Living with disability

Welcome to Wondercafe2!

A community where we discuss, share, and have some fun together. Join today and become a part of it!

Glad the ultraasound treatment helps you - even if it isn't perfect with one treatment. Many years ago I had ultrasound for an injury and a TENS unit was used at home. Helpful. I can't remember if you have mentioned TENS.
I tried it at least once, somewhere, sometime. I don't have one though. I remember it sort of zaps and/ or stings a little. I didn't really feel anything while the ultrasound was being done except the cold gel that's put on the device - it warms up to your own body temp - and the fact that she was sort of massaging the sore spots. It was after the fact that I noticed a difference. I felt gradually better after an hour. Kind of like taking pain medicine but more effective than over the counter and no other side effects. Then I felt pretty pain free (I think there's still some repetitive motion/ overuse/ wear and tear or whatever you want to call it - different - pain but most of the pain was almost completely gone for a day. It was about 80% less. From my perspective, that's practically nothing. The thing about pain and stiffness together is it is immobilizing. When I was younger I used to get pain without necessarily noticeable stiffness accompanying it, that might or might not have been related to my disability on a given day - and stiffness without pain (I've always had stiffness) that was directly disability related. Now the stiffness and pain together, from being older and from having CP, can stop me in my tracks, though. But after the ultrasound one type of pain disappeared and all the pain was less overall - I don't know if that makes sense. I didn't notice them meld together until they were separated. Maybe some is muscle and some is joint pain - that's a better way to explain it.
 
Last edited:
I'm going to visit some dogs this weekend. A step towards obtaining a medic alert doing - seeing if I react. If this goes well then we'll be on a wait list to get a dog soon. A dog needs to be at least 18 months to be a service dog, so getting that designation will take quite some time. I hope the alerting training goes well, as that aspect can help me out well before the official recognition - if we get to that point.
 
I'm going to visit some dogs this weekend. A step towards obtaining a medic alert doing - seeing if I react. If this goes well then we'll be on a wait list to get a dog soon. A dog needs to be at least 18 months to be a service dog, so getting that designation will take quite some time. I hope the alerting training goes well, as that aspect can help me out well before the official recognition - if we get to that point.
That's great! I've wondered about getting a service dog - and if there was enough benefit for me to have one. I don't know, aside from emotional support, what a dog could help me with, though. And, if I did qualify, would my landlords be required to allow it? (They have cats, with problems, and are anti-additional-pet.) Part of me just really wants a pet - but if there was specific help one could provide that would be great.
 
That's great! I've wondered about getting a service dog - and if there was enough benefit for me to have one. I don't know, aside from emotional support, what a dog could help me with, though. And, if I did qualify, would my landlords be required to allow it? (They have cats, with problems, and are anti-additional-pet.) Part of me just really wants a pet - but if there was specific help one could provide that would be great.
You would be able to get one more easily than me from an organization due to the nature of your disability. Mobility dogs are more common than diabetes alert dogs. Wait lists do tend to be long though. A dog could retrieve things for you open and close doors seek assistance from others even things like assisting you standing up. Your landlords would have to allow it although with your situation you probably wouldn't want that to be forced. The specifics do vary province to province .Here a dog needs to be able to do a minimum of 3 tasks to help functioning with a disability- my phrasing is probably a little off. A service dog is actually differentiated from a pet although it can become a pet upon retirement. Some of the organizations don't allow for pets or pet dogs or it can depend on the type of service dog although your landlords cats wouldn't count a roommates may. Mobility dogs typically aren't on the stricter set of rules from what I have seen. It's often alert dogs as other dogs can be too distracting for the task.
 
You would be able to get one more easily than me from an organization due to the nature of your disability. Mobility dogs are more common than diabetes alert dogs. Wait lists do tend to be long though. A dog could retrieve things for you open and close doors seek assistance from others even things like assisting you standing up. Your landlords would have to allow it although with your situation you probably wouldn't want that to be forced. The specifics do vary province to province .Here a dog needs to be able to do a minimum of 3 tasks to help functioning with a disability- my phrasing is probably a little off. A service dog is actually differentiated from a pet although it can become a pet upon retirement. Some of the organizations don't allow for pets or pet dogs or it can depend on the type of service dog although your landlords cats wouldn't count a roommates may. Mobility dogs typically aren't on the stricter set of rules from what I have seen. It's often alert dogs as other dogs can be too distracting for the task.
It's a good idea. But...I mean...wouldn't someone bond with a dog who was that loyal? I would have trouble not having feelings for it just like a pet.
 
I have no plans to move to Nanaimo. It's a smaller city on the Island, with easier, imo, access to Vancouver via ferry. However, I was curious and figured there's no harm in looking at rent prices. Turns out they're a lot cheaper than Victoria. I saw a place that said it's great for seniors with scooters (and I thought, why not someone younger with a scooter?). Then I thought - if I were ever to head up there to look at a place where I could live independently, how would I do it independently (no I don't trust video viewings and requests for online payment from someone claiming to be renting a suite - with no credentials - without physically seeing it and meeting the landlord)?Unfortunately there is no direct ferry, no accessible coach-line bus - I have no idea how I or anyone who uses a wheeled mobility device would get there unless they knew someone with a van with a ramp! And it's only a couple of hours drive. :(
 
Last edited:
I think you would be able to hire a driver/van. But that cost might be too high. Question? Do you need to use the scooter 24/7. I had thought it was to allow you greater mobility when outside but that you can manage with walker. If so, could us you an alternative device fo r a bus trip?
 
I think you would be able to hire a driver/van. But that cost might be too high. Question? Do you need to use the scooter 24/7. I had thought it was to allow you greater mobility when outside but that you can manage with walker. If so, could us you an alternative device fo r a bus trip?
I could, but I would want to see what Nanaimo is like with my scooter. I can't walk great distances. I'd have to get my way to the place I was looking at - maybe check out the neighbourhood a bit.

The point is, it's not accessible to get there. Not just for me. It's not just about me. That's terrible.
 
I feel like writing to the mayors of both cities, and mayors all up the island for that matter - and the BC Ministry of Tourism, and the BC Ministry of Transport - and ask them why there is no accessible way to take a day trip up island. I could, I suppose, figure out how to hop ferries through the gulf islands and eventually get to Nanaimo - but that would take all day for what would otherwise be a 2 hour or less trip. Not to mention tiring. And less safe during this pandemic time. It's unacceptable. And, definitionally, oppressive. Consider that there are many active seniors living here, also, who rely on scooters and wheelchairs. I guess they're starting to assume they'd prefer MAID instead? Wtf is going on? I'm actually shocked, after 20 yrs of disability advocacy awareness - the more we get ahead the more we're set back.
 
The only reason Vancouver is so accessible, I've realized, is because they hosted the Olympics and Paralympics and there was money to be made (in the short term only). It's not because people in day to day society care or are not mostly ableist.
 
What are the options that others have that do not work with your scooter?
People who drive, obviously. It's only 1.5 - 2 hrs. Next, if someone who doesn't use a wheelchair or scooter can't or chooses not to make the drive - they can take a coach line bus. Those have stairs into them and no designated spaces. There used to be, if I recall but could be wrong, a ferry that travels along the coast between here and Duke Point (Nanaimo). Not anymore. There is no train anymore and I don't even know if it was accessible. I never took it.
 
Otherwise one has to make their way winding through the Gulf Islands hopping ferries (great if you are a tourist looking to sightsee, not a commuter). Or go to Tswassen (in Ladner an hour outside Vancouver, public transit to North Vancouver, and take the other ferry at Horseshoe Bay, from there to Nanaimo). That would literally take the entire day. If you missed a connection you might be stuck overnight somewhere. You'd have to stay overnight just to make the trip back. Maybe two nights if I wanted to go see a place and come back. It's ridiculous.
 
That's why I asked. I wasn't sure if you had a license. Did you ever think about driving? I recognize that it would be difficult to do it now, but it probably would have been quite possible in your teens/20s.
 
Hiring a twenty something to drive you would be a great options. Particularly if you might think about Nanaimo. I have heard great things about it. I think you now work from home so that would work

good luck Kimmio. It sounds very frustrating. But there might be some options
 
Back
Top