Do It Myself Blog – Glenda Watson Hyatt

Somewhere in my possession I have a letter from a medical specialist, written when I was young, stating my diagnosis – quadriplegic athetoid cerebral palsy, that I am functionally non-verbal and that I require 24-hour nursing care.

That letter surfaced to consciousness while I have been feverishly working on my presentation for the Plain Talk Conference – a conference on communicating plainly and clearly in the health industry – to be held in Alexandria, Virginia, next week!

I have also been making arrangements for the four-day trip. A tour of Washington, DC, may also be on my itinerary! I’ll be traveling alone; without a nurse attached.

Why am I sharing this?

Letters are written, notes are made in files. Sometimes these words are necessary to “play the game” to get the service, the equipment or the medication necessary when living with a disability.

But, those written words do not define who you – or a loved one with a disability – are. Leave those words on the paper, in the file. Only you can choose the words that define and describe who you truly are, your own truth.

The words I’m choosing to define myself today, at this moment, include:

I am a creative and innovative solopreneur who happens to have cerebral palsy and uses an electric scooter for mobility. I do have a significant speech impairment and, because of that, I have developed a unique way to deliver riveting presentations. At times I do require assistance; my virtual assistant and editor have been invaluable these last few weeks. Today I am too busy to be disabled.

What words do you choose to define and describe yourself today?

I received this email from Jason Teitelman at BlogCatalog about an exciting upcoming event:

Hello Friend,

I just wanted to take a second and let you know about an upcoming BloggersUnite event, People First: Empowering People with Disabilities. It is taking place on July 24, 2010 and the goal of this event is to raise awareness about the challenges that face people with disabilities every day and how we can help eliminate these challenges.

By sharing stories of how you, a friend, a colleague, or maybe a family member have dealt with the challenges of living with a disability, we can raise awareness about this issue and bring down some of the barriers to equal accessibility and participation that exist today for people with disabilities.

If you don’t have a personal story to share, you can still help! Write about an organization that provides support to people with disabilities or that is helping to provide equal access. Let you readers know some facts about the number of people living with disabilities, the challenges they face, and how each of us can work towards creating a society that provides equal access to everyone regardless of our physical or mental abilities.

Whatever you choose to write about, we’d be thrilled to have you write a post as part of this event. Read more information about the event.

Thanks for reading and have a great day,

Jason Teitelman

I hope you can join me and fellow bloggers on July 24th to empower people with disabilities. Together we can raise awareness and make changes happen!

Thanks,
Glenda

While I was at the mall last Tuesday, I also made a hair appointment. In the old days I would have typed a note before leaving home. Or, I would have asked Darrell to call for an appointment.

Tuesday I pulled out my iPad, typed a message in the Proloquo2Go app and showed it to the receptionist. An appointment was made for the following day.

Continuing with my day of playing hookey, I decided to treat myself to lunch at A&W. Once again I typed out my order before scooting up to the counter. However, in the process of placing my iPad on the counter to show the employee, I must have somehow hit the “clear” or something because my order had disappeared. It reminded me of my old Etch n Sketch: shake and everything erases.

I managed to blurt out “Mama Burger”, but “root beer” was lost.

A hair appointment and a Mama Burger – two out of three ain’t bad!

Obviously I need to learn where the “clear” button is to avoid accidentally hitting it or I need to find another app for this purpose – one that doesn’t erase when shaken.

The one thing I do like about Proloque2Go for this purpose is the font size, which is fairly large for when showing someone else. But, if the message disappears in the process of showing another person, then clearly Proloquo2Go is not the right app for this particular purpose.

The next option I’ll try is the app My Writing Nook, which I purchased for a whopping $4.99 for writing on my iPad. The font size can be increased to 36 point, which may be large enough for someone else to read from a comfortable distance. Documents can be saved and quickly brought back up if needed.

Thanks to a tip from Chris Brogan, I’ve also purchased the TextExpander app for another $4.99. This app automatically expands abbreviations; for example, when I type “;gh“ (without the quotation marks), it automatically expands to “Glenda Watson Hyatt”. This is similar to the abbreviations feature in my E Z Keys software, but for a fraction of the cost.

TextExpander works with several iPad apps, including My Writing Nook. To have it also work with Proloquo2Go would be a cool addition to the communication app.

After countless late nights working on countless projects, yesterday I unchained myself from my desk and escaped over to the mall. Actually I headed over to Simon Fraser University’s (SFU) Surrey campus, connected to Central City Mall, to watch Mayor Watts officially unveil designs for the new City Hall and Community Plaza.

(Image from City of Surrey’s media kit)

Also being built is a 75,000 square foot library, adjacent to City Hall:

Construction of the library is well underway:

I’m eagerly awaiting the library’s opening scheduled for the fall of 2011. I miss losing myself for hours in library stacks.

The City Hall will open in fall 2013.

This skyline view from SFU will dramatically change in coming years:

I’m excited to see this growth happening in Whalley, our less-than-shiny corner of Surrey. The area is growing up around Darrell and I, making more services and facilities accessible to us within our own community. Exciting!

Maybe I’ll run for City Council now that City Hall will be mere blocks away…