I know it's been awhile since I've posted here....and trust me, I don't intend to become all that active...but since I have posted in the last couple of days I thought a brief re-introduction might be in order.
I am 64 years old. I've had MS for 28 years...probably longer, but it was diagnosed 28 years ago. I've experienced serious exacerbations in the past, and have used canes, walkers, four-arm crutches and wheelchairs throughout that period. For the last 12 years or so I have used a wheelchair full-time for mobility.
My professional career, what I've done for a living for the last 35 years -- before I was diagnosed with MS -- has been as a disabilities advocate and consultant, both for-pay and, in the last 15 years or so, for free. Part of my early work was to offer my opinions about what a federal law requiring equal access for persons with disabilities would look like -- the law that became the ADA. As an advocate for persons with disabilities I have been to court, been to administrative hearings, been to too-many-to-count human service meetings, fought with people "in charge" to get them to do what is required by law -- in other words advocated for persons with disabilities long before I suspect some folks here have even been alive.
So I'm not "blowing smoke" when I express my opinion about how disability law works, or doesn't work. I'm not guessing about issues around disability, or offering advice about "how it should be", but rather, "how it is". I'm not insensitive to persons with disabilities -- I'm one myself, have had numerous doors shut in my face, both literally and figuratively, I've worked with others with disabilities through all sorts of disability related issues, everything from housing disputes to social security issues, to medical issues to access issues.
I have been treated with ACTH in my early years of having MS, moved to steroids, and then when it became available was on Betaseron for many many years. I quit just recently, about a year ago, when it was evident that my MS hadn't changed significantly for years -- I cannot walk, can only stand briefly to transfer, but it's been that way for years.
I'm opinionated -- and sometimes right. I'm blunt. I don't suffer fools. I don't "do pity". When someone asks a question and I think I know the answer, I respond with the answer, not with a "oh, you poor dear, how mistreated you are!" kind of response.
Which is why Parsi's description of me... blunt .. seems appropriate. So I'll try to remember to sign off as BluntCat.
I am 64 years old. I've had MS for 28 years...probably longer, but it was diagnosed 28 years ago. I've experienced serious exacerbations in the past, and have used canes, walkers, four-arm crutches and wheelchairs throughout that period. For the last 12 years or so I have used a wheelchair full-time for mobility.
My professional career, what I've done for a living for the last 35 years -- before I was diagnosed with MS -- has been as a disabilities advocate and consultant, both for-pay and, in the last 15 years or so, for free. Part of my early work was to offer my opinions about what a federal law requiring equal access for persons with disabilities would look like -- the law that became the ADA. As an advocate for persons with disabilities I have been to court, been to administrative hearings, been to too-many-to-count human service meetings, fought with people "in charge" to get them to do what is required by law -- in other words advocated for persons with disabilities long before I suspect some folks here have even been alive.
So I'm not "blowing smoke" when I express my opinion about how disability law works, or doesn't work. I'm not guessing about issues around disability, or offering advice about "how it should be", but rather, "how it is". I'm not insensitive to persons with disabilities -- I'm one myself, have had numerous doors shut in my face, both literally and figuratively, I've worked with others with disabilities through all sorts of disability related issues, everything from housing disputes to social security issues, to medical issues to access issues.
I have been treated with ACTH in my early years of having MS, moved to steroids, and then when it became available was on Betaseron for many many years. I quit just recently, about a year ago, when it was evident that my MS hadn't changed significantly for years -- I cannot walk, can only stand briefly to transfer, but it's been that way for years.
I'm opinionated -- and sometimes right. I'm blunt. I don't suffer fools. I don't "do pity". When someone asks a question and I think I know the answer, I respond with the answer, not with a "oh, you poor dear, how mistreated you are!" kind of response.
Which is why Parsi's description of me... blunt .. seems appropriate. So I'll try to remember to sign off as BluntCat.
Comment