"You get more bees with honey than vinegar." If I want my hometown to be more disability friendly I will educate people and become a member of the borough council. People will be more sensitized and I won't even have to say the word "accessibility." I certainly wouldn't threaten anyone with a lawsuit because that is not my way and it's not an effective way. It would only make enemies. One of the board members in the field of physical rehabilitation, I'm sure she's given it some thought.

Imoved to a quaint but mostly inaccessible town 12 miles from Lancaster. The irony of it all is that I chose to live here because the apartment is so accessible. Also I did not want to live in an elderly highrise however, my neighbor and only friend thus far is an elderly lady. I found this wonderful program that has people with disabilities who work in the community. I will visit the site soon and hopefully get involved with the agency. It's so weird not to be able to get in 75%of the stores in the town.

I've always wanted to produce a survivor type show in which non-disabled people use wheelchairs to ambulate for a week. It would be very easy to simulate that physical disability and it would be a very effective way for the people to understand what it is like. For the social aspect - go to a mall; for the vocational aspect do you job sedentary only) while sitting; for the community- wheel on a sidewalk seeking curb cuts (notice how many of them are too high or not even there; for psychological- have nightly discussions with the sample group and discuss people's stares and other reactions. This may just happen, I never thought it would!!

Who else would have $148.40 of damage for wanting to enter Arby's instead of going to my choice which was Kentucky Fried Chicken for a $2.50 meal with the coupon? The driveway looked fine but suddenly I hear a crash. I knew I hit bottom but didn't know exactly what I hit- until I tried to open my door. It went off the runner and we went to a local car dealer to fix it. Then 2 days later it does it again so I went to Van Conversions unable to get to the bathroom. My favorite service man replaced the part immediately and I drove home like nothing had happened.

I was all sent to live with another consumer from Lancaster. We met at the Indepen-dent Living Center and the Director had some places for us to call and visit. I went to one that was not right and had 2 hours before meeting up at the center. I decided to go to the place I knew about in Mount Joy. I went and just couldn't resist 1) the degree of accessibility 2)the landlord (we had become friends) 3)the quaint town. It was 13 miles but it's highway driving and it actually would take just as long if I was fighting stop and go traffic in the city. So I said "yes" and my 3rd new life begins next weekend.

Yesterday I went to the Kutztown Folk Festival and a lady who went saw me transfer in and out and in and out of the car into my manual wheelchair. She watched what I did and said a few times that she was amazed with me. She was not fake when she said it or when she talked to me. I felt really good about how she reacted. I don't think about that when I do it, I just do it and usually feel badly about how long I'm holding up the other people in the car. Mostly I'm listening to my Dad swear about having to wait and then I let my Mom lift me which is awful for both of us.