Frontier Psychiatrist by the Avalanches

Only vaguely related to the blog at hand, Psychiatry themed techno. The video is frankly distracting, but the music is good. I suggest shutting your eyes and enjoying the music.

$15 coupon for Enable Mart

FYI, there's currently available a $15 coupon for Enable Mart, an AT vendor, via Cubital-Tunnel a site dedicated to Cubital-Tunnel Syndrome. Visit the Cubita-Tunnel site for more information on this repetitive strain injury that can lead to pain in the fingers and arms.

Whether you have Cubital-Tunnel Syndrome or not, given the cost of AT these days, $15 may not go far, but is always welcome.

Life's not fair

Its not fair that a genuinely good person, and 25 year old newlywed should have to have a mastecotomy.

Best of luck with your surgery today K.

Digital Wheel Art

Interesting use for the Wii- mote (the controller for the game system Wii), to allow a significantly impaired wheelchair user draw electronically. Basically, the Wii mote works by tracking the movement of the hand held controler in relation to the tv set top box. In this example, one half of the Wii is strapped to the wheel chair and allows the user to move the chair around the floor as though they were painting, while their track is "drawn" on a screen.

There is a short article, and some videos. I have included one below, but it makes more sense once you read the articles and arrangement of technology.

Great use of existing technology. The designer notes that it allows individuals with significant mobility impairments the ability to express themselves artistically.

Digital Wheel Art from Young Hyun Chung on Vimeo.

One for the guys (and the guys you love) aka Carpe Testes

Breast cancer has had plenty of press, public service announcements and awareness raising programs. It's acceptable to talk about self exams in polite company.

But how about one for the guys. I've always wondered what the ads for mens self exams would look like. With the rise of the awareness wrist bands and magnetic ribbons for the cars, I could just picture the one for the men being two upside down ribbons (think about it......). I can't imagine Channel 13 doing a buddy to buddy on checking your testicles.

Arrive Carpe Testes the public awareness site of the Sean Kimerling Testicular Cancer Foundation. Having stumbled on the Sing Along video on You Tube, I had to check out the origin. Thankfully I did, as the other videos are engaging and hilarious as well. From the Sing a long of euphemisms for "the boys" (captioned) to an ice hockey themed "Check your nuts...Often" (both below) the videos pass along an important message.
So, send this along for a laugh and a reminder to the men you love to "Check their nuts"





After you're done checking them, don't forget the Balla Powder for men. Yes it's "Testicle Talc" (per Boing Boing)

Accessible Playgrounds

The New York Times has a nice article on accessible playgrounds and how more communities are making playgrounds more accessible.

"With the summer in full swing, playgrounds are a daily part of life for most families with small children. But for many disabled children, they remain tantalizingly out of reach. That is starting to change in many towns around the region, where handicapped accessible playgrounds and ball fields are being built or planned. "

"Activist: Obit: Harriet McBryde Johnson

The Wall St. Journal has a great article on the passing of Harriet McBryde Johnson who is listed as a "disability rights activist". I confess I was not aware of Mrs. McBryde before reading this obituary, but love her positions.

I particularly like the piece of the article about her work with "Jerry's Orphans"

"Ms. Johnson was part of a disability rights movement that had changed dramatically since the first Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethons in the 1960s, with their offensive references to "cripples" and their maudlin descriptions of "killer diseases." She worked with people like Mike Ervin, a former Muscular Dystrophy Association poster child who founded a group, "Jerry's Orphans," to protest the telethons; Ms. Johnson herself demonstrated every Labor Day on the streets of her hometown of Charleston, S.C. "

This is perhaps one of the most insideous issues in disability, is the telethon. It creates sympathy, perpetuates the "supercrip" idea, and instills fear. "No Pity: People with Disabilities forging a New Civil Rights Movement" by Joseph Shapiro has a great discussion of this issue.