Leaving Treadmarkz Across the Universe

by Treadmarkz

I am not sure if this video was meant to be, but is, a very clever way to illustrate exactly how many of us in wheelchairs often feel when kids run away when they see the chair coming (most don’t, most ask really good questions) or, more often, when a parents grabs their kid by the arm and yanks them away, like they think I am going to just plow right into the kid. Or they think it will cause a scene if there kid speaks to me, and by God, offends me.
I mentioned in a previous post that I don’t really feel discriminated against as a disabled man, but I’ll go on record here and say that this really can be offensive when parents do this, for two reasons. First, I am perfectly well under control of my wheelchair, and second…

Note To Parents: It’s Okay If Your Child Asks Me A Question About Being In A Wheelchair. Kids Are Curious. It’s Natural. It’s Healthy!

PS: Your Kids Are Smarter Than You Think They Are!

by Treadmarkz

People in wheelchairs are being used by “insurgents” to carry bombs to blow up their enemies in Baghdad. Apparently this is the third such wheelchair attack in the area this month. No word as to whether they were willing participants, or whether they were truly disabled, for that matter.
But a terrorist is a terrorist and this just proves once again that they are always going to find ways to commit their dreadful acts as long as there is hatred, and as long as they see reason to do so. And THAT, my friends, is why TALKING with our enemies may actually work better than bombing to try to kill bombers. It’s not as ignorant or naive as the Clinton campaign may make it out to be. Will it work with guerrilla warlords? Who knows, but I am getting tired of hearing about so many people being blown up.

by Treadmarkz

I just want to take a moment to mark the passing of William F. Buckley, one of the most influencial and prolific journalists of our time. We bloggers are heavily in debt to Buckley’s fast-paced style of writing and publishing. Buckley was an editor, columnist, novelist, debater, TV talk show host, and he found the magazine “National Review” while producing over 50 books. He was a man who got things done!
He was decidedly right-wing, eventhough he came to fame during a period in U.S. history that grew more and more liberal every day. He once defended Joseph McCarthy when it was an extremely unpopular thing to do. But remember, friends, that without someone standing up and opposing the overwhelming majority, free speech does not work.

by Treadmarkz

I hate the war our country is undertaking in Iraq, and I wish it didn’t have to be, and I hope that with a new administration, we will find a sensible solution to bring this sad chapter to a close. But I find some consolation in this story, even if it does appear on the Operation Iraqi Freedom website, which may suggest to some that it is just a chunk of pro-war propoganda. But these soldiers are real people, and it can’t get more real for the people to whom they are bringing these wheelchairs. As small a gesture as it may seem, certainly it meant the world to its beneficiaries.

I’ve heard people (who REALLY hate the war) say that any humanitarian effort toward the people whose lives the war has destroyed is too little too late, but really, what else can they do but try to make things better?

by Treadmarkz

When I was growing up, if I wanted to be an athlete, being in a wheelchair, all there really was available to me was basketball or racing. I tried both. I was no good at racing and didn’t enjoy it that much anyway (Sour grapes, anyone?) I thought I was a great basketball player.

But then, when I was 14, I went to a wheelchair sports camp for the first time. There, I was exposed to a multitude of other sports, and got a much needed boost in confidence. But I was only interested in basketball. But I found out that though I may have been a decent shooter, it took a lot more than that. And as it turns out, I was more interested in writing about sports than in putting any real effort into becoming “Michael Jordan in a wheelchair”. In the past ten years, wheelchair sports has branched out. We’ve got Aaron Fotherington doing backflips in his chair on a skateboarding half-pipe, for one thing.

But here is another taste of what the future may hold for the wheelchair athlete. It says “not at a competitive level..yet” but I’d say she is doing an excellent job of defending herself, and she gets a few shots of her own in, against her able-bodied foe. The woman goes a little easy on her, allowing her to turn and brace herself again, but…oh just watch it!

PS: This need not be a competitive venture. The boxer in the wheelchair in this clip, Beth, has a blog which can be accessed here. In this posting, she describes how she got in the ring as a workout activity, not a contact sport.

by Treadmarkz

Last night, I watched the Oscars with my wife. Though there were some good movies nominated, I saw Hillary Swank at one point during the show and it reminded me of 2004, when her film “Million-Dollar Baby” won best picture. I saw that one in the theatre with my wife, and though I don’t really remember my full reaction, I do remember hating the ending.

Let me give you a little background, or skip this paragraph if you’ve seen it. It is about a boxer (Swank) who takes the female ranks by storm, earning a title match. During that match, she is viciously attacked and sustains a broken neck, and is paralyzed from the neck down. The rest of the movie involves her struggle to come to terms with the fact that she is no longer a fully-functional physical being, even though she had made her living with physical activity. When her family comes to take control of her fortune, she realizes that this is the only reason they showed up, so she decides that she has nothing to live for and asks her trainer and close confident (Clint Eastwood) to “end her suffering.” He struggles with this but does fulfill her wish by administering a lethal overdose.
This is very long-story-short, but the film raised a lot of eyebrows in the disabled community in ‘04. When we went to see it, I honestly had no idea that this character was going to become disabled. I don’t remember anything about that in the previews. Its often said the movie was marketed as a “Rocky in a sports bra” but with a political agenda.

I am disabled, but I always have been. And as I said in an earlier posting, I can’t begin to imagine what it would feel like to lose those capabilities while you are at your physical peak of youth. And I have heard people say “If I ever became disabled, I’d kill myself.” But I have always had a hard time believing that, if it actually happened, they would still feel the same and kill themselves. I am sure it would cross anyone’s mind, in the situation Swank’s character was in, but Swank’s character seemed optomistic and driven during her boxing days. And it seemed as though she was being shown ways she could make the very best out of the cards she’d been dealt, just before “the end.”

So, first, while admitting that I have not experienced what Swank’s character did, I don’t think this movie reflects reality. I have a friend who was an athlete and stage actress, and a very social person until she was paralyzed from the neck down when she was 16. Since then, she has always been very positive, and she took the “social” part of herself and used it to make the world a better, more hopeful place for people in her situation, by going on a speaking tour about her experience.
Second, does this movie, and the death wish of Swank’s character suggest a low value on life itself? Her limbs didn’t work, and I understand that this would deny a person the freedom they’d enjoyed all their life, but she could still dream, and share her dreams and work with people to make them a reality. She could teach people based on her experiences. And she could still love and be loved (her trainer loved her like a daughter).
In short, I hated this movie.
Just kidding, it presents an argument from one point of view. It’s not mine, but I can appreciate its merits. As a disabled person, though, I hate to see anyone thinking that the loss of limbs is the loss of life, and I don’t like the movie for depicting that attitude so bleakly.

by Treadmarkz

For the six or seven people in this world who have never seen “Lost”, I did not watch it on Thursday like I said I would. I did watch an early episode, and one from a couple of weeks ago, online, and it was just what I suspected, as far as I can see. John Locke is no longer disabled while on the island because this is a place where either everybody’s dreams come true or their problem is fixed. Apparently there is another character who had cancer before the crash. I am sure there is more to it than that, but I did not investigate further on Friday as I was too busy watching Vickie Guerrero on WWE Smackdown! playing the crippled villain character, which, though I enjoy badmouthing her every chance I get, I personally find her more appealing than the “He was disabled but now look what he can do now that his body’s been miraculously fixed!” storyline. It’s about time! I say put John Locke back in a wheelchair and put him back to work.

by Treadmarkz

All of this talk about Brian Sterner being victimized by a physically able deputy, and my early posting regarding Christopher Reeve, got me thinking. We all know it is unhealthy to look upon someone as a hero just because they are disabled and manage to live their lives. But is it also unhealthy if we too quickly stamp the victim label on the disabled? Sure Brian Sterner had a terrible thing happen to him in this one instance, but are we missing out on the broad range of accomplishments of an entire class of people by thinking “victim” automatically. For instance, Brian Sterner is an advocate for disabled people’s rights. He has been for years. That should count for something. Advocate for rights, not just a victim whose rights were violated.

Here is a great article I found on the subject that illustrates what I mean.

by Treadmarkz

A new video has surfaced in the past day showing that rough treatment is not so rare at Orient Road Jail, the same jail where quadriplegic Brian Sterner was caught on camera being dumped out of his chair by officers. Not only does it show that its not a rare occurance, but it shows that it knows no boundaries of race or ability. The video shows Marcella Pourmoghani, who is in no way disabled, being grabbed by the hair and tossed to the ground, and being beaten by a black officer while held down by three white officers. This video is no less deplorable than the Sterner video, in fact it may be more so. Pourmoghani said she spoke up about it after hearing what happened to Brian Sterner. This video tells the rest of the story. Please excuse the ad before the video, but you must see this to know what is really going on! Police are given the right to use force when necessary. But does it look necessary from what we see here? Granted we don’t have the whole story.

It is easy to imagine that a person is being victimized because he or she is in a wheelchair, and it is easy to imagine that one person hates and victimizes another because of their race, but that is not always the case.

by Treadmarkz

Anyone who has read as much about the Beatles as I have probably knows that John Lennon, as a young adult, was not an outwardly sensitive creature. He maintained a gruff and tough exterior, and was known for adding just a pinch of cynicism to some of Paul’s more happy-go-lucky tunes.

Before being politically-correct was even thought of, Lennon had a ghoulish sense of humor, and was fond of drawing crude sketches of, and doing exaggerated impressions of the physically and mentally handicapped. He once insisted on shaking the hand of a veteran who had lost both arms in WWII. You may not find anything funny about this, and I certainly don’t either. Ironic maybe, but not funny.

However, I take it for what it was: a defense mechanism. I make no excuses for my musical hero. That’s just what it was. Lennon once said that the Beatles became so famous that mothers of disabled children were coming up to them and asking them to just touch their child’s hand in the hopes that it would cure the child’s ailment. The front row at their concerts was always full of kids in wheelchairs almost as though they were waiting to be annointed by the Beatles sweat. Soon this became a horrifying experience for Lennon.

There is a reason that I feel that it was not in John Lennon’s true nature, nor was it his true intention to be cruel toward people less physically or mentally “fortunate” than him. In 1972, Lennon put on a concert to benefit mentally disabled children. It was his way of making right on his past immaturity. And not only did he put on the show, he wanted to release an album of the show for charity as well, but that didn’t happen until 1986. This was 1972, remember, when a charity concert was not a popular thing to do, and if it was done, it was like the Monterrey Pop Festival with a dozen bands on the bill. The 1972 Lennon show was just Lennon and his band.
I have a tattoo which reads “Imagine” because I know that mocking the mentally disabled may have been one of Lennon’s quirks, but open-mindedness and imagination were his message.