Here's a site if you want to know more: https://idpwd.org/
I figured I'd make this thread for disabled people and those who love someone with a disability to talk about their challenges and life. If you want to.
I'm not disabled, but I had a stepdad who was. In 2001, we were on a family vacation and he began having a hard time walking. One night he couldn't get out of the van, and we had to call an ambulance. A disease had settled in his spine, and he became paralyzed from the waist down. He was also bedridden, which, turns out you need to be able to move around because your body isn't designed to lay in one place all the time. So being bedridden led to other complications and the development of other chronic illnesses. My stepdad spent, I think, the first two or so years of being disabled in the hospital up north near where we had been vacationing, and was eventually flown back down to where we live to stay at the local hospital.
We eventually made room for him at home, set him up a space with a hospital bed and a computer so he could play video games to pass the time. He was still in and out of the hospital on an at least yearly basis, if not every few months.
We had just over 10 years with my stepdad before he finally ended up in the ICU with many many complications and we made the decision to pull life support because living on a breathing machine is no life to have and he didn't want that either.
Disability can happen to anyone at any age. The years we did have with my stepdad were good ones, and he had the chance to be a parent. My stepdad was very smart and practical and I learned so very much from him. I was 19 when he passed.
I figured I'd make this thread for disabled people and those who love someone with a disability to talk about their challenges and life. If you want to.
I'm not disabled, but I had a stepdad who was. In 2001, we were on a family vacation and he began having a hard time walking. One night he couldn't get out of the van, and we had to call an ambulance. A disease had settled in his spine, and he became paralyzed from the waist down. He was also bedridden, which, turns out you need to be able to move around because your body isn't designed to lay in one place all the time. So being bedridden led to other complications and the development of other chronic illnesses. My stepdad spent, I think, the first two or so years of being disabled in the hospital up north near where we had been vacationing, and was eventually flown back down to where we live to stay at the local hospital.
We eventually made room for him at home, set him up a space with a hospital bed and a computer so he could play video games to pass the time. He was still in and out of the hospital on an at least yearly basis, if not every few months.
We had just over 10 years with my stepdad before he finally ended up in the ICU with many many complications and we made the decision to pull life support because living on a breathing machine is no life to have and he didn't want that either.
Disability can happen to anyone at any age. The years we did have with my stepdad were good ones, and he had the chance to be a parent. My stepdad was very smart and practical and I learned so very much from him. I was 19 when he passed.
