A Whole New World

I suppose as we go through life we all reserve a certain amount of judgement for our parents. Many times I have thought about what I would do the same or differently if I was a father. What lessons do I feel my parents successfully passed on to me and which ones do I feel they missed . . .

If I were a father, what are the important things in life that I would want to prepare my son or daughter for and how the heck do you take a child from diapers to their own apartment or college dorm in 18 short years??

And then you have a child born with some medical challenges and you realize that you are totally ignorant and unprepared to guide your child through some of the a major aspects of her life.

Thought you had a handle on teaching your child about the bathroom? Guess again! Thought you could manage taking your child through the stages of mobility? Not so fast. Thought you had a pretty good idea of how to help your child deal with the expectations and judgements of society at large? Hold on there.

Its like spending your entire life studying for a major history exam only to wake up on exam day and discover that you not only have the anticipated history test - but you also have a major math test to take - simultaneously - that you never studied for.

I may be making too much of it all but I have this overriding sense that I need to start cramming in terms of things Annie can expect in life. I don't want to stare blankly at Annie-lu when she asks me a simple question about how she should do x-y or z. I want to be able to shrug my shoulders smile and say, "It's easy - I'll show you how".

So with that in mind, a few weeks back, we loaded up the kids (Annie and Buckley) and headed to the Anaheim convention center for the Abilities Expo. As the name suggests, it is an Expo for people with disabilities.

There were booths for summer camps, wheelchairs and accessible bathroom remodels. They had an entire showroom of wheel-chair accessible automobiles, along with displays for all sorts of little gizmos and gadgets that make living life with a disability a little less dis-ableing.

One of the hot spots at the expo was the Coloures wheelchair booth. These people have decided to bring wheelchair technology out of the shadows, give it some hip, give it some cool, give it some bling and then hired beautiful models who happen to be WC-bound to represent them. It was quite a scene.

There were a few demonstrations that were awe-inspiring as well. There was a tennis court set up in the corner of the expo hall for para-Olympian tennis champion Kaitlyn Verfuerth who was putting on a clinic for people in WC's that wanted to try out the sport.

I don't know about you, but in the past, whenever I think of para-Olympics, I mistakenly think of something akin to Special Olympics - disabled children running hand-in-hand, having a great time with no clear winner. A worthy endeavor - not really championship athletics though.

*Ahem* Para-Olympics is most definitely NOT Special Olympics. For one, the Para-Olympics is held following the actual Olympics - at the same Olympic venues.

When Kaitlyn Verfuerth wheeled onto the court with a big smile and arms that make Michelle Obama look like the skinny kid at school I thought, "This looks interesting". And then they served her a couple of volleys and she absoultely crushed the ball - sending it powering back over the net, all the while spinning 360, this way and that in a blinding display of, "You want a peice of me? Come and take it - I dare you."

"Holy crap." I exclaimed as I turned to the wife. And I slowly came to the realization that although this person was WC bound, she far exceeded me as an athlete - and could utterly dismantle me if she wanted to.

Another highlight was a fashion show complete with a runway and announcer. It makes perfect sense - people in WC's want to look just as hip and fashionable as everyone else only they have to get dressed and undressed while seated. Not to mention that being seated all day means you need longer hemlines etc.

As the first model wheeled her way down the runway, the wife gasped at her cute dress - I gasped under my breath too but not because of the dress. These ladies were models in every sense of the word. And many of the clothes caught the wife's eye.

The expo finished off with Aaron Fotheringham doing his trademark back flip.

We ran into a couple of families that we knew from Children's hospital and talked with some other parents who, although we were strangers, were more than willing to answer questions we had about their children's disabilities and how they have overcome certain challenges.

All in all, it was a great experience. It was good to see products that we had never even considered before and it was great to see that there is a whole industry dedicated to lending a hand.

For instance, did you know that just about any car out there can be modified in minutes so that someone without use of their legs can operate the gas and break with hand levers? (you need a special license to drive that way).

Above all, I got the sense that there is something of a renaissance going on in the disabled community. Maybe it has always been there and I am just seeing it for the first time. My impression is that our society has not always been very accepting of differences (racial, economic, religious, abilities) but that more and more, we are becoming a society that is more accepting of different-ness. And as a result, there is a new generation of disabled teens and children and their parents that simply will not be content to have their lives defined solely by their disability.

In fact, the Colours booth looked more like a skate-board shop than a WC shop - with all their hip gear and young, athletic staff.

It was quite the experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who may be the slightest bit interested. And it was totally free!

I also came away feeling like I might not flunk this unexpected exam after all . . .

Oh, and Buckley had a great time as well - making his first training run as a Therapy Dawg . . .