Music Monday | 10 Years Of Apperciation!

Howdy!

So, I have some exciting news to share with you today.

Last year, I celebrated 10 years of blogging and talked about various disability topics. It was fun and I seriously thought I was done and was going to have a nice break for a while, but then back in February, I realized I have been a high school graduate for ten whole years! If you feel old, don’t worry I’ve never been more afraid of sliding into my thirties this much in my life! Although, I don’t think they are considered “old” (hell, I don’t even think fifty or sixty years old are elderly anymore!) but everyone close to me will certainly feel their age and I don’t necessarily feel that bad about that! 😉

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If you have been following me for a long time, you might remember my ‘Tune Tuesday’ summer posts I did for a good three or four years in a row. They were about music from all around the world. It was exciting to share with my family, friends and audience of new and old acts are based in places they’ve never expected before. Some people were really surprised by this and it made me really happy! I hoped I gave everyone a shot on discovering something different each week!

Unfortunately, I am not comfortable to mess up my new schedule just so I can publish on Tuesday, but I had a clear version of everything coming together nicely (we’ll see about that!) so I thought about using the start of the week, like my A-Z challenge and I have seen other blogs use it before and it’s even trended on Twitter in the past! The last two Mondays’ of the next six months will be called ‘Music Monday’.

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Now let’s discuss the theme of this new journey.

I’ve been getting the idea to go this route back for a while. I know I don’t talk about this a lot, but after I graduated from high school I was supposed to study Audio Recordings, and hoped to become a record producer one day.

One of the classes I had to take was one called “music appreciation”. Now, I have to remind you of the fact that I only lasted about a month or two, before I quit the whole thing, so I don’t really remember the main objective of the class itself. However, I feel like it would have talked about finding the genius in various genres and the masters that created each piece. If it ever turns into a special on PBS, I would probably end loving it!

I have selected 12 people that have inspired prior to making the decision to study this and the others were found while I was doing my own course into appreciating all forms of music for the last ten years. I am hoping to explain a little more into why I gravitated to discover something different and how I evolved with each new act I collected overtime.

I am really excited to do this series and hope you enjoy every post that I publish in the next couple of months.

Who are you hoping to see included in my new series?

A-Z Disability Challenge | Z : Zoom

I know I’m late on getting this post up, but I have been feeling really lazy in the past few days.

I have always been called “speed demon” because I have my power wheelchair’s speed on high. It’s crazy how much my mom thought the volume was down low while I was in school! Speaking of that, my middle and high schools were attached and had multiple ramps in the hallways. The first time I ever visited, I was probably going into fourth grade and my face lit up. I couldn’t help but race up and down those halls with Blondie and our cousins. Now as an adult, I feel like I have definitely calmed down, and to just seal the deal, the occasional popping a wheelie doesn’t even do it for me anymore. For my parents, this is a blessing and this could be a good sign for other families out there who are dealing with little speed demons at home too, but I feel like I should say that if I was in my power wheelchair for 8 hours straight and there were ramps all around, I would totally go for it in a heartbeat!

Since creating my Instagram account a few months ago, I have been speaking to other people with Arthrogryposis, and it has been really nice to discuss our stories and everything, I also love when parents will follow me too. I get a chance to watch the younger generations grow up and learn how to deal with it in an entirely different era.

There is one little girl that takes me back to starting school for the first time, making what I thought would be long-lasting friendships, and receiving my first wheelchair. The girl’s mother told me once that thanks to her brothers encouragement, she tracked mud all over their house. I could tell she wasn’t thrilled about the incident. There is a big difference between the mini daredevil and I. When I was in elementary school, we left my power chair there and only took it home during summer vacations because our house wasn’t handicapped accessible. So, I never really got to do things like this when I was younger, but this was also at a time where I could scoot everywhere so I didn’t need it too much.

When we did go places that required something more substantial, we used a toddler stroller. It was lightweight so it wasn’t that big of a hassle to put together and take me on trips. I want to say that we used them from the age of seven to probably 11 years old. After I had my surgeries, my body decided that it not only wanted to grow but everywhere! Honestly, for the last five years of being in the stroller, I never wore the seatbelt. I couldn’t. It never wanted to fit around my belly.  Thankfully, by the time I started going to middle school, I was riding the bus to the school and home, so we could keep my wheelchair with me at all times but more importantly, this also meant we could finally get rid of our trustee stroller of the early 2000’s.

Once you got your first power wheelchair, were you described a “speed demon” growing up? Do you remember the first time you discovered rolling down into ramps and/or mud? 

 

A-Z Disability Challenge | Y : Let’s Talk About You

Since we are at the end of this challenge, I wanted to do something fun. I kept going back and forth on what I wanted to do. I originally had titled it, “It’s YOUR life” but I felt like I have been talking about this a lot, so I changed it to discuss you.

I’m also doing this in a totally different way than my previous posts too. Since I’ve already done a Q&A several weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to get to know you and your way of life, so I am opening this up to you now with ten questions.

1.) What is your disability? Do you have more than one?

2.) What are some ways you’ve learned to adapt with it?

3.) I came across this question last week, and thought it would be cool to include it here. Do you think you’re a warrior?

4.) How do you feel about the word “inspiration”? What is your response to when someone calls you that?

5.) Have you ever thought about how we can change people’s perspective on what a disabled person should be in every sense of the word?

6.) What is your dream for the future? Example: goals for 2020.

7.) Does having sex with your husband/girlfriend/partner made accept or hate your disability even more? *If too personal, just skip it!

8.) What do you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?

9.) Do you follow any other disabled influencers? Such as Alex Darcy of Wheelchair Rapunzel or Jessica Kellgren-Fozard on YouTube?

10.) If you kept up with my A-Z Disability Challenge the whole year, did you enjoy the content? Did I miss anything you think was important?

It is crazy to think that not only do we start a whole new year next week, but I will also complete this challenge too. After what happened at the beginning of the year, I really did not think I could finish it. I was perfectly fine with letting it go until after new years day. I don’t really know what inspired me to get up one day and look into my daily planner and count some how days and letters I had left to find out they matched, and then get back on it every Monday. I guess I was determined to do it.

A-Z Disability Challenge | X : X Marks The Spot

This week’s installment will be kind of funny as I know a lot of disabled people deal with this on a daily basis. Luckily for me, I don’t, but it does happen every once in a while. I will be discussing mysterious bruises. Oddly enough, on the day I came up with the letter theme, I actually did have a bruise on my leg that just sort of appeared out of nowhere, so it works out great!

I always find myself with a black and blue spot in the most weirdest places, like my knees or shoulders. The only explanation I can give to you about the one on my knee is that it could have happened in the middle of the night and I accidently whacked my knees together while I was turning to either side. However, I can’t say anything about the shoulder though. Am I alone with wishing I could get them on places that make better sense; going back to what I said about my knees. I know I hit the bony side of my left foot a lot whenever I am in the process of putting on my blanket! I think at night, I forget how close I am to the walls, but still when I wake up, it’s not the place on my body that is hurting the most!

The plus side of this is that I am no longer banging my head on the wall. Yes, I have been known to do that too! I literally have to keep a fleece blanket next to my line of fire so that if I do get very close to it, I have that soft barrier in between and maybe I won’t end up with a damn goose egg on my forehead. Again, this has happened in the past too.

Where do you get most of your bruises on your body? Do they start to appear at night or as the day continues? 

A-Z Disability Challenge | W : Wheelchairs

It is extremely difficult for me to talk about wheelchairs. Last year, the big contervesory was about the death of Stephan Hawking was announced, an artist made this beautiful drawing of him coming out of his wheelchair and basically walking up to heaven. As a disabled woman, I was very conflicted with this, but it wasn’t for the picture per se. It was because I felt like I had to choose between what I’ve always been taught and agreeing with the rest of the disability community.

The big deal wasn’t necessarily about the drawing itself, it was more about how a disabled person relies on their wheelchair to do things, like simple tasks around the house and/or getting out and having drinks with friends. However, everything just exploded into this chaotic thing that I really did not want to be part of at that time. Honestly, I still didn’t want to talk about it again on here, but I am on the letter “W” and there wasn’t anything else I could talk about other than this.

So, I’ll just say that my wheelchair doesn’t give me freedom. There it’s out and I can separate myself from the crap I’ve been feeling all this time.

I do think it allows me to do tasks better but I still feel stuck whenever I am in it. I really feel I am limited in both varieties of wheelchairs, as I’m either too short or too bulky! I have yet to find the perfect fit. Maybe this is what regular woman deal with picking out new heels! The second point I would like to get across is, it’s also all about your state of mind. I think after so long, you adapt to every different setting, and wheelchairs are a part of this too. You might get to do new or lose some beloved challenges while figuring out your surroundings.

Again, I have conflicting feelings about my freedom. I know I can never get away from my limitations. I say this not a sad note though, I like being able to test them anyways. I think this is really healthy! My family might not always agree with that statement, but you know. Honestly I would lastly like to say, I will believe what I want to. I have been doing pretty good on several other subjects throughout the years, I can add this onto the never ending list too! Even if that means keeping it in for a year and a half until I can find a clean way to discuss it on here, that’s what I’ll do.

If you’re in a wheelchair, whether that is full or part time, what are your thoughts on your freedom to be able do all the things you want to do?