting too much in the way of...
View Article$100,000,000
Yesterday evening I was in the middle of writing an e-mail to Sean, when Alicia walked into the room to ask me a question. It came out of the blue; a complete surprise. My answer surprised me too. I’d...
View ArticleHiking with a Leg Brace
A month or two ago I was hiking high up in the mountains. The trailhead was at 10,200 ft. The first 45 minutes was along a reasonably level, though rocky, trail to a lake. After that I went off trail...
View ArticleIn-Laws Revisited
Alicia and I spent the day with her parents. It had been a while. On our last visit (The In-Laws) I was using a single crutch as my only assistive device. My disability presentations have changed since...
View ArticleAt the Dentist Again
I wasn’t planning to write again about going to the dentist. It’s pretty mundane stuff. But as I was sitting there this afternoon, I thought about Sean’s post "Writing About What I Do, Or About What I...
View ArticleWheelchair Dancing
This had to come sooner or later; an evening of dancing in my wheelchair. I should have learnt by now that there is nothing to be nervous about such things; but I was nervous anyway. My Dance Partner...
View ArticleSki Season Again
My ski season was delayed on account of financial considerations; but here I go again. It surprised me how much BIID was on my mind during the first ski day, since things have been relatively peaceful...
View ArticleOh, How Uncomfortable!
Sometimes strangers say things to people with disabilities, which seem a bit, well, strange. Sometimes strange people say strange things that really get me thinking. There’s a convenience store on the...
View ArticleLetting Go
Certificate of Completion Presented to Chloe Clumblyloe For Completing a Total of 20 Hours of Personal and Family Development Workshop on April 1 – 2, 2010. I’m proud of my certificate. I know it’s...
View ArticleDisclosure Conundrum
BIID disclosures are filled with trepidation, tears, nervousness, raw emotion, vulnerability, and even terror. Right? Well, not any more; not for me. Guilt and shame get replaced by comfort and...
View ArticleFlying High
Soon after I started following transabled.org, Claire posted "Weirdness at the Airport". "Wow!" I thought, "This woman has the balls of a mountain goat!" (Umm… ovaries maybe). There she was, not only...
View ArticleConsistent Presentation
My disability presentation has evolved over the last two years. It has lacked consistency, both over time and also between different groups of people. I’m not sure I could have done it any other way. I...
View ArticleWheelchair Hike Number One
I’ve already had a year or so of interspersing my regular hikes with ones using a leg brace and crutch. It seems that there was a slightly greater psychological hurdle in getting to my first wheelchair...
View ArticleMusical Paralysis
My friend Dave, who accompanied me on my first wheelchair hike, plays viola for the Salt Lake Symphony Orchestra. He was able to get us tickets for yesterday’s "Schumann Celebration". I was not...
View ArticleMy New AFO
I have a little shopping list for medical assistive devices that I would like. Some of them are for physical issues. Some of them are purely for BIID. Some of them serve dual function. Santa Claus...
View ArticleIt’s a Small World After All
Alicia, myself and a friend headed south, with three suitcases and a wheelchair packed in our friend’s car. Here described are my eight days of wheelchair adventures. Las Vegas Las Vegas is a...
View ArticleConfession at the Dentist
It is now exactly four weeks to the day that bilateral KAFOs became part of my standard disability presentation. Today also happened to be the first day that someone asked me about that extra leg...
View ArticleDifferently Abled Dyke!
Alicia and I decided to participate in the "Dyke March" that is part of the vibrant "Pride Festival" in Salt Lake City. She made a sign for my wheelchair which said "Differently Abled Dyke". We parked...
View Article25th Street
Snowbasin is the ski resort that is closest to my home; the ridge top can be seen from where I live, and vice versa. Snowbasin hosted the downhill events for the 2002 Winter Paralympics/Olympics. It is...
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