Links on Health and Exercise Topics for Disabled People

Access to Medical Care for Individuals with Mobility Disabilities 

Disability.gov’s Guide to Health Information and Resources

Medicare Coverage if You're Disabled

Cigarette Smoking Among Adults with Disabilities

Disability and Obesity

Chronic Pain Relief with Swimming Exercises

Physical Activity for People with Disabilities -- Including cancer survivors, those with type 2 diabetes, and those with osteoarthritis

A Safety Guide for Disabled Pedestrians

Finding Good Medical Professionals for Kids with Disabilities

Pamela Wilson of Bella Online has written an informative and supportive guide for parents of children with disabilities who are trying to find good doctors or other health professionals for their kids. "Asking More from Medical Professionals" includes several paragraphs of tips and discussion, followed by links to other resources.

Some of the tips include

• For parents whose children have a condition or health problem that is new to the family, it may be helpful to seek out an adult with the same diagnosis to learn more about their children's healthcare needs. 

• Another serious consideration is how comfortably staff and doctors relate to the child during medical visits, exams and discussions. When we take our children in to their medical appointments, we are teaching them how to be lifelong advocates for themselves. Staff who do not treat babies and children with respect, consideration and kindness teach them to expect very little from alternate caregivers. 

• It could be that it is easier and of greater benefit to your child to establish a relationship with a good doctor and provide them with up to date information about your child's condition than to trust in a medical professional who seems to have the reputation of having 'many patients' with your child's condition. 

• A doctor who knows your child as an individual is much more likely to attribute uncharacteristic behaviors or other symptoms to an additional developing medical condition. Families of children who do have or will develop a dual diagnosis need medical professionals who will listen to their concerns and observations. That in itself can save a child's life.

Links are provided to numerous other articles and discussions of relevance, including how to talk to your child's doctor, pain management, "Breaking Up with Doctor Normal," and posts on topics such as discrimination, disability, and advocacy in medical settings.

Read the post on Bella Online.

Maine Human Rights Commission Supports Diabetic Belfast Firefighter's Disability Discrimination Complaint

The Bangor Daily News reports that the Maine Human Rights Commission, in a unanimous decision, is supporting firefighter/paramedic David Cobb's claim of disability discrimination by the city of Belfast. Ability Maine previously reported that caused had filed a discrimination complaint and the grounds for that complaint.

Investigator Robert Beauchesne found that the accommodation Cobb had requested was reasonable, and that two doctors agreed that changing sleep patterns is a factor in elevated blood sugar levels in diabetics. He found that Cobb had reasonable grounds to believe he was discriminated against, and on Monday, Feb. 24, all four commissioners present at the hearing agreed.

Read the complete story in the Bangor Daily News.

Maine Human Rights Commission says Belfast Firefighter/Paramedic Discriminated against Due to Diabetes

Last month the Bangor Daily News reported that Robert Cobb of Randolph was discriminated against by the city of Belfast when they refuse to accommodate his request to limit the number of overnights he worked due to medical reasons:

The city of Belfast denied that Cobb had a disability, adding that a doctor determined his blood sugar spikes were largely due to his own poor food choices and didn’t warrant any work schedule modifications, according to the report from investigator Robert Beauchesne.
“Complainant was placed in the position of having to endanger his health, and ignore his doctor’s advice, if he wanted to continue working for [the city],” Beauchesne wrote in the Jan. 24 report. “Under the circumstances, it was reasonable for complainant to decide that he had no choice but to resign in order to safeguard his health. Disability discrimination is found in this case.”

Read the complete article.

Short Stories and Essays in Breath & Shadow Vol. 10 No. 2

Alex Duvall's essay, "Tourette," mixes together the history of the diagnosis and his own personal history with OCD and  Tourette. He speaks to his disability as if addressing a person or a demon,  and uses a poetic style including metaphor and simile. Read the essay, "Tourette."

W.R. Hilary's "One More Needle in the Haystack" is a piece of short-short fiction that totally engaged me with its hypnotic language -- short, concise bursts of repeated words, sounds, and themes that have a different flavor every time they land.

Why are you always in the hallway, standing in that blue plaid coat with your face pressed against the dirty glass of the door so that they can all see you while the teacher speaks? Throw that damn coat away and wear the one she gave you. I don’t care that it smells like her. Wear it for your own sake.

Read "One More Needle in the Haystack."

Misti Shupe's memoir, "My Hair Dresser Stole my Mojo," tells the story of how a single haircut changed the author's life. While many children and adults with disabilities are abused because they're perceived as easier victims by their perpetrators, Shupe's diabetes actually protected her from further abuse. However, the lessons of putting on a perfect facade from her childhood live on in the adult Shupe's life until a rash decision to cut off her hair brings her face-to-face with who and what she really wants to be, a thrilling transformation to witness for Shupe's family, her readers, and Shupe, herself. Read "My Hair Dresser Stole my Mojo."

In "The Jungle," William Ward's short short, the narrator has a simple disagreement in the checkout line at the store that goes very wrong.

“This is not the jungle,” I reminded myself. “Not the jungle.”

So I did what the counselor taught me. I folded my hands palm to palm at my chest, bowed slightly, and said “Namaste.” But he must have caught my mental subtext that said, “You are one sorry asshole.”

Read "The Jungle."

Robert Kingett's essay, "Into a Memory," is a lovely piece of memoir, rich in sensory detail. Kingett reveals how hearing William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" takes him back into his childhood and how this poem offered him comfort and escape while the chaos of domestic violence raged around him:

After listening to the first line, I was transported to a memory that I did not even know I had: It is late at night, and I am six. I remember feeling the Braille calendar poised in my lap, my finger tracing the soft indentations of the moons among the days. A sound erupts from the living room and I look up, my ears picking up every shift of the air just a few rooms from me.

Read "Into a Memory."