Last week Braden and I travelled to Hamilton to speak at a Travelling with a Disability information session. We as peer support workers were asked to share our experiences with others. When someone is a newly acquired Spinal Cord Injury it can be a very scary situation. Everyone believes life is going to dramatically change.
And, it does...but not as much as you may think.
We are there to assure them that even though they will be travelling with a bit more equipment, it doesn't have to stop you. There were a few other Peer Supporters as well, and they had a ton of experience and a lot of information. Braden and I actually learned a little ourselves. We had no idea that if he was to travel too someplace like England or Australia (pretty much anywhere) you can rent equipment and have it delivered to the place you are staying at. So the past year I have been stressing about Braden travelling with only one attendant. Technically he is a two person lift, but now we can look into and search for companies that will deliver lifts, commodes or even extra wheelchair. Problem solved.
As most of you know, both Braden and I do some Peer Support work. I was talking to someone, and had turned around and found this moment Braden was having with an elderly lady to be profound.
I snuck this picture, and later on our drive home Braden said to me "you know what's weird mom?"..."what?" "Its so weird that I can relate to someone 3x my age simple due to my life experience".
I couldn't have agreed more with him, and truly at the time I snapped this picture that's exactly what I was thinking.
Well after this afternoon we drove home but first stopped to get a homemade baked pie for dessert. YUMMY!!
You an Braden are doing a wonderful thing! Such an inspiration to see people giving back, You guys can offer so much insite to help others see there are people and facilites out there to help them. Through your expeirences and others you can start to make thinsg better for people with disbailities! Love you guys!
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