From disTHIS.com
Thank God I'm Addicted
By Christian Bagg
Nov 29, 2004, 08:19
Hi, my name’s Christian and I’m addicted to magazines.
OK, it’s not that bad, but I do have a slight obsession. I pick up anything from cheesy men’s books to motocross magazines, just to find one thing relative to my situation – being in a chair. This may seem nuts, however when in relevant circumstances, the advice and articles are handy. When I’m at the bike shop for example and remember to ask about the new part I’d seen or when I’m with a member of the opposite sex and recall suggestions from Maxim’s latest issue. Usually I’m talking to my buddy at the bike shop. But every so often I’m with a lady.
This may sound like a lot of work to endure just to learn about my world, but I’m tired of flipping through ads for catheters in the disability-focused magazines only to find the sex article they touted really doesn’t have anything to do with sex. And I hate those condescending cover stories on guys who can ski or bike. Contrary to popular opinion, that’s not inspirational. All my knuckle-dragging friends ski too and I’ll lay money Oprah won’t be calling them any day soon.
Besides, the information we need to make our lives easier doesn’t lie in the antiquated mind of some doctor, OT or magazine editor who’s never been in a chair (No offence). And indulging in self pity when we can’t figure something out is pointless. Fortunately, the information lies within us. Thanks to my periodical addiction and numerous wheelie friends, I’ve learned ways to be as mobile as I was prior to my accident as have thousands of other people. The point is, we all have to learn things which make our lives more liveable and like the rest of the world some of us are more daring and creative than others.
I starting contemplating this conundrum recently and asked myself some questions. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get an accelerated education? Instead of waiting 10 years, we could learn immediately how to get on the ski lift without it stopping, bunny hop a curb without a 10-foot run and have the guy at the bike shop true our wheels? (A much likelier place to hook a date than the home store). My answers were yes, this would be great, so I built www.cripcollege.com.
I’m predicting it will be a massive reference for crips - information about crips, for crips, written by crips. Things like technical advice, what industries have applicable technologies and the wheelchair things the OTs and PTs can’t and won’t teach such has how to ride an escalator. Yes, this is really convenient, but also thoroughly entertaining to watch some burly security guard almost lose his lunch screaming at me to get off. Normally I toss them a wave from the top.
And yes, we’ll have stories on how to ski, climb and hand cycle, but they won’t be “I’m so amazing, look at me” stories. We can and should be doing these things. In fact, we should be taking a crack at doing all the things we did prior to the incidents or accidents that plunked our butts in chairs. The prevailing notion in the medical community is that we should face our so called limitations, but I think we should share ways to overcome them. From this site I hope the newly injured learn that their lives are far from over. And for the more seasoned wheelies, share your tricks. We all know you can’t learn everything by yourself.
Similar to the various magazines I pick up, these pages will be filled with tons of advice, and I’ll stake a wager it’ll be the only place where you’ll learn how to make a beefy guard toss his cookies. Reprinted with permission from www.cripcollege.com.
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