From dictionary.com:
Although handicapped is widely used in both law and everyday speech to refer to people having physical or mental disabilities, those described by the word tend to prefer the expressions disabled or people with disabilities. Handicapped, a somewhat euphemistic term, may imply a helplessness that is not suggested by the more forthright disabled. It is also felt that some stigma may attach to the word handicapped because of its origin in the phrase hand in cap, actually derived from a game of chance but sometimes mistakenly believed to involve the image of a beggar. The word handicapped is best reserved to describe a disabled person who is unable to function owing to some property of the environment. Thus people with a physical disability requiring a wheelchair may or may not be handicapped, depending on whether wheelchair ramps are made available to them. See Usage Note at disabled.
Looking for suggestions for gardening with MS
Carrie, I agree absolutely with you. I had never heard the origin of the word handicapped before.
At this moment in time I'm more concened how other people look at me. Handicapped or disabled.
Most of the time i never think about it. I am just me. Think the rest of us here don't dwell on it either.
I also said in a Homily I gave at a church once, "my God is not a Handicapper, deciding who needs extra limitations."
Amen!!!
Thanks.
Thanks, Carrie. Someone told me that was the origin of “handicapped”. I took them at their word and never bothered to research it. I don’t deal much with the abstract issues surrounding blindness. I leave that to the large organizations like the NFB and ACB. That they CAN do. Amargia’s main focus is on people who, for one reason or another, have fallen through the cracks in the system. The needs there are rather basic. Healthy, affordable food, clothing, safe and adequate shelters, a comfortable and supportive emotional environment, access to assistive devices and technology, etc.
In my experience, large organizations can get so caught up in abstract concepts and imaging, they neglect the often harsh realities of the people they are suppose to represent. The organization takes on a life of its own and its needs don’t always mirror those of the individuals who make up the group. The leadership becomes too concerned with the way the organization as a whole looks from the outside. The realities of the inside viewer are what I will always focus on changing. I had a devastating personal experience that drove that point home deeply. It has been over 13 years since I learned it, but it is a lesson I will never forget.
An organization was quite willing to sacrifice me and endanger others in the name of image. That saying: “The good of the many must outweigh the good of the few.” only sounds noble if you aren’t one of those few. LOL. There are times when NECESSARY sacrifices must be made, of course. The situation I was in was not one of those instances though. I needed only for a former leader of this group to clarify a statement he made in print. To say it was true in his PERSONAL experience, and not true of all blind people. (I knew the Defense attorney I would be facing in court intended to use the statement from this AUTHORITY as part of his defense case.)
The organizations former leader had become seriously ill (and eventually died) in the interim between publishing that statement and the criminal case I was a witness in. And, the organization had turned him into some kind of paragon. A sort of all-knowing, super blind person whose every word was undisputable fact. The new leader of the organization rudely refused my request. There were lives at risk so I had no choice but to make the organization look foolish. I regret that was necessary since I agree with most of what the organization's public stances. All the organization had to do was admit their former leader was a flawed human being who made mistakes just like the rest of us. I think if the former leader himself had still been alive, he would have given me what I needed. I had enormous respect for this man, but he wasn’t perfect.
Do people with MS and other mobility problems, deal with that issue? It is like you are given a choice between two ways of being perceived the helpless invalid or the super disabled person able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. LOL. There are days when I'm not at all sure that is a step forward. Kay*
I used to want to be MS mother of the year, an award given out by the MS Society. It was my aspiration. My new DH thought I had done a fabulous job as a single mom with two kids and giving demonstrations to the kids' schools, etc., and I did too. We thought I was a da** good mom, and that was when not too many people with MS had kids.
Turns out the MS Mother of the Year is the mother who does the most work for the MS Society! She doesn't have to have MS, she just has to raise a lot of money or stuff a lot of envelopes. So I would tend to agree with you, Kay. Also, people who die tend to be lionized.
And don't you think people these days are much more comfortable with binary situations, it's either all good or all bad, with no gray areas? It's always true or it's never true, you're either blind as a bat or you can see fine, you're either a helpless cripple or (with reasonable accommodation) you're just like everybody else. A million years ago when I was "in the workplace" I noticed that. I got special parking, the elevator and I can't remember what else, but when I choked on my sandwich I was like a freak show! What did they expect; I have severe MS.
One of the biggest problems with mental health treatments is we are all lumped together. Bi-Polar, Depression, Substance Abuse and Schsophrenia. Kinda like lumping diabetis and arthritis, Totally different symptoms and causes.
Bi-Polar goes from extreme excitibility to extreme depression. Depression is extreme lows,even happy is not a normal up happy. Substance abuse is a need using a foreign substance to elevate a mood.
Schzophrenia is hallucinations, paranoia etc.
In my opinion the therepy is like giving everyone an asprin. If one is going to have a semblance of normalacy THEY HAVE TO PULL THEMSELVES UP BY THEIR OWN BOOTSTRAP.
Vickie, I agree with you that people with any kind of "category" illness are often all lumped together. And a lot of treatment for any ailment is pulling on your own bootstraps. And...sometimes outside help or, therapy, if you will, is needed to FIND the bootstraps. :-)
Hope everyone had a good day. Had to come home mid-afternoon for the cable tech. While he was doing his techie stuff, I watered the droopy plants and--already--my house foundation. Cooler and less humid today than yesterday, but, my goodness, we didn't need summer so early in the season. LOL Almost six inches below normal for rain and expect water restrictions soon. Doesn't affect me all that much since I hand water the flowers and NEVER water the grass. I hate the variety here and would be extra EXTRA pleased if it just died off and let me replace it with buffalo or zoysia. But, noooooo. It is practically indestructible and I am stuck with it until I can get someone to dig it up little by little and replace it with hardscape or sumpin. Still have NO idea what to do with the west side of my house. It extends about another 10 inches to the right of the sun/shadow line. The clay there is so heavy not much will grow without lots of amendments I doan wanna dooooo. (whine, whine, sniff) 'Cept that Ruellia in the back. It came from outer space and will live for-evahhhhh
Debra
Debra, Would love to share some of our water with you, We've had more than our share, and more expected.
Vickie
Us too, we got to be a federal disaster area because of too much water! It rains so often! And when it's not raining it's cloudy or overcast. Everyone has a pump in their basement. I'll send you 60% of our water.
Rainy here, too. The moss and insects love the recent weather.
Debra, have you considered building up in the side yard, instead of trying to dig and amend the clay? A raised bed. would be a lot less work. Kay*
Kay, no I hadn't. That's a good idea. Might even help with the foundations issues in summer. What would you recommend to use for building the sidewalls?
Debra
Debra, you could have a choice. Grey concrete blocks, bricks,cement,railroad ties,metal fencing. wood.Atwoods has some things.I look but can't buy. Go up 259 into Eastern Okla and steal some rocks. Still no rain here. It stopped the 18th and has'nt rained since.
Everything Vickie said and more. Your taste and imagination are the only limits. The faux lumber that is made from recycled plastic gives a classic look, but does not rot. The solid concrete blocks are heavy, but creating a bed with them could not be simpler. A hard-scape border isn't absolutely necessary though.. You can just lay down a weeed barrier and start piling on the soil and compost. Planting a hardy border plant around the edges. (Every region has some edging plant equivilent to the mondo grass (monkey grass) we so often use here. I've used everything from the rolls of landscaping fabric you purchase, to newspaper and cardboard, to old bed sheets as weed barriers to start raised beds. You don't even have to do any earth moving, if you are not in a hurry. You can create about a two-feet layer of leaves, grass clippings and finished compost and the used soil from re-potting and just wait a season. Basically, you just create a very clean and neat compost pile and plant in it the next season. This is assuming, of course, that you don't have very fussy neighbors. LOL. Kay*
***Edited for Kay's too colorful expression in regards to conservative neighbors. :-) (Jim)
This message was edited Jun 29, 2010 1:15 PM
Vickie, you ladies are BAD! I can’t turn my back on you or Kay for a minute. Before this trip, I’ll have to make sure I have bail money for both of you! Lol.
In the book “Creating Beds and Borders” by the Fine Gardening Magazine staff one of the authors claimed the weed barrier wasn’t necessary for that technique, but in the south I think it is. Weeds will grow up thru even a thick layer of compost here and our weeds are more tolerant of heat and aren’t destroyed by the heat generated by the decomposition process.
I don’t know if I would be willing to use that technique near the foundation of a house, however. Because, bugs are an inevitable part of the decomposition process. Might want to use more labor intensive techniques close in and use the labor saving techniques for more outlying areas. The best thing about organic gardening methods is they are not only easier on the planet, they are easier on your body. Earthworms will do a lot of the work for you, if you ask them nicely. (Jim)
Awww Jim .... I was feeling wretched about the heat and humidity and MS and stuff and read your post and ended up with a smile on my face! Thank you for that...
The reds are coming, the reds are coming!!
("Passion for Red" daylily)
Debra, That dayllly is something magic. I was out earlier with a campfire and that lily is what the flames looked like. Do you think i could get a start later?
Jim, Don't worry about us. We'll simply tell anyone that you put us up to it. ROFLO
As for weeds loving heat. I wrapped black plastic around a stump to kill poison ivy. That stuff has started growing out of the plastic. Since science is determined to do genetic engineering, I wish to goodness they would breed a little weed tenacity into all hybrid plants.
Vickie, just tell me when you are ready..:-)
Debra
Wow! That one is impressive, Debra. I like the way the stamen have the same color gradation as the petals. Never seen that before. (Jim)
Well, if Sarge or any other DGers in TN miss the rocks I acquired from their state, they are welcome to come and take them back home. I did notice, however, they have quite a few of those just laying around, not doing anything useful so I don’t think they will miss the few that now live and work at Amargia. The rocks seem to like it here where their rarity means they are admired, appreciated and gainfully employed. (And, I think the same can be said for rocks in OK. They have some lazy, lazy rocks there that need to be put to work.) I know I would be happy to share the over-abundance of sand here with anyone who wants any.
“Gardening Without Work: For the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent” by Ruth Stout is a good resource for anyone who wants to garden despite physical and/or time challenges. It is a rather old book, but a garden classic so I bet it can still be found. Some people still call the above way of creating a garden bed “the Ruth Stout method.” Kay*
I'll be looking for that book Kay.
Guarrentee rocks won't be missed in Tenn or Okla. In Arkansas you'll be begged to take them. Some of the rocks i've got for you came from Okla by way of Texas first.LOL Yes i hauled some of my favorite rocks from Texas up here. East Texas has no rocks only sand and clay and fire ants that eat cantalopes from the inside out. Now some Arkansas rocks are useful. They hold our mountains up. LOL
Wish i'd thought last year you had sand. Don't need any this year tho. I have wondered sometimes if far in the future some archeologest would dig up some of my rocks and wonder if we worshipped rocks that were out of place, LOL
I have a few old classic gardening books too. I still use them."Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening by Rodales.1975." "How to grow Vegetables and Fruits by the Organic method" Also by Rodales.
Debra, How about September. I have one DL thats red and yellow and kinda spidery i can send you.
Vickie, I don't need a swap. Be happy to send a fan when you are ready. I have four fans now and they ain't even planted yet. Bound to get bigger. :-) Also, my company ships up to 200 packages a day, so we have all kinds of packing stuff around. No worries...
This one isn't a pinky as photographed. My phone sometimes doesn't read color well when it's cloudy. We had rain all night!!!! Yippee! Digging in the dirt manana!!!!! (Working today)
Peach-y keen. lol. Are there like early, mid and late season daylilies? That is a daylily, isn't it? The DL's here are all gone.
Do you think they will still be restricting watering in that area this year? Kay has a scented specimen called Red Mountain Sage I'm keeping an eye on for inclusion in the xera-scaped area. Xera-scaping is something of a joke here right now. It has been raining almost every day lately. But, Kay claims periodic drought years are just a part of life here so the xera-scape garden needs to be kept up so we have something going during those years.
I'll try to get a photo of the TN rocks at work. lol. Vickie, that is another good reason to restrict Kay's rock acquisition in AR. Wouldn't want to be responsible for your mountains falling down. (Jim)
Jim, yes. The description usually says if Early, Early-Mid, Mid, Mid-Late, or Late Season. There are also rebloomers that range from those with a heavy bloom early in the season, then a light bloom in Fall, to those that bloom basically all Summer and into the Fall. I have some areas where the grassy look is fine all year, so a one-time bloom is okay. But I mostly tend to get rebloomers. We were getting close to restrictions. The hurricane moisture coming this way let it rain enough to keep that at bay for awhile. Xeriscaping is fun--it lets YOU work less. LOL And any reason is a good one for sages...
Debra
Oh so right about drought years. Debra and i both know about those years.
Daylillys can be spread out for a couple of months like Debra says. There's even extra early and extra late.
Later today am going to watch fireworks at Ozark. Also packing up things for camping. Seem to be slower than ever right now. I can write checks again, I spent the night in Russellville last night shopping at Hastings,Walmarts and Krogers. Talk about shopping till you drop.
Happy fourth everyone. I'm envious of Carrie. She can watch fireworks while listening to the Boston Pops, Maybe someone will televise it.
Vickie, what a good present for you for Independence Day. I know it made you feel better. :-)
Debra
It was that! I taped the Boston Pops and watched it too.The look on some of the soldiers faces makes me feel so proud and happy. Some sing with a smile on their face and a proud gleam in their eyes.
More rain overnight! WooHoo!!
This one is Apache War Dance. The center is really yellow, but it hadn't opened all the way this morning. Didn't want to wait until this afternoon, though. THAT'S a color that will wake ya up...
What a difference a few hours and some direct sun will make. Looks like it is made out of wax, doesn't it.
I've thought the same about some of my live in the pot ones.
It is beautiful and you take good pictures.
The rain has come from your way up here so thanks for sending it.LOL
I'm going to get 'Apache War Dance'! Where do you usually buy yours from. A local source or online? (Jim)
Bought it from an eBay vendor. I got three fans from him, be happy to send one to you, Jim.
I'm back! It was 104* in CA but they were having a heat wave in new england and it was 104* at home too. Debra, as you know MS and heat don't mix too well....
No, they don't, Carrie. I was hoping you had escaped. :-) We've been a little below normal the last 10 days. Weirdweirdweird. Glad you are back. Missed you.
Debra
Carrie did you drive along the coast highway? I want to drive that someday.
Debra, We've been having the same weather as you.Is'nt it great?
Have great weekend all.
Vickie
Usually we have a few days a summer that are over 90, that's it. At least my tomatoes are finally blooming! DH needs to assemble the cage pretty soon ...
Jim, when do you want your Apache daylily? Can ship anytime.
Debra