#outofmychair

I started using #outofmychair this week. I have only just started using instagram and I get to twitter occasionally, but it just struck me that I should do this. I am not trying to boast about what I am doing, but I want people to see the kinds of things you can do with some help and a little bit of returned strength. I would not have been able to do the things I did out of my chair this past week without the help of Theo, Ella and Jane. Well, I suppose I would have been able to get out (no help needed to get onto the floor) but for sure not safely, or back into my chair. Someday I will be able to do this, I have been working on it, but I'm not there yet.

"Uses a wheelchair" - not "in a chair" or, heaven forbid, "confined to a wheelchair". These last two phrases have got to leave the language that is used when talking about people with disabilities. Someone I heard speak recently put it this way - "your body is just a way to move your brain from place to place". While I do believe this is true, I also think the body has a lot to say for itself. I used to like to push my body to do things, things that weren't always easy. Early morning boot camp at the complex comes to mind...

Being in my wheelchair is not a horrible thing, but it gets tiring and I like to make a change. Slowly I am learning the best ways to make that happen (aside from being in bed - which is easy to do). Because my chair is my legs, my means of getting around, when I do get out I need another mode of transport or I just sit. Which sometimes is just fine, too.

Ella is driving the boat...some were wondering!

It was a goal of mine, to lay on the rocks again. So we found the perfect spot. 

Yes, those are my feet, and I am paddling this kayak! It took some adjusting, but the third time out it was actually comfortable!

We paddled to a beautiful part of the island. Natural pink stone with black lines running through it. And yes, Theo brought pillows for me. 

No explanation needed. #outofmychair