I thought that because I did so much work in diversity, and  had disabled friends and family that I understood disability issues. I quickly found out that there was so much that I didn’t know. This has been a learning experience on many different levels for me. There were things that I  would never have thought of before. 

Here are  two examples:

I am so fortunate to belong to several communities and have a great support system. People brought  dinner almost every night,  went shopping and brought groceries. There were a few times when people either brought me bagels or  food  in a container that needed to be warmed.

The problem was that with a broken wrist,  I wasn’t able to cut the bagels in half and couldn’t lift a plate to warm up food.  Every time this happened it made me laugh and I also realized that I too, probably wouldn’t have thought about slicing and lifting a plate if I had brought someone in my situation food.

The second example was when I went to an event at a hotel that advertised as being accessible, and tried to get my wheelchair in and out of the bathroom stall. The door opened in rather than out,  so I had to get help wheeling in and out. It made me think how difficult and uncomfortable this is on a regular basis for someone who always uses a wheelchair and has to ask for help getting into and  out of the stall.

More to come in the next few days.