Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Being a successful blogger means way more than being an engaging writer on a somewhat consistent basis. A successful blogger juggles many hats: writer, researcher, community-builder, web designer, techie, networker, marketer, statistician, and entrepreneur (if one desires to convert this all-consuming hobby into an income source) are the hats that most readily come to mind. Needless to say, a successful blogger always has something to do. For someone operating with only one thumb, the to-do list is never-ending!

To take this blog the next level, which is still to be determine where exactly that next level is, some changes need to be in the works, including, possibly, automating a few tasks.

While wearing my community-builder hat, I attempt to thank (via email) new readers when leave their first comment and I invite them to stop by again – to let them know that i did indeed see their contribution and that I appreciated it, and to welcome them to my blog’s community. However, unfortunately, I don’t always get to it and, to be honest, it bugs me. I don’t want to be an absentee blogger. On the other hand, my left thumb can accomplish only so much.

In searching for a solution, I came across the WordPress plugin Comment Relish that “sends an e-mail message to users who comment on your website who have never commented before.” But, reading some of the reviews and responses, some bloggers were concerned the automated email may be seen as spammy; annoying rather than welcoming. Scratch that idea!

A few weeks ago at BlogWorld, listening to a WordCamp Las Vegas panel with top-notched bloggers Chris Garrett, Darren Rowse and Jeremy Wright, a bunch of useful WordPress plugins were rattled off, including Thank Me Later. Although a similar concept to Comment Relish, Thank Me Later “is highly configurable. It allows you to create multiple e-mail messages and to send the message after a pre-defined amount of time, making messages appear more unique and people-friendly.” Sounds intriguing.

As my current readers, would you have objected to receiving an automated yet personalized email a day or two after leaving your first comment, thanking you and perhaps pointing you to hidden gems on this blog, after I had approved your comment?

Have you say:

Please share any other plugins this blog must have to make the most of this left thumb! Thanks.

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After feeling completely wiped and feverish with chills for a few days, then feeling liked I had been pushed in the stomach on Monday, with some unpleasantaries following, Tuesday morning found me in the emergency room. The diagnosis: I have symptoms “suggestive of the swine flu”.

Perhaps I was “abusing the system”, given I wasn’t feeling too sick, yet, but I wasn’t taking any chances. I appreciate that doctors didn’t expect me to make it through my first night here on earth and that the last 43 years (next Wednesday!), I’m not ready to call it “quits” quite yet! I wanted to nip this bug early before my symptoms worsened. I’m now on a five-day treatment of Tamiflu from the British Columbia Pandemic Supply.

I would have happily sat out this phenomenon, but, unfortunately, this bug is non-discriminatory and includes anyone. From a study I read earlier this year, which I now cannot find, but this news report echoes the same results: “Almost two-thirds of the children who died with swine flu had epilepsy, cerebral palsy or other neurodevelopmental conditions. In a previous flu season, only a third of pediatric deaths had those conditions.” Admittedly, I am not child age, but I am not about to quibble over a few years. That report had me scared! And hearing reports of healthy adults with no “underlying conditions” dying from H1N1 didn’t help to calm my fears.

So…I’m going to do something very un-Glenda-like and not push myself. Once I hit publish on this post, I am going to back to bed.

Before I’d go crawl into my bed with my kitty, I’d like to leave you with this:

This weekend Blogger Extraordinaire Liz Strauss celebrated her 4th blog birthday. She invited her readers to share their most successful blog post. This was my contribution:

Although I stopped by yesterday, I was stumped on which blog post to share as my most successful post. How is the success of posts measured? My mind went totally blank, which, you know, is rare.

Last night, while watching tv in bed because I was too dead to even move, one post rose to the surface of consciousness.

It is a post about a lesson taught by a wise friend; a lesson I still hold dear today. Every time I implement the lesson, I feel my wise friend sitting on my shoulder, reassuring nodding with warmth and approval, “It’s not about you; it’s about them. Say thank you and accept their words graciously.”

In social media, where it is all about “them”, it may be strange that I chose a post in which “I” learn a valuable lesson as my most successful post. But, this lesson has better equipped me to interact with my readers, friends and colleagues, both online and in-person. Isn’t that a success?

The lesson? How to respond to the remark “You’re such an inspiration!”

Thanks Liz for all who you are and all that you do for others. I’m sure your Dad is proud.

Cheers to you, Liz!

Now I’d like to invite you to do the same. Feel free to share your most successful blog post, in however way you define success. Or, if you are without a blog, share your most favourite post or article from anywhere online – whether it most deeply touched you, moved you to action, made you laugh or was the most useful. Whatever. Share. Others might enjoy it too.

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One thing about being in a loving and supportive marriage is taking an interest and learning about one another’s hobbies and passions. One of Darrell’s interests is watching car racing, particularly NASCAR. Over the years I have learned way more about NASCAR racing than I ever thought I wanted to know.

Sunday afternoons during the season typically finds Darrell watching the televised NASCAR race. I watch a few laps with him, ask a few pesky questions – Why was a caution called? What does [insert racing terminology] mean? How many more laps? – then I carry on folding cloths, cleaning the cat box or tweeting with friends before going back to watch a few more laps with my hubby.

While watching one race, Darrell mentioned that his dream was to ride in a NASCAR and to feel the speed.

For a guy who was heartbroken at 16 because he was not able to learn how to drive, even with hand controls available, because of his double vision and lack of depth perception, his dream had extra meaning.

I filed away that tidbit.

Then, during a race earlier this spring, I received an email from my friend Damien Patton who is also an avid NASCAR fan and had worked on a pit crew. I mentioned Darrell’s dream to him. Damien’s response was “let’s see what we can do while you’re down here in Vegas for BlogWorld”.

After several emails back and forth, and countless phone calls by Damien and his partner Jennifer, last Tuesday morning found the four of us, in front of the Las Vegas Hilton, loading into a Mercedes and a pick-up truck with a rented U-Haul trailer; our chairs tied down with a web of cables. What a sight we must have been!

Darrell had no idea we were off to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway! Nor for what reason!

With help and patience from the Richard Petty Driving Experience and Damien’s back, Darrell was dressed in a fireproof suit…

and helmet…

and helped into a race car…

then engines were started and Darrell was off to live his dream…

After three laps around the track, his expression was priceless…

(Photo credit: Damien Patton)

Due to a glitch with the onboard video recording, Darrell was given the rare opportunity to live his dream a second time!

I absolutely love this photo of Darrell! The moment he realizes what had just occurred…

(Photo credit: Damien Patton)

A big thank you to the Richard Petty Driving Experience, Damien and Jennifer for making my husband’s lifelong dream come true! I’m so glad I was there to share the moment with Darrell.

Happy 50th, Darrell! I love you. And, remember, dreams really can come true!

Our Las Vegas Trip in Review

Part 1: Hilton Room Disappoints on Accessibility

Part 2: Dreams Do Come True – With a Little Help from Friends

Part 3: Making the Impossible Possible – Not Always Perfect or Pretty

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Thanksgiving Day, Darrell and I made our third pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the BlogWorld and New Media Expo. The slot machines, bright lights and ads everywhere as soon as stepping off the plane is no longer overwhelming and makes our Vancouver International Airport seem boring and calming in comparison.

This year we decided to stay at the Las Vegas Hilton, where Elvis had performed 837 consecutive sold out concerts, to be closer to the Convention Center for the three days of BlogWorld. (This photo was taken at 6am the morning we left, which explains why it is so dark.)

We were looking forward to experiencing the poshness of the Hilton. We had visited the Hilton in previous years and were impressed by its overall accessibility. However, we were immediately disappointed by our accessible room. Two double beds, an oversized chair and ottoman, plus our two wheelchairs made for a rather cramped room.

The bathroom was more spacious, with plenty of room to maneuver our wheelchairs. Curiously, the grab bars were used as towels racks. Even though a bath bench was provided, the legs were not adjustable, making it impossible to place over the side of the tub and, hence, rendering it useless for bathing. When asking at the front desk, housekeeping did not have any other benches with adjustable legs.

The worst annoyance was the bed’s height. The bed was higher than Darrell’s wheelchair wheelchair arm. How many accessible beds are that friggin’ high? Darrell had to transfer up to bed, on a rather soft mattress. As for me at only 5”3’, climbing into bed took on a whole new meaning! According to the front desk, all of the beds are this height.

But, having said all of that, this was the first hotel room Darrell and I have experienced with an automatic door opener!

Bathing was dubious, getting into bed an effort, but, at least, we could leave the room with ease!

Even though we enjoyed the rest of the Hilton’s amenities and enjoyed being so close to the Convention Center, we will likely be returning to the more accessible Imperial Palace or another Vegas hotel next year.

Part 1: Hilton Room Disappoints on Accessibility

Part 2: Dreams Do Come True – With a Little Help from Friends

Part 3: Making the Impossible Possible – Not Always Perfect or Pretty

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If everything went as planned, Damien Patton are now leaving the stage after a rockin’ panel presentation at WordCamp Las Vegas at BlogWorld!

Thank you to everyone who attended and a big shout out to John Hawkins for all of your efforts!

My presentation “How POUR is Your Blog” is now available as an ebook. Help yourself to a copy and feel free to spread the word widely.

During my presentation, I had the pleasure of introducing the following three bloggers with disabilities in attempts to put faces to the concept of blog accessibility:

Darrell Shandrow is an accomplished information technology professional with over ten years of experience in several computer fields including accessibility, customer service, networking, technical support and training. He is also nearly totally blind and relies on a screen reader, which enables him to use computer technology on the job, in the classroom and at home by providing the same information available on the computer’s screen in Braille and speech output.

To give a brief glimpse into what using a screen reader is like: Imagine the entire screen blacked out except for a little square which follows the currently highlighted item. you can only see what is in the little rectangle. To see anything else on the screen requires you to move the square over it using the arrow keys."
For a blind person, this "seeing" involves feeling text in Braille or hearing a voice read it as commands are entered to move the imaginary rectangle around the screen. This leads to many obstacles and frustrations when using the internet.

Darrell blogs at http://blog.blindaccessjournal.com/ 

Meet Ricky Buchanan. Multiple disabilities and chronic illnesses, causing extreme muscle weakness and severely limited stamina,keep Ricky in bed for 22-24 hours a day.

Yet, being a self-proclaimed geek, she has her computer and various technological gadgets arranged within easy reach so that she can work with minimal physical exertion, while laying on her back in bed.

Ricky is quite active online – her lifeline to the outside world. She blogs at http://fourwallsnolimits.net/ about surviving and thriving while confined to bed, homebound, or otherwise stuck in one place. And at http://atmac.org/ about assistive technology for Apple and Mac users. She also runs No Pity City http://nopitycity.com/ – Disability gear with slogans that tells it like it is.

Her main theory on life is: I may have disabilities and problems and troubles and stuff that holds me back, but dammit I’m Not Done Living!

Last but definitely not least is Karen Putz – a deaf mom of three deaf and hard of hearing teenagers. Her husband is also deaf.

On top of being a busy Mom, Karen is a sales manager for videophones and relay services for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing. She is also an avid advocate for the deaf community and a prolific writer and blogger.

She shares her world as a deaf mom on her blog deafmomworld.com.

With more and more content being put online in the format of audio and video without captioning, Karen fears her children will become further excluded from society.

More about WordCamp once I am home. For now, it is par-tay time; after all, this is Vegas!

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Integration, inclusion, mainstreaming – or whatever the current buzzword is – tends to focus on the individual with the disability. But, what about those in the class, group or workplace into which the individual is being integrated, included or mainstreamed? How does this process affect them?

When I began this “From Special Ed Classroom to University Graduate” miniseries, I invited friends and fellow classmates to share their perspective of this journey; after all, I didn’t make this journey alone – many others took part along the way.

Earlier this year, I had the joy of reuniting with a Brownie friend Christine from many moons ago. Recently, Christine shared her heartfelt thoughts and experience of having me included in her Guiding years:

When I was 10 years old, my family moved from one city to another. The cities are only 15 miles apart but, when you’re 10… it may as well be 100 miles. The very first thing my mom did, after getting me into school, was sign me up for Brownies. I hadn’t been in Brownies in my previous city… so it was all new to me.

Every Tuesday night, I would put on my pretty uniform, my sash, my little pocket-purse with my coins (dues) in it and my beautiful little ‘tam’ for my head. I loved the ceremony of it all… the rules of order, the songs, the camping, the badges and the games. If memory serves me, my brownie pack was quite large and we were grouped in sixes with ’sixers’ as leaders… and so on.

My brownie pack included a young girl, Glenda, who attended brownies with her mom… she attended with her mom because she was in a wheelchair. We hiked, did crafts, sang songs, went camping, played group games… and Glenda participated in all of them. I remember feeling curious about Glenda… how she did all the things I took for granted… did she go to school? Did she have girlfriends? Did she have hobbies? As we got older, we "flew up" to Girl Guides. Our camping trips and excursions became more difficult … Glenda was there. Badges took more work to earn… Glenda earned them and still, I was curious.

As I became a teenager (now in Pathfinders – the next step after Girl Guides), as with many teenagers, my self-absorption and interest in sports, boys and friends pulled me away from Guiding. At the time I was happy to not put on my blue skirt and pressed white blouse in favour of my tight blue jeans or my sports uniform and didn’t think too much about my ‘guiding days’.

As I got older… I began to realize that I’d learned a lot of things in girl guiding – things that I recall even today, as a middle aged woman. I do, however, have regrets. You see, as an adult, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with Glenda… something that I haven’t quite identified yet, called me to seek her out – only to find that she had become this incredible woman. A published author, a wife, a communicator, a blogger, a public speaker. The experience of finding this girl, whom I’d known as a child, shone a bright light on a missed opportunity in my younger years.

I wonder why, all those years ago, I didn’t ask about the things I was curious about? I wonder why my wonderful guiding leaders (who I still view as having been very important people in my life) didn’t take the opportunity to teach all of us about Glenda, about ourselves as Glenda’s fellow group-members, about people who were differently-abled than most of us. I believe that I thought Glenda was mentally challenged… this is a point of great embarrassment to me now. I don’t know if I was given the opportunity at the time to learn more… and either didn’t take it or didn’t recognize it, but I believe I missed out on an opportunity to connect more closely with a spectacularly strong and able woman who, without a doubt, would have been a mentor for me as I grew up. I hate to say that having met Glenda as an adult made me feel like I missed out on something as a youth… but that’s what it seems to be. It certainly doesn’t mean that I’m not happy to know her and read her blogs and articles now, but it does make me think about integration, opportunities and lessons.

My children are grown now… but I will tell anyone and everyone I can to make sure your children take the opportunity to learn from people with physical and/or mental challenges… they are strong, they are inventive, they are creative. I believe that my parents and my guiding leaders missed the opportunity to teach ME to be open to friendships that may not be typical or simple. Ones that may take some work or creative planning to foster. I believe these lessons would have helped me be a better friend, a better wife, a better mother.

I wish I’d done more as a child to get to know this beautiful and accomplished woman… I’m know I would have been a better person for it.

Previous miniseries post: Life’s Most Important Lessons Aren’t Learned in the Classroom

Next miniseries post: Coming soon!

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Hey everyone, by the time you see this, Darrell and I should be safely in Las Vegas, God willing, for our one and only holiday this year, and, of course, for BlogWorld Expo.

Just a reminder, with Jane Wells (appearing via video) and Damien Patton, we’ll be presenting “Three Faces of Blog Accessibility” at WordCamp Las Vegas at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo.

When: Saturday, October 17th, 2009, at 1pm
Where: Las Vegas Convention Center, towards the back of the Exhibit Hall

If you’ll be there, please join us. If not, the WordCamp sessions will be recorded and submitted to WordPress.tv the following week. I’ll post the link.

Last but definitely not least, I’d like to wish my Canadian readers and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving. It has been a tough year for many, but we are all still here!

I’d like to thank you all for your continued support, friendship and for making this blogging thing so rewarding and fulfilling. I am truly grateful. Thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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During my elementary school years, I was fortunate that I didn’t face name-calling, teasing and bullying like many other kids with disabilities do at school. However, there was one incident that cut me to my core.

As I share in my autobiography I’ll Do It Myself:

Mom taught at my elementary school, so she would pick me up from my classroom at the end of the day and carry me out to the van at the front of the school; the school wheelchair stayed at school. One day, Mom had to stop at the office on our way out. She sat me down on the floor in the hall next to the gym doors at the main entrance. She would be only a couple of minutes, and I wasn’t in the way as people were leaving.

One boy, a year or two older than me, walked by and asked, “Are you retarded?” and then kept walking. I didn’t know what to say, and if I had said anything, my speech would have added fuel to the fire and would have confirmed his assumption. I said nothing.

Once Mom put me into the van, I burst into tears. When I managed to stop crying enough to communicate what had happened, Mom was sympathetic. She attempted to make light of it like she usually does, suggesting that next time I reply with something like, “No, are you?” – as if I could get that out clearly enough for it to be effective.

The incident was soon brushed off and forgotten – on the outside; but it wasn’t forgotten on the inside. That question hurt me to my core for a long, long time. Even though I knew I wasn’t retarded, I realized that others did see me as something I’m not. Since that day, I’ve been trying hard to prove to others that I’m not retarded.

Having reflected upon this over the years, I now see two issues here; the first being the word “retarded”. Several kids from the then Woodlands Institution were bussed to our school; many of them had mental retardation, as the disability was called back then. Looking back, I have no doubt that the boy meant no harm or ill-will. He asked a simple question. But, for me, “retarded” was a loaded word; it hurt, it degraded, it stung. Because of the use of the word through history, for many people with disabilities, being called retarded is as hurtful and demeaning as calling an African-American the n-word.

Ideally the word would vanish from our language. But, considering how pervasive the word is (how often do you hear someone utter something like “that is retarded” or “what a retard”?), the word vanishing is not realistic, unfortunately. The next best option is to disempower the word for those who are negatively affected by it. The word has power only if we allow it to. I’m still sorting through how exactly do to that, which might make for a lively discussion in the comments below or a topic for a future post.

The second issue stemming from the incident was that my feelings weren’t acknowledged. A joke was quickly made and then the matter was brushed aside. No doubt that was easiest in that moment. When I’m upset and crying, Glenda-ish becomes even more difficult to understand. Having a deep conversation at that point was pointless. However, it meant my feelings were discounted.

A similar situation happened recently when Darrell was laying on an emergency room stretcher and wearing an oxygen mask because his pneumonia had worsen so much since our first trip to the ER four days earlier. Sitting at the foot of his stretcher, I was feeling guilty for not being able to make him the proverbial chicken soup or to raise him up high enough in bed. Perhaps if I had been able to properly care for my husband, then we may not have needed to call the ambulance to take him to the hospital where he was admitted for two weeks.

Irrational I know, but that was how I was feeling in that moment. While sitting there with Darrell, someone I love and respect, and whose profession is to comfort and counsel people in such situations, came to visit.  Rather than acknowledging my feeling and proceeding from there, he reprimanded me for feeling that way.  That day was the toughest one for me during the two-week hospital ordeal.

We don’t like seeing our loved ones hurt and upset; we’d like them to be happy all of the time. But, life sucks at times! To live a full life sometimes means, unfortunately, getting hurt, being upset, feeling down at times. Acknowledging those times, those feelings is how we can wholly and completely accept our loved ones. Sometimes acknowledging an owie exists is as important and healing as is gently covering it with a band-aid.

Previous miniseries post: Integration: Balancing Including the Child with Benefiting the Child

Next miniseries post: Coming soon!

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Guest post by Chris Garrett

I have learned a lot about accessibility from Glenda. In particular you should read the excellent free advice contained in her "How POUR is Your Blog" ebook.

Learning from Glenda and other accessibility experts has taught me that some of the changes we can implement are not just the right thing to do, many are really easy and it is only laziness or ignorance on my part that has stopped me doing them.

What I think many bloggers and blog theme designers do not realise though is accessibility is not just about making your blog readable to, say, blind folks. In fact, you should also consider making your site accessible for purely selfish reasons too.

Here are 5 good reasons to make your blog more accessible:

1. First, the scary reason. In many countries, accessibility is the law. OK, so maybe they are gong to go after the Fortune 500 before us little guys. I don’t know about you but I would rather make my site friendly than risk it.
2. You are losing customers. There are over 50 million people in USA alone with a disability. These folks are spending money with your competitors because your site is unfriendly.
3. Accessibility often means more search friendly too. Imagine Google as a blind reader. The bot can not interact with movies, play with your flash, or understand pictures, only how you describe them. Make sense?
4. People are more and more likely to want to view your content on a non-standard device. Good accessibility means allowing folks to consume your content their way, from screen reader to iPhone, rather than force round pegs into your 1024×768 square holes.
5. It is good design. Many site owners have found by focusing on content and ease of use rather than bloated widgets, gizmos and images, their accessible sites work faster, are easier to maintain, and provide a better overall experience for ALL their readers and customers.

Really, it just makes sense. It’s not just the right thing to do, it could make you more competitive.

Are you ready to make your site more accessible? What do you think?

Please share your thoughts in the comments …

Chris Garrett is a professional blogger and new media consultant who for nearly 20 years has written about everything from Microsoft Excel through to Travel, but this is the first time he has written about accessibility!

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While at SOBCon: Biz School for Bloggers back in May, I had the pleasure of meeting Gail Lynne Goodwin. Overflowing with enthusiasm and passion – and a hug for everyone – I understand why she founded InspireMeToday.com, a website which provides great inspiration from a different luminary each day.

Gail kindly invited me to be a inspirational luminary:

Imagine you had to leave only 500 words as the very best of what you’ve learned in your life, and as a gift to the world. What would you say? This is not your bio or your life story. The goal of this piece is to inspire our readers to live up to their full potential and fully live their dreams.

Who needs coffee when that kind of challenge is given to you early in the morning? After months of procrastination, I finally wrote my message, which came down to one word: try.

To read my message and to be inspired by other luminaries, you will need to register, which is quite simple, but definitely worth it. Go be inspired!

What would be your message to the world? 

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