What are your fears?

All people,disabled,non disabled have fears and things that worry us,I wouldn't mix fears and phobias because I think they have a small difference,for me a fear is something that in some level scares me,it makes me fear "if this ever happens",there are fears that can be solved with help,or with money,for example if you lose a very important paper,if your car is stolen,if our computers get a virus or get broken down for any reason,etc...but there are other fears that can't be solved easily,sometimes these fears can even steal our peace of mind and our sleeping time!

As a disabled I have many fears,many times I try to focus on the present and avoid thinking on the future,because when I think too much about what my future as a disabled might be,I know I won't end up feeling fine and I would end sad,disappointed and very worried.

I got the idea of this article from an article published at BBC's Ouch! Magazine,the article is about the fear of deteriorating,and when I think of it as a disabled,I know,I am not feeling fine because sooner or later,one day it will happen to me too....

Disability through history is a very complex subject due to many circumstances and situations but especially due to the lack of information and ignorance that in some centuries and years the world lived.

Starting from the definition or meaning of the word: Disability,some people use the word: Handicapped,people with disadvantages,People with Special Needs or cripple, I think the word: Disabled is the best word for describing our condition.

Lack of Information in the sense that for years the topic about disability was a taboo,this combinated with the ignorance that through years people in our world showed about disabled people or disability issues,in many cultures being disabled was (sadly is still considered) as a Punishment of God,also being disabled was a sign of being weak or inferior,with less value as a human being,due to their limitations, disabled people were killed or forced to live in the dark (hidden from other people), some other disabled people were abandoned in hospices, hospitals and mental institutions because their families couldn't "take care of them",and/or they were more "a problem for their lives" than being considered as defenseless human beings with feelings and emotions,sadly there is also the fact that for centuries and even nowadays we disabled people can be seen as freaks or less than animals,just we have to remember the case of The Elephant man-Joseph Merrick, he suffered Neurofibromatosis/Proteus syndrome

So,the silence and the veil about disabled people and disabilities was better for some centuries and also for the people,that is why we don't have too many facts and not even a chapter that speaks and teaches Disabilities through history.

Once upon a time there was a site...

Traveling is a wonderful experience but it can be very difficult, frustrating, stressful and very risky for disabled people,because most of the hotels or houses arenīt really nor completely adapted for a wheelchair,a walker or even for people using crutches and canes,or with any other kind of disability,we find into those places many narrow rooms,too many stairs,thick carpets, bathrooms with bathtubes and with a great lack of protections around the toilet seats, etc... that is why many times the person with special needs prefers to stay at home where the environment for disabled people is adapted for having a comfortable and safer lifestlye.

I myself have tried to avoid going on vacations for visiting my relatives in my hometown (Mexico city),or traveling too often,but staying at home isnīt the answer because we need to go out,move around and live a life full of experiences,we need the wonderful experience to show ourselves that YES WE CAN.

We can travel by ourselves,enjoy the trip and come back home safe and healthy,despite the barriers and difficulties we may find around.

I lived almost 12 years with scoliosis,when my accident happened my spine was so damaged that it was bent,saying this in the common language we can understand that my spine wasn't straight as most people's spines,I have so painful memories of that time because I had to wear a very uncomfortable corset for correcting my posture and keep the spine straight,it caused me a few skin problems and irritations,also a few wounds due to the metal bars it had inside...

Fortunately when I was 12 the Doctors at the Orthopaedic Hospital at Los Angeles California programed me for a surgery for correcting my spine,it was called the Harrington Surgery,the doctors were a little afraid that the surgery could affect the bone developmemnt and growth of my body but the surgery was also needed because my Scoliosis was getting worse,so on November 2nd,1982 I was admitted into the hospital and had the Harrington surgery,the Doctors insterted 2 platinum bars along my spine (from the neckbone to the tailbone),the surgery lasted almost 16 hours and when I was waking up from the surgery I remember I was terrible thirsty and my body was numb,the recovery process was a little tiring and painful,I spent a month in the hospital,the first 2 weeks just in the bed and at the 3rd week I was "allowed to sit in my wheelchair" wearing a "shell" (it resembled a turtle shell) that could be removed for cleaning my body with a sponge,I wore that shell for 6 months and after that time it was removed and since then until this day Scoliosis is no longer  a problem for me anymore.

I feel lucky because the surgery made a miracle for my body and especially corrected my spine,my  body looks fine and my back is straight,it's sounds easy and nice,though it's a hard,painful process that needs all the medical attention and especially be patient,if you have scoliosis or know someone with it,please check all the options for surgery,nowadays the surgery for it has advanced amazingly and instead of platinum bars they insert rods,so good luck with a surgery for correcting scoliosis.

Sandra Villanueva

The Scoliosis Research Society (SRS)

What Is Scoliosis?

Scoliosis is a musculoskeletal disorder in which there is a sideways curvature of the spine,or backbone. The bones that make up the spine are called vertebrae.

Some people who have scoliosis require treatment. Other people, who have milder curves, may only need to visit their doctor for periodic observation.

Read more... (About.com)

National Scoliosis Foundation 

Information and Support:

Scoliosis affects 2-3% of the population, or an estimated 6 million people in the United States, and there is no cure.

Scoliosis impacts infants, adolescents, and adults worldwide with little regard to race or socio-economic status. The primary age of onset for scoliosis is 10-15 years old, occurring equally among both genders. However, females are eight times more likely to progress to a curve magnitude that requires treatment.

Scoliosis can impact the quality of life with limited activity, pain, reduced respiratory function, or diminished self-esteem.

The vast majority of people with this condition are not expected to require treatment. The problem is we do not know who will get it, why they get it, which will progress, or how far they will progress. Each year scoliosis patients make more than 600,000 visits to private physician offices, and an estimated 30,000 children are put into a brace for scoliosis, while 38,000 patients undergo spinal fusion surgery.

Despite physicians trying to treat this spinal deformity for centuries, 85% of the cases are classified as idiopathic. Consequently, a scoliosis patient's life is exacerbated by many unknowns, and treatments therefore that are often ineffective, invasive, and/or costly. Scoliosis patients also have increased health risks due to frequent x-ray exposure.

Scoliosis is a multifactorial disorder, which requires multidisciplinary research and treatment.

You are not alone in your journey of living with scoliosis. There are many common issues facing every scoliosis patient, yet your personal story and experience with this spinal deformity is unique.

Consequently, we believe that Information and Support is essential to make the informed healthcare decisions that must be made along the way, but we also recognize and respect each person's individual needs.

In 1990 I had an AV malformation. It made me unable to walk. At that point I began my life on wheels. I saw right off that I had two choices. I could be mad at the world and live my life ugly and angry or I could accept it and live a much happier life.

Either way at the end of the day I was going remain in a wheelchair. So it was my thought that I may as well live with it and make the best of it. I find obstacles all the time in my life, yet I try to work them out and persevere over them. It is not fun to be in a wheelchair, but you can have fun while being in one.

Dave West

Hello I am Dave West, I am from North Central Pennsylvania. A little town, just about as far north in Pennsylvania as you can get,only five miles from the New York State line.

A little about me... I am 43 years old I was normal until i was 30 years old, at 30 I had an AV malformation, I ended up in a wheelchair. I still try to maintain a good attitude and deal with life as I have it. It can be hard, because normal people will not accept wheelchairs.


Any normal woman will not go out with a guy in a wheelchair.When I was non Disabled it was not a too bad a little place. When I first came home in a wheelchair it was the first time anyone around here had been in a wheelchair. Not a single place was accesible, but now 11 years later just about every place in town is accesible. It gets cold here, and we get some snow. It doesn't matter whether we get one inch or thirty inches a wheechair is done at the site of any snow. So I stay inside on the computer to keep myself busy. I enjoy camping out when possible although it is "my version" of camping out. It is camping out where I have electric to charge my chair and someone is around to help me out when I need it, so basically its camping out in someones back yard. Being disabled is not the end of life, just the end of the world.

If more normal people (non-Disabled) would accept disabled people,they would find that a disabled person still has a mind a loving, caring, trusting mind, who could still be the best friend/lover there is.


And that is pretty much all I have to say about that.


D. West.

I was very young when the first Live Aid happened in 1985,I was 15 years old and I remember being watching it at my home,I couldn't see it all the time,but I tried to see the performances of some of my favorite singers in that time,it was amazing,I don't have any of my videos from that time because most of the VCRs were the very old Beta format and when VHS came along into our lives all those tapes were useless and most of them ended up in the trash cans,but whenever the live aid videos were shown at MTV or any other video program I used to record them,especially the ones that were featuring Elton John,George Michael,Queen,Paul McCartney,Mick Jagger and David Bowie,I still see those videos when I have time and the performances seem so recent that we can't really think about all the time that has passed: 20 years!

Now I am 34 and I am just glad of all what I can see in this new Live Aid 2005(Now called Live 8),it's just amazing and unbelievable to see all what the world has changed,all the ways we have for communication: Internet,Cell phones,instant and text messages,emails and all what technology offers us nowadays,even more amazing is thinking that the first Live Aid was so well done and organized,considering all was organized and done in less than a month,there weren't fights,nor egos from any of the singers/stars and all of them performed for free!(which is unbelievable considering that most of them are real "monsters of the shows"-it's said in the sense that most of them are not just simple singers,they are Gods and Godesses of arts),having just 17 minutes for every artist, so just knowing the way Live Aid 1985 caught people's attention in such a great way and 95 percent of the world's television sets were tuned in to Live Aid!,it's just beyond imagination because the word: wonderful or amazing can't really express the magnitud of the event! and in that time there was no internet,nor email,nor all the technology that makes distances short,I can say that even having tv by cable was a luxury that most people couldn't afford!

Live Aid has its roots on 1984 when Geldof saw a BBC documentary about the famine in Ethiopia (which claimed more than 1 million victims in 1984-85)and he decided to write a song to help raise money for the starving citizens of the East African nation.I remember I saw for the first time (MTV Premier):"Do They Know It's Christmas?"-that time I was at Los Angeles,Ca and I was really excited to see that George Michael was there (I must say I have just had a crush on GM almost since he was at Wham and it continues until nowadays),I remember Sting was also there and also a very young Bono,I just loved the video!,then months later I saw "We Are the World" in which Michael Jackson was "the star",also there was Diana Ross,Bruce Springsteen,Cindy Lauper and many more singers and actors."We Are the World" was not exactly part of Live Aid but it was also with the idea of helping and support starving children in Africa,it was organized by many artist but especially by Michael Jackson,it was USA for Africa.

Most of the performances I saw were very good,I liked them,of course there were some others that were boring and not so good but what matters is what was done there and the whole purpose of Live Aid 1985,suppoting and helping people who was suffering in Africa a very sad situation due to poverty and famine.

There are artists,singers that will never be old,especially when it is about music or live performances,it's the case of Live Aid 1985,although there are singers that gave great performance in that 1985 event and sadly a few of them have gone,they will always be remebered that is the case of Freddie Mercury band leader of Queen and Michael Hutchence band Leader of INXS (He committed suicide in Nov. 1997)

I could spend hours talking about the artist that performed in the past Live Aid and also about the ones who have been performing at the current one,but I wouldn't be so fair,though,I need to be honest,I loved Madonna's performance and also Sting and Robbie Williams' and they were just great!,Coldplay,Annie Lennox,Pink Floyd and others were very good,butSir Paul McCartney with U2 (and also U2 alone)were amazing!,though for me,the best performance and the best of the show was almost at the end,when my favorite singer since many years ago,the only face I was missing at that event appeared and sung with Paul McCartneyYou can drive my car :George Michael was there and he looked so,so handsome!(oops sorry I just can't hide how much he fascinates,excites and emotiones me!),I am a true fan of him!,I just can say it was like dying and going to heaven!,I especially enjoyed that performance!