Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Writing

I wrote a book on my life with the ups and downs of having C.P. I want to publish my book to tell my story and inform people who don't know about cerebral palsy. But there is a little part of me that isn't sure if I'm comfortable enough with my writing to go ahead and publish it. I don't know if people will read or like it. I know my family and friends will read it and say they enjoy it. I want to get better at writing and be more comfortable writing to share my story.

There are a couple of things that would help me improve at my writing. This blog and writing out short stories would help, maybe I need to start doing that. I am trying to post a blog entry every two weeks so that's a good first step. I need to get back into doing web design again and learning it in Joomla so I can work on my magazine WHEELS ABOUT.

WHEELS ABOUT is a voice for those that up until now haven't had one, to present their stories, their struggles and accomplishments and to offer advice and encouragement through shared experiences. The main purpose of WHEELS ABOUT is to present what people are capable of in spite of living with barriers. It will include submissions from those with physical and developmental challenges along with book resources and helpful services. This magazine is for anyone who has struggled and come out on top. WHEELS ABOUT would like to feature articles on health, relationships, raising children, and careers.

I've had the idea for this publication for some time now. While working on my autobiography and researching the current types of publications available I saw a need for a magazine that took a lighter look at the every day life of a person with a disability as well as presenting their challenges and accomplishments, to take a humorous look at the stigmas surrounding people with disabilities and what they're capable of in spite of their physical or developmental limitation. Hopefully by being able to laugh at themselves society will also be able to learn more about people's abilities.

I want to have WHEELS ABOUT for people to share their life story or if they know someone else who want to tell their life story. They can email me and I will put it online to share to the world. And if they want to help out that would be great because it will be just me doing the online magazine.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Keeping Fit

I like working out to build up my muscles and to increase my physical ability. I want to challenge myself every Monday and Wednesday when I'm at the YMCA. How much farther can I bike than last time? How much can I lift and how many times can I do it?

I'm always happy and feel great after a work out, but I usually arrive feeling lazy and tired and not wanting to do anything. I show up because I have seen other people who are in wheelchairs and they can't do a lot; I don't want to be like that.

Exercise is nothing new to me, I had to work with a physiotherapist doing exercises for most of my life. Now I can do what I want and I'm not sure what would help the most so I need to get a work out plan. I want to exercise my arms but I don't know what what's best for me so I'll ask an expert to help me with my goals. I would like to start physio again. It frustrates me sometimes how my muscles don't move the way I want them or it takes a little more time. My muscles can stay tense and I think massage would help relax them.

When I was in school for web design, I wasn't working out. I kept feeling lazy and thinking how I needed to start being more active again. Right now I work out twice a week and have activities that I would like to try. But I'm bad because I'm waiting to try new activities until after I move out of the group home. I know I can start now but part of me doesn't want to in case the activities don't fit in my new independent life. One thing I can try is participating in a group class to see if I can handle it. There are drop-in classes at the YMCA when I'm usually there so it already fits in with my schedule. I may need to try more than one class to find the best fit. I think I might start out with less exercise than normal because my effort is being spent learning all the moves and switching between them. I hope it improves later on.

I don't like all of it. I stopped using one leg weight machine because it always hurt my upper legs. I've always wanted to try kick boxing because I think it would be fun. I've tried yoga, it was different. We moved fast and sometimes it was hard for me to keep up with the class. I would like to try one where we spend more time in the different poses so I have time to get into the pose and keep up. I was involved in swimming growing up and want to get back into it. I have a wider range of movement in the water and I feel better after it. I competed in the special Olympics. I love being in water because it makes me walk and helps my legs.