Disability
What I am thankful for
This is the time of year when families gather and give thanks for the blessings in their life.
Rare
The saying goes, if you hear hoofbeats, you think horses, not zebras. That very line of reason is why it took so long for me to get accurate diagnoses for so many ailments I suffer from.
ADRC-CW 2021 Aging Plan Public Hearing
Join the Aging and Disability Resource Center of Central Wisconsin to discuss the aging plan which they use to decide which services to focus on for its customers.
Invisible discrimination against the disabled
Have you walked into a store and found the layout makes less sense? How about running a computer software upgrade and then having to find where your most useful features have wandered off to? These can be minor annoyances to people who are not mobility, mentally or visually impaired but if you suffer from one or more of these disabilities, these changes can be downright frustrating or may make it impossible to complete a task.
Sorting ourselves out
We shift between groups throughout our lives and other people put us in groups without our knowledge or consent all the time.
New Options for Using EBT
During my working years, I spent a lot of time working for agencies that helped people living in poverty. I firmly believe that the poor are best served by those who have shared experiences.
Go vegan for Earth Week
My alma mater, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, has long celebrated not just Earth Day, but Earth Week on its campus. I too celebrate Earth Week, and honestly attempt to do right by the planet everyday. While we need far more than the actions of individuals to tackle problems such as climate change, some individual actions really do make a difference. One of the most impactful is to adopt a plant-based diet.
Stepping back is hard to do
When you decide to step away from something you feel is important, it is much like when you have a sudden onset disability. The change in your life is disruptive. You find yourself itching for the old routine and sometimes slip into autopilot even months after. This is normal. These routines have been reinforced through years of training and it takes time to weaken the neural pathways you created in your brain. You will create new pathways as you build up a new routine. That is what our brain does.
Working from home works
In the past year, many people have had their first go at working from home. Some people have ranged farther afield taking their tablet computers, cellular phones and laptops to more exotic locations like parks, beaches or even vantage points along highways just to take a break from being at home all the time.
The road to poverty is paved with good intentions
As a proposed increase to the minimum wage became part of the COVID Relief bill, then later scrapped, my subconscious pointed out a flaw in my thinking. I had a vivid dream where I was talking to numerous business owners who are a part of our vibrant local food scene. Many of these restaurateurs, farmers, and value-added food producers make $50,000 per year or less while paying the current minimum wage, or slightly more. Paying workers based on a wage ratio limit would not necessarily guarantee a living wage, so in the dream they were asking me what they should pay. What would be a competitive pay rate?