Advocacy
Downhill Skiing
I love to downhill ski. I grew up in Calgary forty five minutes from Banff and some of the best skiing in the world. I learned to ski in Calgary at PaskaPoo renamed Canada Olympic Park for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Anyway when I was learning to ski we called it Poo Glacier as […]
Support Systems
As the Beach Boys put it, “I Get Around!!”. It’s all about gettin around. If you’re blind, simply put, you need to be the easiest date at the prom. It’s all about logistics. Getting groceries, getting to the doctor, getting the kids, etc. It’s about getting things done. Your support system is everything. Without it […]
I Should Have Known
I connected with a cousin of mine the other day. During the conversation of catching up we touching on my disability. She knew I was blind, but not what that meant or what it was called. I should have known. I’ve spent so much time lately being angry and frustrated at my family of origin […]
What’s In a Doll
What wisdom can a toy doll impart on us? We either make our toys represent ourselves, making our toy look like us, or our toy becomes our confidant or our best friend. In either case we have the opportunity to project ourselves and reflect on our life through play. Play is a necessary for […]
Realizing My Potential
Have you ever noticed how, depending on you take on things, God or the universe chooses to talk to us? Have you ever noticed how often we are given messages? There are countless songs poems stories etc about how we are spoken to. The subtle the sublime and sometimes the sledgehammer on our stubborn heads, […]
Cone of Silence
I’ve talked to a number of people recently and I’m shocked. I have been ignorant and naive. People with any disability, visible or not, disease, affliction whatever feel like they are not allowed to talk about their condition. I’ve been told by many not for profit organizations that their donors demand to be anonymous. The […]
Empathy
Have you ever asked yourself why you seem to be more receptive to some and not so much to others? Have you ever wondered at work why if an idea came from one colleague it was received differently then if another colleague expressed the same idea? Do you notice that if something is not in […]
Teenage Blindness
The teenage years for anyone are probably some of the hardest and delightful moments of ones life. Its the first time you ask yourself who am I? The first time you figure out what is important to you, the first time you begin to understand who and what you are and what you stand for. […]
Normal
None of us like to feel or admit we are different. I look at my choice of careers. I used to shun the musician, masseuse thing as it was stereotypically blind. I now am spending more time singing and want to learn the message trade. I chose a career in information technology “IT”. Why because […]
Making a Living
Its very difficult making a living as a blind person. The most stress I’ve ever had in my life was when I was married, for the first time, and I was the only bread winner. I couldn’t get my x-wife to work for nothing. Supporting four mouths was a ton of pressure. In the workplace […]
