On being a. Disability advocate...

[Lily Kerns]

I had a choice this week... I went in to the hospital to start a new round of therapy for my hand (Parsonage-Turner syndrome, but that s not the point of this story). It was raining and I had two choices: limp in and get wet or unload the seg and probably get wetter.

The problem was that while their parking lot was perfectly legal with handicap spaces flanking the sidewalk into the therapy entrance, that is a very long sidewalk! It even has a bench halfway down it. There is a perfectly good circle drive leading directly past the entrance but that's no help if you are the driver and have to park yourself. They could, with a minimum of grading, create two, possibly six, parallel parking spaces along that drive near the entrance.

I probably would have let it go, but as I left I met a gentleman. ( i'd never seen him before) on crutches making his way very slowly down that sidewalk from the Handicap parking. So I fired off an email complaint for the sake of both of us. I just now got a call from the hospital telling me that they would be looking at the situation on Monday and would call me back.

In the course of the conversation I mentioned that I use a Segway. He said his wife might find one useful, so I directed him to Branson where you can rent one to see if it would work for her disability. One never knows!

[rwoynaro]

I had a choice this week... I went in to the hospital to start a new round of therapy for my hand (Parsonage-Turner syndrome, but that s not the point of this story). It was raining and I had two choices: limp in and get wet or unload the seg and probably get wetter.

The problem was that while their parking lot was perfectly legal with handicap spaces flanking the sidewalk into the therapy entrance, that is a very long sidewalk! It even has a bench halfway down it. There is a perfectly good circle drive leading directly past the entrance but that's no help if you are the driver and have to park yourself. They could, with a minimum of grading, create two, possibly six, parallel parking spaces along that drive near the entrance.

I probably would have let it go, but as I left I met a gentleman. ( i'd never seen him before) on crutches making his way very slowly down that sidewalk from the Handicap parking. So I fired off an email complaint for the sake of both of us. I just now got a call from the hospital telling me that they would be looking at the situation on Monday and would call me back.

In the course of the conversation I mentioned that I use a Segway. He said his wife might find one useful, so I directed him to Branson where you can rent one to see if it would work for her disability. One never knows!

One of the nice things that I get to experience as a person who is visibly disabled is to share in the goodness of the human spirit. People continually take time out of their day every where I go to ask if I need help, encourage me, make sure I am doing okay. Every sort of person from every walk of life. Its a really nice thing to see and it actuallyy makes me encouraged and feel good about the state of the world, in that people are basically really nice, despite all of the rederic you see on tv. You are just an example of that, Lily, but you should feel good as you make other people's lives better. And those that you take the time to help know that and do appreciate it.

[Lily Kerns]

One of the nice things that I get to experience as a person who is visibly disabled is to share in the goodness of the human spirit. People continually take time out of their day every where I go to ask if I need help, encourage me, make sure I am doing okay. Every sort of person from every walk of life. Its a really nice thing to see and it actuallyy makes me encouraged and feel good about the state of the world, in that people are basically really nice, despite all of the rederic you see on tv. You are just an example of that, Lily, but you should feel good as you make other people's lives better. And those that you take the time to help know that and do appreciate it.

I hadn't thought of a Segway becoming a ministry in the beginning, but it has become that and I am grateful for the blessings that brings to me as well as others.