A few friends and also many readers of Wheels' site have emailed me asking me why I haven't posted lately, why I have been a little away.

Well, I must say I was trying to get some extra rest for doing other kind of activities, I got a terrible flu that really has messed me, right now I am much better, though my nose is killing me!, but I am getting better, also I have had too much work on my profession, new students to whom I have to teach, it has kept me very busy during the week, actually since January I have been working a lot with all these 5 new students.

Christmas is a season of hope and the news about A Ski Program helping to Injured Iraq Vets to gain hope on the slopes is simply amazing and wonderful.

Due to their injuries during the cruel war in Iraq, many of the soldiers have lost limbs and became disabled citizens, being "new disabled" is a challenge because it's a condition that has lots of limitations and barriers to face, for someone who used to walk and be a part of the Non Disabled world, the change becomes too hard but accepting their new condition and the challenges it offers for continuing living a little different lifestyle that can be very productive... is what matters.

Now being disabled and practicing sports for disabled people becomes a double challenge that needs courage,so when we mix all of these conditions/situations we see that any kind of disability disappears, there aren't barriers, there are just brave people with great courage and hope and they are simply amazing human beings!

Sandra Villanueva

Wheels' American flag logo designed by ROFL from Wulfram

Injured Iraq Vets Gain Hope On The Slopes.

For Some Who've Lost A Limb, A Ski Program Restores What Was Lost On The Battlefield.

Breckinridge, Colorado- December, 20th, 2006.

From: CBS News' Harry Smith reports

When you've been a Marine for 17 years and go by the name "Spanky," there's probably not a lot you haven't been through.

So learning to ski with one leg didn't scare Spanky Gibson. He knows a little about fear -- and a whole lot about courage.

"It could always be worse. I've known that from the beginning, the first time I saw I didn't have a leg at the end of my stump, under my covers, I said 'that's life, let's start moving forward,'" Gibson says.

He lost his leg to a sniper in Iraq. Since then, he's learned to walk again, and bike and even golf. The week before he came to Colorado to ski, he was in a triathlon.

"I've got two roads that I can take. I can loathe myself in self-pity and do nothing and not walk again and not do anything like this again, or I can be positive and I can do everything that I think is possible to do," Gibson says.

Wednesday-December 13th,2006 marks a very important day for all disabled people around the world because of the The General Assembly at The United Nations approved the first U.N. convention to protect the rights of the world's 650 million disabled people.

The convention "promises to be the dawn of a new era" in which disabled people will no longer have to endure/suffer the discrimination,requiring countries to protect disabled people from exploitation and abuse and to guarantee their rights,among those rights: to ensure the blind can vote and have wheelchair-accessible buildings,health care,also to prohibit disabled people's exclusion from education, jobs and politics.

The promise of the Convention for Protecting and Promoting of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities bring to us disabled people new hope for a better future in which we can enjoy a more independent life,developing our life and lifestyle with the same opportunities and rights that the Non disabled people.

This Convention is also remarkable because it is the first human rights treaty to be adopted in the twenty-first century; the most rapidly negotiated human rights treaty in the history of international law; and the first to emerge from lobbying conducted extensively through the Internet...

Despite the hope that this Convention offers us, there is still a lot to be done, especially in 3rd world countries where disabled people rights aren't really respected and disabled people are seeing as second class citizens,or people without a value as human beings.

Laws and pacts/treaties are really important but education and creating awareness is the key for making them work,otherwise they will be just part of a legislation or simply written words,people around the world need to understand and be aware of what really means being disabled.

Also stop segregating disabled people from non disabled, this by creating access to "normal schools",jobs, etc,if non disabled children and disabled children learn to be together this will help both to see the world from both views and to help one among them, in the same way disabled people need to go out without fears and without being ashamed, if non disabled people get accustomed to see us around, in schools, jobs, shopping, etc they will accept us and new opportunities will be open for all of us.

We need to work together!

Sandra Villanueva

My Friend John Cullen sent me this brief report about a very interesting event he was invited, thanks for your report John!

Sandra Villanueva

Walkin' For Wheels!

A few weeks ago I went to meet with some wonderful Queen's University students on Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

They requested a little help in attracting people to their Walk-O-Thon for MS.

Katie Charboneau and her Mom held the event outside on one of the Campus's outdoor tracks!... Great spot to hold a walk!

I have always loved cats and dogs, I think animals are amazing,they are sweet and understand our mood without even tell them a word,they always look at us with appreciation,they don't care if we look pretty,they don't judge us.

Animals are loyal and faithful,they don't betray and the only thing they want from us is a little love and attention,they always love us without condition.

As a disabled person I have learned to see my cat and dog as a companionship more than being a simple pet, I have a beautiful Siamese cat named Salima (it's a lovely blue eyed girl), I also have a Terrier named Falcor,I had a beautiful German Shepherd that passed away on the summer of 2004 and I must say I miss him deeply because he was a great protector and a great dog who even won a beauty contest.

There are people that never will be forgotten despite the years, because that people left a strong legacy worked with their hard job, strong personality, talent, skills and with all what they gave to their fans and admirers.

That is why People like John Lennon will live forever in our memories, no matter how young or old we are, for us the people who grew up listening The Beatles and then to him in his solo career,all of us his fans know that his death was one of the most coward and unfair crimes that have happened in our world, especially because John Lennon was a man who always asked for peace and he showed his peace desire in many of his songs, especially in the song: Happy Christmas (War Is Over) and Imagine.

On line Dating can be an excellent option for people who can't have a very social and active life in the sense of meeting people for making new friends or finding love, for people who work very hard, for Seniors (people over their 50s),and for disabled people the online dating scenario is a great resource,though online dating has its bad points,inconvenients and its risks too.

As a disabled person I can say I have used the online dating sites many times, I have met very nice men and 3 of my most solid love relationships were bornt at an online dating site,but since 2002 I gave up on posting a profile on dating sites due to a few bad experiences I started to live.

This is a hard subject!,for disabled people and non disabled, the sex talk is always difficult and it's also full of misconceptions,misunderstandings and myths about if whether disabled people can really have and enjoy sex in the same level that non disabled do.

It's clear and obvious that due to the phisical limitations and the level of lesions caused in the spine the sensitivity, performance and other situations can be a little different,but the fact is that most disabled can have orgasms and enjoy a very normal sex life.

As a disabled I have learned to adapt myself to non disabled and disabled lovers (when I have been in a love relationship), it's obvious that whenever a man has been part of my life in a serious relationship, the questions about my sensitivity come up and I have to answer them as clear and honestly as I can, I have also met guys who are just full of curiosity about the way a disabled woman can have sex with them, of course those guys just look for a moment of pleasure in order to satisfy their curiosity, I try to avoid them as much as I can, it's not worthy getting involved with someone who just feels curiosity, maybe because I feel like a woman I consider that kind of relationships "a wasting time moment", besides I am nobody's game, nobody has the right for treating me as a game or experiment, in the same way, nobody has the right for using me, nor make fun of my feelings, it's very difficult to really find a good love partner who understands and learn to see the person beyond the wheelchair,a person (man/woman) who can understand that the wheelchair is just for moving around, the person that uses the wheelchair has feelings and emotions, he/she feels maybe in a deeper way that a non disabled does because we the disabled people have learned to understand what means suffering and what means being alone,so when we find someone who fulfills our heart and our senses (in all the aspects), we give him/her all what we can and all our best,we treat that man/woman as our most special and cherished treasure and we are able to give our own lives for him/she if needed, because we know what loving someone is all about and also because we know that life goes fast and good things don't stay with us so long time.

As a woman I have learned the ways of pleasing my lover and also to show him the way I like being pleased,though there are not special secrets,it's just the fact of creating a special and magic moment with the person we love,discovering and exploring all what we can enjoy together while we make love.

Sandra Villanueva

A year has passed from Christopher Reeve's decease, he saw and lived his life from the wheelchair for 10 years,becoming a great example of strenght despite the adversity, he was a hardworking spokesperson for all disabled people but especially for us the ones suffering SCI...

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.

We can. We must. We will.

Mexico's Independence day...September 16th.

Mexico is a great Country full of natural beauty and rich history,traditions and hardworking people.

September 16,is one of the most important Holidays we celebrate in Mexico,it's the day in which great and full of courage human beings became Mexico's heroes.

On September 16th 1810,at Dolores (Guanajuato) when the third century of Spaniard Domination was crushing this beautiful Country,a very full of courage Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla  revolutionized the course of Mexican history.