I have a chance to rent out an accessible house in a wonderful location. I can't fo it alone so the only way I can do this is to find another person. I know that there are other disabled people who want places but I also know they aren't willing to work together with anyone else. If only someone would take a chance, I hate to pass up this opportunity. This is so frustrating!

I was invited bythe owner of the accessible apartment in Mount Joy to visit the place and decide if it will work for me. I think I have a solution to deal with the distance, I will connect with someone who drives to Lancaster daily and share the cost of gas. Nobody has replied yet but I think there will be interest. The lease will only be for a year so by then I'll find something better. I had an offer of a handicapped apartment in Harrisburg and let it go. As a result I had a terrible time finding something.

Moving to Lancaster may not be as complex as I thought. I found 3 apartments that claim to be accessible and a house to rent. I will call them all tomorrow including the local Independent Living Center to ask around for another interested person but I think the house will be too big a deal. It may be something of interest in the future but accessible house don't come along everyday. All I care about is being invovlved with such a wonderful program- United Disability Services.

I must work in my field to be happy. I must stop thinking about it. I must start at the bottom. I must plan for it and figure things out along the way. So here goes... The best place to be that I know of is United Disability Services in Lancaster PA.
I sent them a resume and will volunteer there so they get to know me. I will live at the Sunnyview Motel which has an accessible room. I will expect nothing but to learn so that in the future I will become a part time employee.

Unlike Kentucky I expect it to only last 6 weeks. I want a paying job from Andrea but it may be best to start all over from scratch looking at an accessible place. I will not be living in limbo forever.

Someone called me and was very upset that a hotel had an accessible bathoom in one location but not in the other end of the lobby. I couldn't find a specific mandate on how many restrooms in the lobby must have an accesible stall. She had a point but I am grateful if there's one and I don't demand that a place have two. I also heard of people complaining that a ramp isn't good enough. While that may be true, I hate that because then the place won't have one at all. I often thank managers for ramps.

Should a person who uses a wheelchair be allowed to use a hotel restroom that is only for guests? I just had that situation earlier and I then called the company CEO about it. It is so rare that there are restrooms that I can use in the middle of neighborhoods that whenI find one I'm going to fight for it. The trouble is that the average person thinks I'm lying if I say I can't use other accessible one. I just sound picky not worried about breaking my leg and/or falling on the floor cause I can't get close enough or the toilet dipenser is in a bad spot. The result of this will be interesting,hopefully in a good way.

It's time to develop a website. I have more than enough to offer and a blog is not enough to interest people. Hopefully people who see my blog will email me about Infobility but I may have lost alot of people. I'm going to distribute my second newsletter later. My new idea for marketing is to help a lady who bakes gluten free items. I offered to share the product information with the autism community since flour is a dietary restriction for those people and they are limited in what they can eat. I'll also offer my "How Do I Spread My Wings?" book as an incentive to buy.

I never thought I'd admit this but one of the safety rules made for disabled drivers is adequate. My usual wheelchair is broken so I have anotyher one which doesn't have a bolt to lock me in my van while I drive. I drove yesterday and all was fine but I drove today and it was scary. I started to make a left turn and I slid a little bit. Thank goodness I was going slowly and thank goodness there were very few cars on the road. Nonetheless, I was pushed into my steering column very close. I also had to make a sudden stop and I slid a bit too. So I guess I'll be spending the $800 for a bolt to go under this chair.

Nothing disability related makes sense. My power chair isn't working so it follows that since I have no bolt on the bottom of this power chair I can't drive. I decided to just check the positioning of this char in my van. It was all perfect... or not since the lock-down wasn't able to work it screamed the whole trip but it was a very easy one. When I used my old power chair with the lock-down it was ten times less safe because the controls were six inches away. Try explaining and convining a normal person that the chair without the lock-doen is actually safer.

I can't believe my parents still don't get it. They still think accessibiity is more important then quality of life. Sure I must be able to navigate inside an apartment but there have been times when I made the situation work because I wanted a certain lifestyle. Life is not accessible, one makes it as best as possible because the alternative is waiting for the perfect situation and letting life pass. There may be more going on than I realize. Actually, they don't want me to be independent (they say they do but talk is cheap, and that infuriates me. "Any color I want as long as it's black." That's their real philosophy.

I finished my booklet on growing up sheltere. I hope it looks instructional not just an opportunity to vent about my childhood. It gives children of all ages a good opportunity to think about life and how to proceed. It gives parents some tips on how important it is to consider the whole person (beyond the disability). Now I have ten projects and programs to offer under "Infobility." It's going to have a website soon and then some real marketing. I'm on my way!

I finished 3/4 of the book. I wanted the first part to include what I wrote years ago in my manuscript. The section was called "Parentability." This included The School, The Family (Sibling Relationships), and The Future. I was really frustrated that I can no longer find the black 3 ring binder with the paper. Therefore, I will have to rewrite it all over again. Usually when something is written for the second time it is better. The second part is largely from "The tenacity of Hope" plus a few more chapters (Transportation, Housing, and Advocacy) that ended up being really long so I'm glad I just copied and pasted. Otherwise I would not have done something so extensive.

I have been looking for advice about overprotective parents. I have found nothing and when I bring the topic up to counselors or seek advice from them they just give me looks that say "I feel badly for you." Appearantly I have found a topic that really needs to be addressed. Who better than me to write about it? The first half of the information in the book will be for parents and it will be not matter what type of disability the child has it could be autsim or arthrogryposis. The second half of the information in the book will be for adult children of overprotective parents. The title will be, "How Do I Spread my Wings?"

I just took a vacation and stayed with the Super 8 Hotel. The beds were too high for me to transfer on so the staff took out the box spring and put the bedspread on top of it. The next day it rained hard when I came in. The staff went out with me to help me retrieve my belongings! It may be helpfull for people with physicaal challenges to know that when plannning a stay, take Super 8 all the way.

Finally I wrote the first newsletter, I guess I had to wait to be inspired. Well I am ready to do the next one already. I have to tell people directly that I will be glad to feature their services or program. I didn't make that clear but that is an important part of this project. I hope to increase sales for them as well as reach out to more people. Until I get a real following I will include interviews as part of the articles. That way new people will be sure to know about the newsletter.

Here's the outline for my free newsletter. The reason for my procrastination is that I wanted other people's input for the first issue but I'll get it after the first is dome. I want an article on one general topic; I want to share stories; I want to people to vent; I want to promote disability products; I'll conclude each issue with an explanation of "Infobility." Regardless of the content each section will have the same catchy title.

I gave Wheelchair Recyclers a list of seven foundations that may award them grants if they apply. I spent about ten hours and read about 100 summaries but it's a worthwhile project. I got a used wheelchair so now I could help an organization that does the same thing for others. Also they'll share Infobility I hope but the goal is to grow them and learn of new and innovative ways to do that.

I'm joining the Spina Bifida meetup in Flemington New Jersey. I can find motivated people who are interested in Infobility and I'll offer to sponsor an event. I also got the go ahead to apply for grants for WheelchairRecyclers. They will share my information and be a good reference eventually. Right now there's no need an ezine. I'm glad I didn't purchase a costly autoresponder. I'll help a group grow and in return they will help me grow. That will be my marketing strategy. Reciprocity!

I'm reading all sorts of marketing books and learning ideas to make my name known. I love getting involved in community things and my old physical therapist belongs to a huge church with tons of activities so I can do something with that. I have nice business cards so I should use them and sponsor an event that will be popular and get Infobility started. I think too much, I just have do decide on something and "just do it."