Disability Cool

Disability Cool

I gotta a buddy who holds a relatively high State bureaucratic post. He has been round this town every since I came into the area. This guy is a little younger then I am. He is an attorney by training but holds up in the gilded halls of the State capitol. Lets call him Hugo Dax—of course not his real name, I am protecting my self. After all Hugo is a real attorney and could visit real grief on my body. Hugo also uses a power chair like mine, has a nice wheelchair van and season tickets to the local pro-basket ball team. I like him. Hugo has carven a very nice niche in the community. Hugo is low profile but every once in a while make the local headlines, has his picture taken in public at just the rights ball came, gala or sporting event. I think Hugo is a great example of Disability Cool.

I first encountered disability cool twenty years ago in an old rag called the Disability Rag . The only magazine of its time written by real life crips bitching and moaning about the same things I was. The Rag was printed on newsprint and was anything but glossy but I always looked forward to the magazine coming each month. There was column in the magazine called Disability Cool. A great piece about some aspect of disability which was cool. Not to be confused with high visibility nonsense like super crips, crip jocks and crip over achievers, see super crips. It was not about the crip who went to work every day rain or shine liker some nerd geek. Disability Cool was/is a state of mind: a hat worn a certain way, a cool chair blending in but being apart just by your coolness. I even tried to have a radio show by that same title. - I was going to do the show on the local community radio station KRCL. I was never ever able to get the to show off the ground, not enough drive. I still think about the show and how much the show needs to be done.

Remember the new boss? She and I were the only ones in the office last night at closing . We ended up getting into a major conversation about me and what I wanted to do or could do for the agency. We had a good discussion and I brought up the idea of Disability Cool which she of course liked. Dianne , my Dianne, has been on me the past couple of days to consider podcasting. I brought this up in our conversation and the boss really liked the concept. So nice she wants me to check into the idea of doing a disability cool pod cast for folks we serve. I have checked into the process a little. I have everything I need right on my computer. I would have to find a pod cast group who might be able to give me free space. I could start out doing interviews with folks I thing are cool—if I think they are cool maybe others would too. Maybe now is the right time.