Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Following the successful opening of Readers’ Café two weeks ago, its doors will open again tomorrow, Wednesday, August 1st, 7-10pm Eastern Daylight Time. Readers’ Café is a place to gather and to share. Who knows who will show up or where the conversation will lead us. So, please join us for either the whole evening or pop in amidst your other duties. Hope to see you right here tomorrow.

Readers’ Café will be held the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Mark it on your calendar.

Until the café’s doors open on Wednesday evening, please vote for me so I may win the opportunity to be paid to blog for a year. Being paid to blog would enable me to focus more on blogging, rather than needing to find other ways to pay the bills.

I would like to request your support with these three small steps:

1. Go vote!
2. Remind yourself to vote daily until January 1st, 2008 (ie a daily appointment in Outlook or a Post-It note near your computer screen)
3. Spread the word by telling your friends and, if you use social bookmarks, using the icons below to bookmark this post.

Thanks so much! I’m currently #4. With your help, I can reach #1!

(Photo credit: Richard Styles)

Now that I’m wearing my butterfly AFO (ankle-foot orthotic) daily, I had to buy knee high socks. I haven’t worn knee highs since high school, when I had to wear my metal braces. My cute ankle socks are now shoved to the back of the drawer.

Between the clumsy plastic AFO, the knee highs, the black, men’s size 7 chunky shoes (needed to accommodate the AFO), and my baggy jeans (try finding fitted jeans with elasticized waists!), my bottom half is rather gorpy-looking. I’m now on the hunt for ultra feminine tops to counterbalance the gorpy bottom. And, I am hoping that we don’t get another hot spell this summer because I’m not yet confident enough to wear this ensemble with shorts! AFO surely stands for Anti-Fashion Objects.

In July’s O Magazine, Martha Beck shares research on the “spotlight effect”: the feeling that all eyes are upon us and, hence, to avoid embarrassment, we don’t live our lives to the fullest. Research found that “the spotlight effect makes most of assume we’re getting about twice as much attention as we actually are.” (Being in a wheelchair with a significant physical disability, am I imagining twice as many stares and whispers than I am actually receiving?)

Martha advises that we double everything – raising both hands to ask a question, pausing twice as long for dramatic effect, eating two servings of a delicious dessert – to feel liberated and to live life large. I wonder: would I become more confident if I had balanced gorpiness? If I wore two braces, would I be more apt to wearing shorts? Would the AFO then become an Almost Fashionable Object?

(Photo credit: Dawn Allynn)

I am excited to announce I’m hitting the road again! I am kicking off my “Summer Sojourn” virtual book tour on Monday, August 20th. Like my “40 Blogs in 40 (Business) Days” tour, I’ll be visiting various blogs to talk about my book I’ll Do It Myself, about living with cerebral palsy and whatever else comes up.

The “Summer Sojourn” tour will be more laid back, being only two weeks rather than the grueling eight weeks like the first tour. This time around, I would like to chat with parent bloggers, particularly those with children with disabilities, and bloggers with disabilities. If you are interested in hosting an appearance, please take a look at my schedule to see which dates are available in August. My goal is to have the ten days fully booked before heading out.

Looking forward to seeing you on the road!

(Photo credit: Sandra Cunningham)

Wow, what a week!

Monday: Amidst the uncertainty of a looming labour strike, Darrell and I delivered the second web accessibility training session for a local municipal government. With both sessions successfully delivered, I can now say that we hadn’t done anything like that before!

Darrell is a qualified instructor, but web accessibility isn’t his area of expertise. Web accessibility is my expertise, but I haven’t done much instructing before, mainly because of my speech impairment. But, presented with this opportunity (or challenge, depending upon your viewpoint), we did what we do: we figured out ways to work around our strengths and weaknesses and did whatever it took to get the job done. We must have successfully met the challenged because we received at enthusiastic applause.

Employers don’t know what they are missing by not hiring us!

Tuesday: I picked up my first pair of reading glasses. I’m not thrilled with having reached that milestone, but I confess its nice not needing to hold the page just so to read the fine print. Now, if only I had time to curl up with a good book!

Wednesday: The doors to Readers’ Café officially opened with a resounding success. The next Readers’ Café will be Wednesday, August 1st, at 4-7pm PDT / 7-10pm EDT. Be sure mark your calendar!

Thursday: After three hours of fitting, fiddling and fixing, my butterfly brace was finished. Wearing it is like wearing a cast: I have absolutely no movement now in my ankle, which makes putting on the $135-per-pair shoe very tricky.

The orthotist was concerned as she was making the brace that I wouldn’t be able to get it on myself. She even called the rehab specialist with her concern. His response was to make the thing and then they would figure out how to get in on; he would arrange for help to come in, if necessary. Have someone to come into our home every morning only to put on a brace and shoe? Great, something else to schedule into our busy! What happened to fostering independence so that I can do things myself?

Well, I’ve managed to get the brace on myself, but I need Darrell’s help to get the shoe on. It takes an extra half hour in the mornings. I’m not sure what I’ll do the mornings Darrell is out of the house early. But, I will figure out this challenge too – somehow!

(Saturday morning update: I did it! The trick was a cat toy, a drawstring from a pair of track pants and a half hour. Now I can start my day!)

Today: Thank goodness its Friday because I am out of steam!

Watch for a special announcement early next week! Until then, please vote and have a great weekend!

(Photo credit: Janet Burgess)

Hello and welcome to the Readers’ Café – a place to gather and to share. Given the beautiful summer weather, the patio is also open to enjoy.

Thank you for coming. I invite you to help yourself to a beverage of choice, get comfy and join in the conversation by posting comments below. All that I ask is that you respect others and keep it relatively family-friendly.

Since tonight is opening night, I’m not sure what to expect or where the conversation will lead us! But, taking risks add to the adventure of life!

The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.
~ Leo F. Buscaglia

And that is great place to begin the conversation. Share a time when you took a risk. What happened? Was it as risky as you thought initially?