The Work Goes On...

(Local View from 4'2, Lake County Press, August 8, 2025)

Happy August! Where has the summer gone? Even though Disability Pride Month is honored and celebrated in July, the work, awareness, changes, and celebrations don’t stop!

Indulge me in some musings of my recent funny stories. Don’t let the fear of scarcity take control as it makes you park in unknown territories in a Mayo Clinic parking ramp. Don’t go off of your memory of where the elevators are in the Mayo Clinic parking ramp because you enter in one direction, go to the very bottom and then on the way up everything is in the reverse location. This makes your loved one push and pull you up and down the parking ramp only to find out that the elevator was just on the other side of your van. Stop. Look. Don’t assume. (Just like we were taught to Stop, drop, and roll if we were on fire.) Sometimes when your family is giving you a gift, they give you a dirty sock first.

I share funny stories that could get me in trouble because man do we all need to laugh. Laughter and true joy are the best medicine. There is so much anger, hurt, frustration, injustice, and hate in our world so focusing on the funny, mundane and weird happenings of life are a breath of fresh air.

There were still people in July that made inappropriate comments, chose to park blocking access aisles, and leaders who used ableist commentary about the demographics of disability culture and community. There were teachable moments at two hotels that I frequent who had issues with their hot tub lifts both in mechanical and in human/protocol ways. There was a teaching time with my surgical team and the standing x-ray orders they make and how the hassle of self advocating as a non-standing person can be frustrating and hurtful. I used this story to also teach the radiologist techs that some of the ways they speak about or handle something as simple as a room set-up can impact a wheelchair user depending on the length of their time and exposure to our culture. Life can throw us lemons and only sometimes do I make lemonade while other times I throw them back and ask now what?

Life can knock the wind out of our sails in a moment. It is how we react that shows our integrity and character. Sometimes we just need to cry or vent, sometimes we need to go workout or beat a punching bag. However each of us deals with change, stress, medical issues, or pain of all types, we have to be true to ourselves and how that looks for us. There is no one way or one timeframe to grieve or change.

Our humanness is fragile and interdependent. Our status or label of disability can change in a moment. We can be welcomed into this diverse and beautiful culture and community at any time. We need to be kind and wise with our words, our actions, and our faces and body language. Life is richer when we celebrate the small wins as big as the big wins. And we can always do more, feel more, and be more when we dig deep and go beyond our comfort zones. 

So as I keep celebrating Disability Pride Month each day in new ways, I am going to keep thinking bigger, thinking differently, asking curious questions and being kind to myself and others.