Thoughts

For months we have been seeing the talk of “return to normal”. I have a previous blog about it here. It has begun. A well-known conference for an organization focused on inclusion posted a link to their upcoming conference which would be held in person with “partial” virtual attendance (aka partially hybrid). I took a…

I have multiple disabilities but the ones I want to talk about in relation to Virtual Reality are specifically my physical disabilities, and my mental health and wellness. I was not physically disabled until 2008, and pre-disability? I was a runner. Nothing felt better to me than putting on my gear, getting outside and running…

Accessibility is not always what it seems. A few years ago, when I was a full-time wheelchair user, my wife and I decided to go out for lunch. We called a sushi place that we wanted to try, just to ask if they were accessible. The response was – Yes, we are accessible, no problem!…

I wanted to take a moment today and post the links for Elections Canada so that those who need/want to can register to vote by mail and avoid all the challenges around accessibility + covid19. If you choose to vote in person please do your best to stay safe. We are very much in the…

In the disability community we talk a lot about language… and while we do not ALWAYS agree on what language should be used, there are strong leanings toward language we prefer “as a whole”. Some key things that almost everyone seems to agree on are as follows: Do not call someone with a disability inspiring,…

A lot of people in the disability community are talking about what life after the pandemic might look like for us.  Yes, everyone wants to know what it will look like around masking, “vaccination passports”, traveling, etc. but the burning questions for those of us with disabilities are much deeper. Pre-pandemic life for those of…

This is an unplanned follow up on my last blog post about employment and disability. Today I was surfing the internet and came across this tweet from user @stephshantz (Steph Shantz): “I had two people tell me today that if I can’t sustainably work full-time in an office because of my medical condition maybe I…

I have touched on this topic in relation to Tourette syndrome and disclosure in THIS POST but I wanted to write a more in-depth post about employment and disability in general. In 2017, Statistics Canada completed a survey that found 6.2 million Canadians had one or more disabilities. That means one in every 5 people,…

I am seeing a lot of news articles around e-bikes and how they are being banned in cities both in Canada and the USA, and every time I see one of those articles it breaks my heart a little bit more. Come with me on a journey if you don’t mind indulging me. In 2008…

In one word, yes. Tourette Syndrome is not something you can pretend does not exist. For most of us, it is quite difficult to hide, which means our loved ones, friends, co-workers, etc.  also experience our TS, though one step removed. What does this mean for our relationship? Well, simply put it means (for example)…

Great question, and I have talked about this in some of my other posts, but it is a common question, so it never hurts to refresh this! Personally, I choose to try and not suppress my tics. Suppressing tics is actually a very difficult thing to do – and while it may not seem to…

Those of us with TS know that often the medical community knows extraordinarily little about Tourette Syndrome unless it is their specialty. Misinformation floats around the medical community, which is brutal because everyone believes doctors/therapists/healers, right?  So, let’s say you are given bad information – if you are really lucky you know it is bad…

I was recently asked some great questions about Tourette Syndrome, as well as TS comorbids and the impact that music has on them. I thought I would share the responses here because it is great information to have. I am NOT an expert on this, but I do feel confident speaking to what I have…