Saturday, May 17, 2014

Floating away...

THE LESION JOURNALS | 5/16/14

feelings

(c) cgermans photography 2014


Floating away...


When asked, "how are you feeling today", it can be difficult to describe MS symptoms to others. I think pictures can sometimes help. This photo captures perfectly how I felt after a stressful week of scorching temperatures and a state of emergency. My brain filled with immense pressure and left me with the feeling of floating away.

I snapped this photo at the car dealership, while waiting for service, and noticed this yellow balloon floating on its own, in a small patch of blue in the midst of smoke-filled skies. I thought to myself, "that's my brain today" yet seeing it in that one clear spot in the sky also gave me hope that I would feel better soon. This, too, shall pass.

Take care,

Christie

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Citizen’s Arrest! Breaking down barriers, one parking spot at a time.

This year’s theme for World MS Day is “access” and it is a great opportunity for all of us to think about the key pillar of the theme: breaking down barriers and providing MSers with access to the same tools, services and facilities as those who do not live with Multiple Sclerosis. Seems easy enough, right?

You’d be surprised.

Sophie Paterson, over at worldmsday.org, jotted up some examples of access issues from around the world. Have a read below. MS is complicated enough and when compounded with accessibility issues, our lives can grow very frustrating and disheartening.

Examples of Access Issues

Courtesy of worldmsday.org (click here)

I recently came across an App that makes an attempt to improve accessibility with a dose of citizen’s vigilantism, one parking spot at a time. I read about it in Fast Company’s article, “Become A Vigilante With This App That Lets You Report Cars In Handicapped Spaces” by Ben Schiller, staff writer for Co.Exist (click here).

Photo courtesy of Parking Mobility app
Disabled parking is so very important and when we notice someone illegally parked in one of our spots, we fill up with feelings of frustration, anger, pain and fear. Mack Marsh, head of “Parking Mobility”, created an app that allows you photograph these offenders and report them to authorities (click here). Over 150,000 images have already been downloaded, in one county alone, and he hopes to spread this to more cities across America.

Hear the crowd roar!

After all, accessible parking does indeed give us access to the important services we all deserve: employment, medical treatment, entertainment and even shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

Proost!

Christie

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