NHBPM- Crippie Walks Onto An Elevator...

Howdy!

I hope everyone had a good Monday. I was at work for 11 and a half hours today, I'm kinda surprised I'm still conscious. So I'm gonna try and finish today's prompt before passing out. Elevator blog. If you were in an elevator with someone and they asked about your blog. What would you tell them? Make a version for a 30 second elevator ride. Make a version for a 1 minute elevator ride. Make a version for a 2 minute elevator ride.


30 SECONDS- My name is Crippie, I was born with a rare genetic disorder and I blog about living with a disabiliy.
1 MINUTE- My name is Crippie, I was born with a rare genetic disorder and I blog about living with a disabiliy and trying to remain positive in spite of all the crap.
2 MINUTES- My name is Crippie, I was born with a rare genetic disorder and I blog about living with a disabiliy and trying to remain positive in spite of all the crap. I answer questions that people are too embarrassed to ask. I also incorporate humor and design into my blog because apart from being a cripple, I'm a wise ass designer.

DONE

Crippie's Tippie-hhhyyyyyyyyyyyyydjttukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkki (crippie has fallen asleep on her keyboard)


This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- Crippie Ignores The Prompt

Hi Y'all

As the title suggests, Crippie is being a rebel and not following today's prompt... mainly because it's not very good. It was... Open a book. Point to a page. Free write for 10-15 minutes on that word or passage. Post without editing if you can!

Yeaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nnnnooooooooooooo

Oh well, I'm still doing the post a day thing so I don't see this as failing. Moving on I'd figure I'd answer a question that I've been asked several times "Do you have a Cripple-dar or Cripple-sensor? Essentially they are asking if I can spot a person with a disability and can I figure out why they are disabled. My "cripple-dar" is pretty strong when it comes to visibly crippled people. I can pick up on certain limps, movements, mannerisms, physical characteristics, etc and I can usually figure out what's wrong with them. I think of this as a sixth sense if you will 

"I SEE CRIPPLED PEOPLE". Why can I do this? Probably because I've watched one too many discovery health specials.

Crippie's Tippie- Try to find a more interesting and or useful sixth sense, being able to see cripples is not particularly useful.

P.S. Did you like my cane tutorial? Would you like a custom cane of your own? Well, you can check out Crippie's STORE where I sell canes I have made or check out my BOOK, where I discuss making canes.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- Crippie Makes A Shiny Pimp Cane

Ohai,

I hope everyone had a lovely Nigel Tufnel day. Mine went pretty well. The anti-stigma conference was very fun. It was good so see so many people who were able to understand each others issues. Babysitting also went well, I lost a bet to an 11 year old... but what can you do.

Moving on today's NHBPM prompt is most entertaining... Teach a class. What’s something that you’re uniquely great at and could teach a class on? Write the tutorial in a blog post. Bonus points for images, links to resources, and video.


Today Crippie will be teaching you guys how to pimp out your cane and make it shiny. You need the following items...
1- A Cane
2- Rhinestones- flat backed, the smaller the better
3- Glue- I prefer PVA Glue, but gorilla glue or some other freakishly strong glue works too

STEP ONE- GET YO SUPPLIES

STEP TWO- PUT A LITTLE GLUE ON A LITTLE PART OF THE CANE FOO'

STEP THREE- PUT A RHINESTONE ON THAT BITCH

STEP FOUR- REPEAT OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN FOO'. Make a few lines of rhinestone and let them dry (the glue will dry completely clear)

And eventually you will have something like this..

Crippie's Tippie- I used two different sized rhinestones to accommodate for the fact that they don't fit perfectly around the cane. 

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- Something So Right

HAPPY NIGEL TUFNEL DAY!!!!

Today better freakin' go to 11. Lucky for us today's prompt is happy and positive so it's a start to going to 11. The topic for Nigel Tufnel day is... If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. What is working well in your community, healthcare, blogs, social media, or your work in particular? What do you like about it?

First off, the is working reallllllyyyyy well is Nigel Tufnel's amp that goes to 11. The other thing that is working really well for me as cripple is social media. Just today I was engaged in an epic battle of "Words With Friends" with one of my fellow cripples who I only get to physically see once a year if that. Things like facebook, twitter, etc. help me keep in closer contact with my fellow crippies. I remember in the days before facebook (five years ago-ish) I didn't have a lot of direct contact with my cripples and it was also a lot harder to find new cripples. Thanks to facebook I can socialize and spam the walls of some of my cripple friends, give advice to someone who made a page or a group about my disorder, and just in general see what my cripples are doing. It helps reassure the fact that I'm not alone. 


So yeah, that was the prompt for today. Movin' on today is going to be very busy. From 8:30-4:30 I will be attending an "anti-stigma" conference for mental illnesses. My sister (who has bipolar disorder) will be performing at the event. I'll definitely tell y'all about it. I'm also gonna be babysitting tomorrow but that's not particularly interesting. Actually, I really should get to sleep... I have to be up in 5 hours!


Crippie's Tippie- Don't see any pages or groups for your disability... MAKE ONE.


This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- Crippie Tries To Predict The Future

Hiya!

How are all my lovely readers doing today? I hope you all are good. Crippie spent last night being a psychic and predicting 97% of the winners for the CMA Awards. Seeing Brad Paisley molest Miss Piggie made my night. Anyway, speaking of being a psychic today's NHBPM prompt is...The future of online activism. Our favorite social media sites are constantly undergoing renovations to become quicker to navigate, easier to interact with, all encompassing, mobile, and everywhere. Imagine the same thing about your community – how will they evolve, improve, and grow?


First things first, I believe that the future of web design will be less coding and more user friendly in terms of design. This will make it easier for smaller, lesser known diseases and causes to have better, more efficient websites simply because they won't have to hire some fancy shmancy web designer and web masters to keep the website running. Currently, most of the smaller non-profit organizations have very simple websites, homepage, contact, basic info, and some pages with more in-depth information where people go to find support. They might have e-mail  or facebook groups where people can contact each other and ask questions.

I think that the non-profit support group website of the future will have a smarter organization system for their information, and more importantly... forums. I imagine that these sites will be able to create forum boards for people to ask and get information. The people would have to register and make a basic profile, thus helping keep up a database on the people involved with the group.

Technically there are websites like this out there, one such website is the site Crippie goes to in order to obtain information on guinea pigs, www.guinealynx.info. This is a very smart site design wise. It has relatively easy navigation so if I needed to look something up quickly I can find it, also it has the almighty forum. People post about issues they are having with their pigs and they get replies rather quickly. This site also requires you to "sign a contract" of sorts before posting. They don't allow things like intentionally bad grammar, and the strict rules have kept the site troll free.

So yeah, that's what I imagine the websites of the future will look like. I think twitter and facebook will mainly serve as traffic directors for the main site since all of the social aspects will be contained within the website.

Crippie's Tippie- Until this magical future arrives... BEFRIEND ALL THE NERDS. Chances are they will be able to code a nice site for your non-profit. 


This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- Branding "Crippie"

Aloha!

Statement #3 was the lie, apart from the episode where Marsha gets pelted in the face with the football, I really don't care for the Brady Bunch. Moving on to a more interesting prompt, today's is... My personal brand. As a Health Activist, you are a front-facing leader. What do you imagine you look like to your readers? What qualities do you possess. It’s ok to toot your own horn today – you have full permission to indulge. And don’t hold back.
Ideally I'd like to appear as awesome smart, quirky, funny, optimistic, ginger and a cripple. Realistically this is what I think people see when they imagine me

If there are any rage comic readers on this blog that agree with that image... PLEASE COMMENT. I really want to know if I'm right in this assumption. So yeah, I think people see me as quirky, nerdy, optimistic (almost annoyingly optimistic), ginger cripple. I tried to take some photobooth pictures of how I "want" to appear as an activist/blogger but this is what I ended up with...

Yeaaaahhhh... I ended up with a weird blend of serious and funny which works for me, and yes Frida Kahlo is photobombing those pictures. Ultimately that's what I try to brand myself as. Crippie is a blogger/activist who uses humor and optimism to get through tough times. That's me in a nutshell right there. 

So what do you guys think? Am I in the general ballpark here? Am I a totally dallusional asshole? 

Crippie's Tippie- As far as general blog branding goes, I think having a nickname helps you be more memorable in the reader's eyes. 

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- 3 Truths And Maybe A Lie I Guess

Greetings,


One week of this NHBPM thing down, 3 to go! Speaking of the number the topic de jour is... 3 Truths and 1 lie. Tell us 3 things that are true about you, your condition, your Health Activism, or your life. Now tell us 1 lie. Do you think we will be able to tell the difference?


I'm not quite sure how I would do this for my condition and or "health activism" so I'm just gonna do it about good ol' Crippie. Here are four statements about Crippie. If you think you know which one is the lie, post it in the comment section. I'll reveal the answer tomorrow. 
STATEMENT ONE: I collect American Girl Dolls
STATEMENT TWO: I have about 25 Canes in my living room
STATEMENT THREE: My favorite show of ALL time is "The Brady Bunch"
STATEMENT FOUR: I can whistle the theme song to "The Andy Griffith Show" 

So there you are folks, have at it. Not the most interesting blog post in the world... sorry 'bout that. THE WRITERS CHALLENGE PROMPTS TOLD ME TO DO THAT I TELL... BLAME THEM.

Well, to make up for this rather dull prompt, I'll discuss how Crippie's pets are doing. November 18th marks the first anniversary of our dog Angel's adoption. When we first got her she was a scared little Lhasa Apso who was abused at one point and left a shelter. A year later she is a very loved and very well fed dog. She loves long walks, playing with neighbor dogs, eating, belly rubs, and begging.  We want to do something sorta special for her for her "birthday". Crippie was thinking cooking her a hamburger and letting her just go to town. Any suggestions readers?

New puppy Helen has been here for two months and we are already seeing a huge difference in her. She now recognizes me as "the aunt that spoils her". She gives her "mommy" great big kisses, and she prances around the house like she owns the place. We're pretty sure that she thinks she's a baby, she cries when she's unhappy and she likes to be held like a baby. She says thank you to whoever said she was adorable on this blog.
The piggies are doing very well. Three of my pigs (Including Frida) turned 3 in October. They celebrated with huge salads.
Yup, so that's how all of Crippie's pets are doing.

Angel's Tippie- Give your dog lots of treats, we are happier when we have lots of treats.
Helen's Tippie- Give us lots of treats and tell me I'm pretty.
Piggies Tippie- Just feed us and we'll be really happy

NHBPM- Things That Piss Off Crippie

Sup?

I hope everyone had a good weekend, let's aim for a good Monday. Speaking of Monday, today's NHBPM topic is..
Case of the Mondays. Write about something that gets you down, burns you out, or makes you sad. Purge it in a blog post. Turn it around at the end. Tell Tuesday why you’re ready for it.
Alrighty, ready for a Crippie rant? If this offends anyone I'm sorry, feel free to counter rant me in the comment section. If you wanna agree with me in the comment section you can do that too ;)
<StartRant>
Okay, there are times when "normals" burn me out and in general piss me off. When I hear a normal person complain about really mundane things I get really aggravated. It feels like "how dare they complain, do they not know how lucky they are?" or "puh-lease do you have any idea of how much I go through?". I rarely tell said normal this because they really won't get it. It pisses me off they won't realize how good their lives are until something horrible happens and they will lose something. They don't know what they have and how lucky they are to have it. I'm probably rambling a little bit so here's a quote from Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" that pretty much sums this part up...

Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives. Through the roofs and gables I can see them. Ev'ry day they shout and scold and go about their lives. Heedless of the gift it is to be them. If I was in their skin I'd treasure ev'ry instant

I do my best not to complain about my health because I know that there are so many people who are worse off health wise than I am. I NEVER complain about my parents because I know how good they are, regardless of how I might get annoyed from time to time. (mini-rant I HATE when teenagers complain about their parents, unless your parents are literally abusing you in some way, shut up, they know more than you do). I know that things can always be worse, so I feel weird whining about something that isn't terrible. 

</Rant>

So, knowing that things can be worse also helps me deal with this little bit of frustration. When you think about it of all the things in the world that could bum me out this is not bad. It's not like people are actually being rude to me. No one is intentionally (as far as I am aware) doing this to make me mad. Would it be nice to hear more normals talk about the things they are thankful for, sure? But I still love my normals very much and it's gonna take a whole lotta bitchin' for me to really dislike someone. 

Why am I ready for Tuesday? Because I am thankful that I have somewhere to go. I have my lovely job and my car to get me back and fourth. When I come home I have a very supportive family waiting for me and some very hungry pets waiting for attention and food. How can I complain about something like that! 

Crippie's Tippie- Don't wait till Thanksgiving to realize you're grateful for something.

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- Crippie Yells At Doctors

Hi Everybody!

I hope you guys had a good day, I went to go see "A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas"... OMG SO FRIGGIN FUNNY, I LOVED IT. 

Moving on to NHBPM, Today's topic is... 

If I could do anything as a Health Activist... Get aspirational. Money is no longer an option. What is your biggest goal that is now possible? How could you get there? Now bring it back down to size. How much of this can you accomplish now, in a year, in five years?

If I could do anything as a health activist I would get doctors to understand this one teeny tiny itty bitty concept...

Seriously, this is the only thing I would really love to get across as a health activist. I'm tired of hearing all my crippled friend's saying that their doctors don't believe they are in pain. Listen to us and don't assume we are at your office to obtain drugs. I'm not talking just about drugs here, I went to a doctor once who refused to treat me because he thought I wanted to be cure... he clearly didn't hear me say multiple times that "I just want to manage". If I was doing this for attention I wouldn't be coming in with my x-rays and full medical record. I'd be using some lame ass story like "I hurt my ankle, I think I have this super rare disease I saw on House one time". *Does Forest Gump impersonation* That's all I have to say about that. 

Crippie's Tipper- Doctors... DO YOUR JOB RIGHT AND LISTEN TO YOUR DAMN PATIENTS

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J 

NHBPM- 5 Thing-ies That Changed Crippie

Hey Y'all

I had my pain management appointment today. My doctor quickly shut down the anti-depressant idea for me for several reasons...

1- I'm not depressed, and anti-depressants can have some pretty unfortunate side effects

2- I'm young and she doesn't want me to start on an anti-depressant regime for the next few decades

3- While anti-depressants can be used for pain relief it is meant for older people with a different kind of pain. It's more for fibromyalgia related pain, not there is a tumor pressing against your hip socket pain. 

Now, on to today's NHBPM post. Today's topic is...

5 things that changed my life. For better? For worse? List 5 things that changed your life as a patient, caregiver, or Health Activist and how.

1) My first birthday- The day I was diagnosed with MHE. Pretty self explanatory of why that changed my life.

2) My first surgery- I was ten years old. My first surgery was supposed to be a fairly easy with a quick recovery. It ended up causing massive complications and the worst pain I'll probably ever experience. I was forced to grow up very quickly in order to deal with everyhing. Before my surgery I was a child with a minor disability. After the surgery I was a young adult with a severe disability.

3) Crippie Meets Fellow Crippies- When I was younger I thought I was all alone with my disability, but after my first surgery my family started reaching out to other families with MHE. Within the next two years I was in contact with several Crippies my age and we became friends (I'm still in touch with most of 'em btw). From that point on I stopped feeling alone and pitying myself.

4) Physical Therapy- I've had PT on and off for the past 12 years. When I started PT it was incredibly painful. The therapists were crying watching me struggle. One of my therapists told me that if I wanted to get better I would have to deal with the pain and work through it. This was a huge epitome moment for me. I worked really hard at my therapy, struggled through the pain, and saw results. I have applied this philosophy to everything else I have ever done. If ever I feel like I can't do something, I push myself and try to make it happen. 

5) CRIPPLEFEST- Every year we have a gathering of cripples at my house. It really is one of the biggest highlights of my year. Apart from it being a blast, it has always been a day of support and activism for us. I became a mentor for some of the younger cripples and I am trying to see to it that my little "buddies" don't suffer in the way that I did.

So those are the main things that transformed Crippie into the cripple she is. Most of them sprung out of the first surgery one, the more I think about it the more realize how much that bastard screwed me up.

Crippie's Tippie- Even though something royally sucks and has probably changed your life in a negative way that doesn't mean something good can't come out of it. Without that first surgery I never would have met my cripples! 

This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J