Blog
Be Fearless Vlog
Last week in my blog I talked about fears, why people have them and how you can overcome them. In this first Jeneration vlog, I talk more about my own fear and how I was able to get over it. If I hadn’t, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am today. 🙂 Did you miss last week’s blog? Read it here!
Read MoreBe Fearless
Essentials for Everyday Life Be Fearless I always like to conclude my presentations with things I believe are always important to remember in life and that will help you find and live the good life. I think of these as essentials for everyday life, because if you live by these pieces of advice anything is possible. These aren’t designed for any particular group in society. These are designed for everyone. Anyone and everyone has it in them to follow these pieces of advice, and thus anyone and everyone can find and live the good life. My first point is “Be Fearless.” Fear is something that affects many, many people. It can be in a big way or it can be something...
Read MoreBound? Confined? Hardly.
It’s not uncommon for the media – print, online and broadcast – to refer to someone who uses a wheelchair as “wheelchair-bound” or “confined to a wheelchair.” I hate to burst their pity or sympathy-evoking bubbles, but I’m not “bound” or “confined” to my wheelchair. No one is. Webster’s Dictionary offers the following definition of the word, “bound”: “something that limits or restrains.” I think many people who use wheelchairs would not say they are limited or restrained by their wheelchair. If anything it’s the opposite. Their wheelchair makes it possible for them to move around and do things, and without their wheelchair they would actually be limited or...
Read MoreDefining quality of life
Defining the Quality of Life By Jen Onsum People living with disabilities strive for acceptance and inclusion in this world that wasn’t necessarily designed for us. But, above all, we strive to have people see us as being no different than someone who lives without a mobility device and without being hooked up to medical equipment that saves lives. So when CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen deemed a little girl’s life with an “incurable disease” and potential life dependent on a ventilator and other medical equipment to be a “terrible quality of life,” (Cohen, Elizabeth, “Heaven over hospital: 5-year-old changes the conversation about death,” 11/04/15) it...
Read MoreDear Julianna
This is an open letter to the little girl from CNN who her parents say has chosen going to Heaven over the hospital the next time she gets sick. The article is available at: http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/27/health/girl-chooses-heaven-over-hospital-part-2/index.html?sr=fbCNN102715girl-chooses-heaven-over-hospital-part-20342PMStoryLink&linkId=18289967 Dear Julianna, You are beautiful, sweet, funny, witty and a little sarcastic. A lot like me. Also like me you have a form of muscular dystrophy. And also like me, you’re experiencing some of the sometimes not-so-fun things that your disability causes like weakness and having to wear your BiPap A LOT and doing respiratory...
Read MoreFlying with Power
Hello everyone! I’m long overdue for getting this blog going. I guess I was waiting for just the right topic to kickoff things with. Sometimes I might write about accessibility and disability related topics, and other times I might write about business-related topics. For this first blog I decided to write about my favorite thing to do – travel – and more specifically, flying with a power chair. I recently went on vacation (a cruise, which I’ll likely blog about soon) and received numerous questions about flying with a power chair and physical limitations. I’ll start by addressing the first general question I tend to get asked – is it easy? No, it’s not. Being...
Read More
Recent Comments