Notes, Notings, and Common Refrains

1) So, had a visit with my visiting physician, today. (For those who're not in-the-know, I'm functionally, if not technically, house-bound), and part of the visit was him filling out a questionnaire to petition Medicare to help pay for a new motor chair. According to the official rules, you're not allowed a new chair until the one you have is five years old and this one turned five this past July, The joystick/controller is being held up with string, there are over 1,000 miles on the odometer, and without a wheelchair I could not get up off the floor to dress myself, eat, or go to the bathroom. I also don't have the balance or strength to use a manual chair.

Still, the doctor said Medicare might still turn me down because motorized chairs (especially the tilt-in-space kind like I have) are really expensive, and they might deny my request for that reason alone, regardless of how much I need it. And why is it so expensive? Private Insurance Companies jack up the price, because they know their customers can't just do without.

The American Health "Care" System, Boys and Girls! (And of course, when I got this chair, Obama was president, now, it's Trump, and the Republicans want to make Medicare more stingy)

2) So, after my recent falling-in-love with Spongebob Squarepants: the Musical, I realized that I really missed living in NYC's cultural circle in general. Through YouTube's recommendation chain, I discovered the channel for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS a charity of the acting/theater community raising money for anyone living with HIV/AIDS and their families, plus other emergencies as approved on an ad-hoc basis, raising money at the theater where performances are held, and auctioning off paraphernalia from shows, etc. And eight times a year, they put on shows and competitions for theater folk, themselves. And then, they put the highlights on YouTube.

So that's another one I've subscribed to, so I can get periodic reminders of current theater culture.

3) One last thing re: Spongebob -- here's the cast doing their performance for the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids spring show from last year ("The Easter Bonnet Competition"), where they answer the cynicism of "high Art" gatekeepers, with a number from another musical that just happens to be based on a cartoon:



As far as I can tell from an Internet Search, the young woman who sings the bridge in this song (Jai'len Christine Li Josey) also had her debut on Broadway with this show, along with Ethan Slater (Spongebob and Annie, here). And she'd better see her name in lights.

Well, today, I adapted that design into a mug:



Without undue modesty, I think it looks pretty good.... That gold pattern that shows through the white parts of the image is the same one I used for my store's logo, btw; I chose it for being vaguely scale and/or feather like.

... I then adapted that design into one for a tie:

.

I've also been working on adapting my "monster on wheels" design to a mug, and ipad case, etc.... Still gonna be a while before I get an inventory big enough to get noticed, but I'm getting there....

ETA: I just clicked on that "Disability Culture Ties" link on the embed above, and you know what? I seem to have the only store in All of Zazzle to even have a "disability culture" category. ...The store doesn't have any disability category, overall... so I've been trying to figure out where in Zazzle-wide I should stick my stuff. It feels weird to put them under health and anatomy ('cause I'm trying to fight the damn medical model. "Politics" has categories for gun control and free speech, but none for accessibility or the ADA... The closest I could find was "affirmative action," which is sort of right, but... y'know... not really.

:-/

Today* is the Twentieth Anniversary of The Americans with Disabilities Act being signed into law (Next year, when it's 21, we'll take it to a bar and get drunk, right?)!

And my local Center for Independent Living, held a celebration, promising music, videos, speakers, food, and More!

"Music" turned out to be recorded "Top 40," as far as I could tell, played over loudspeakers at a volume that prevented conversation (I was hoping for live performers, singing songs that were sung at political rallies to get the ADA passed, or something).

"Videos" turned out to be a powerpoint slide show of fact tidbits about how famous people "overcame the prejudice people had toward their disabilities" (I was hoping for slide shows of local history -- the faces and stories behind the fight for access and inclusion here, in Hampton Roads, VA, that this CIL services)

And then, there was a promised speech, live from the White House, at 5:30, from President Obama. That was a live feed over the Internet, and it was projected up onto a wall, big, so that all those gathered could see it. But the Center's Internet Connection wasn't strong enough, and the video kept freezing up (or maybe it was glitchy at the White House end, I don't know).

And of course, President Obama was not the first to speak -- there was a woman, who spoke first, remembering the individuals who fought for the passage of the ADA, starting in 1989, and thanking the Senators and Congressmen who co-sponsered the bill.

I grinned SO HARD when Congressman Fish's name was read, that my cheeks hurt. Hamilton Fish was our Congressmen in Putnam County NY. And I have no doubt that he signed onto that bill, at least in part, because of my mother. She would show up at every town meeting where he spoke, and would take me along to most of those, if they didn't interfere with school, or were past my bedtime, and she would needle him on causes she thought were important -- the Environment, and full access for the Disabled.

Then, after that woman finished, Marlee Matlin got up, and read out a portion of Helen Keller's autobiography (I was hoping for Marlee Matlin to tell her own story -- I really don't know why she didn't).

Then, a blind fiddler (I think he was blind, I didn't catch his name), came up and spent about twenty minutes trying to get his instrument in tune... To be fair, it's nearly impossible to keep stringed instruments in tune on hot, humid, July days. But when finally he started to play, it was the most dolorous and slow and mournful tune I'd heard in ages. (WTF?!!)

Then, Patti LeBelle was introduced. Yay? She sang "I got a new Attitude." Then she rambled on about Bo, the Obamas' pet dog, and told the story of how her own little dog fell in the pool and almost drowned (WTF?!?! #2 -- did she think she was speaking in honor of the SPCA? She really sounded drunk, or drugged). When she started in on "You are the Wind Beneath my Wings" -- Audrey was ready to go. So I never did hear the President speak.

Mostly, though, I'm just a bit saddened that the whole "celebration" was held in the confines of "The Center" -- That 'special place, where they help those people' -- instead of out in a public park, somewhere, or even a public library conference room (Though if it were the latter, we wouldn't have been able to have food, which was quite good -- if you were a carnivore).

I mean, isn't that what the ADA is all about? being Loud and Proud in Public, and mingling with the "regular" general, Public??

I can't help but wonder if that's why it seems that we've made so little progress, in terms of real change and societal attitudes -- because we're so good at self-segregating. You know?

Still, I'm glad I made the effort to get fully dressed, and go out, and do this in three dee space, instead of staying home and "Celebrating" in private.

*July 26th -- it still is, in my time zone, anyway.