Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!bunker!wtm
From: rudy@mtqua.att.com (Rudy Vener)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: dealing with life in a chair
Message-ID: <15935@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 28 Nov 90 16:56:54 GMT
References: <15898@bunker.UUCP>
Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP
Reply-To: rudy@mtqua.att.com (Rudy Vener)
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
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Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP
Fidonet: Spinal Injury Conference

Index Number: 12023

In article <15898@bunker.UUCP>, Allen.Marker@p0.f14.n105.z1.fidonet.org
(Allen Marker) writes:
> Index Number: 11990
> 
> Hello. My name is allen Marker and i am a para. with a c6-7 fracture. I 
> was a guitar player in a nimber of bands and also had trained and taught 
> martial arts for 16 years. i fell off a 45 foot balcony and nailed my 
> neck on a speed bump in the parking lot. Since then i have had a hard 
> time dealing with not being able to do all the things i used to do. I 
> kind of feel like i died there because i cant play professionaly anymore 
> nor can i teach to be able to realy defend myself or others. i'm not 
> looking for pity just wondering how people can find other things to take 
> the place of everything that you had. I have never confronted this and 
> if i hadnt seen this board i probably never would have. any help or 
> feedback would be listened to and hopefully i can benifit from it. 
> thanks for listening.
>        allen
  
0) Forget about the things you can no longer do.
1) Make lists of the all the things you can do or can teach yourself to do.
2) Do as many of the items on your list as possible.
3) Pick the ones you enjoyed most and discard the remainder.
4) Live long and prosper.

Possible Items for list: write music with mouthstic and computer software,
learn mandarin (spoken and written), write dirty limericks, join a debating 
society, invent a tongue loaded pea shooter for other paraplegics (you can 
give me 1 percent of the gross for this one), write a book, read a book, 
go white water rafting (might take some fast talking to swing this one), 
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Rudy Vener  uucp: att!mtqua!rudy