Hops for Hope

After 42 hours of training to volunteer at the Boulder Safehouse, I think I can safely say that conversations on race, gender and sexuality are sorely lacking in our society. In particular, I will add that being a member of a marginalized or minority group makes it incredibly difficult to make your voice heard.

Despite the long hours of sensitivity training and responsibility-taking and realizations that floated through the air over those three weeks, I was rather surprised that there was very little talk of sensitivity training around serving people with disabilities. In my limited time working the crisis line (an hour, yes, I know, it's minimal), I've already come into contact with victims of domestic violence who suffer from learning disabilities, physical disabilities that resulted from abuse and victims with perhaps undiagnosed neuroses.

However, I am also aware that I might be hyper-astute when it comes to such issues. Though I often tell Ryan that I forget she is in a wheelchair, there are times when it is painfully obvious. Last week, we went for a swim at the CU rec center. The lifeguard appropriately offered her the pvc pipe chair to go down the ramp, but after her insistence that she didn't want it, he hovered. He came right up to us and stood over her as she moved from her chair to the ground and into the water. During our entire swim, he paced along the lane with her and he was no less vigilant when we got out of the pool an hour later. I have been a lifeguard, and I understand that you want to avoid accidents, to minimize response time should something happen, but following someone who is clearly a competent swimmer because she presented herself in a wheelchair is no less discriminatory than following a black man around a store because he's black. The lifeguard's excuse was "I've never seen you around here before", but it was simply code for "I thought you were going to f* up". Unless he does it for every swimmer that comes in, it's simply a discriminatory practice.

I don't know how I got going on this. The purpose of this post was to note that I was very fortunate to attend a fundraiser for Ryan's physical therapy program this weekend at the Auto Museum in Lakewood. Ry has been working with SCI Recovery Project for almost two years now (?) and has always immensely enjoyed her time there. Dave Hart (above) and his gang do a great job of fostering independence and physical strength in patients with debilitating spinal cord injuries.

I'm very grateful for each day that I get to spend with Ry, and I'm grateful for each day that she gets to spend at SCI, getting back in shape, working on her core strength and generally improving her quality of life.