Blog
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Why I Run My Site
I received a beautiful letter validating the very reason why I’ve been running this site, Beauty Ability, since 2003. It came from the mother of a 17 year old girl who recently found my site. Having “up there” confidence and thinking you’re beautiful is never easy when you’re a teenager, let alone when you’re in a wheelchair. Hi Tiffiny, I found you through my daughter Leanne. Leanne has Spina Bifida and uses a chair. We live in the country and she is the only person here that uses a chair. She has gone through all of her life with no true peers and now that she is 17 and watching the world go…
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Push Girls: Reality TV Finally Finds Us
I wrote more about what “Push Girls” means to me for Easystand. Check it out: Push Girls premiered last Monday, the new reality show on the Sundance channel profiling four “hot babes” in wheelchairs. As a babe in a wheelchair myself (hey I’ve been called that), this show is the televised messiah I’ve been waiting for. The show’s premise – showing the world that you can still be beautiful, have a full life, a great job, have men that want you, and still drive a fabulous car (has been my personal goal since my injury). You have no idea how frustrating it is for people to be shocked when you can achieve any of…
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Locomotor a waste of time?
Maybe I’ve been paralyzed too long, but there are a bunch of new therapy programs out there that I question. Let me preemptively say that locomotor training has a lot of great benefits (it’s good for weight-bearing, making your muscles move, organ-hanging party time). It’s a pretty intense therapy where they strap you into a harness (that’s attached to a bar above your head) and hang you above a treadmill. Read this entry
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SCI Superstar: Jesse Billauer
The ocean can be a dangerous place. Sharks, big waves with multiple personalities, fugly Man o’ Wars, but you don’t have to tell Jesse Billauer this. He’s a born and bred Cali boy who came out of the womb with a surfboard attached to the hip. Jesse, at 17, was living the semi-charmed life of a California teenager – young, athletic, gorgeous (still is) and staged to be one of the next big surfers; it was an idyllic life. But his world turned upside down in 1996 when the crest of a wave threw him off his surfboard. Jesse hit his head on a sandbar and became a C5-6 quadriplegic…
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A spoon, a girl and a cell phone
Long ago when I was a newbie in rehab, they sent me home with a reacher as my designated method for picking up stuff on the floor, and then life happened. Sans-reacher, you have to use a lot of crazy stuff – a broom, a stick, a grocery bag, even a big saggy purse – to pick up stuff from the floor (people with disabilities are ninjas of creative solutions when they have to be). And in this video by Annemarie Hopkins, a wonderful woman who founded 3eLove.com (and sadly passed away in ’09), proved you can do a lot more with a kitchen spoon than just stir tomato soup.…
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Podcast #86: Peter Soby, a quadriplegic producer in Hollywood
In episode #86 of podcast No Free Rides, we’re joined by Peter Soby, a quadriplegic writer, director and film producer from L.A. With a face that’s easy on the eyes and a creative force that can’t be ignored, Peter has paved his own niche in Holllywood.
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SCI Superstar of the Week: Auti Angel
The world’s first hip-hop dancer, Auti Angel is the feisty member of the new show Push Girls and is also in the film Musical Chairs, that delves into the world of wheelchair ballroom dancing. Don’t mess with this Torrance, Cali native. Read this entry
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Push Girls Episode 1 Review: Everyone Stares
Oooh baby. I woke up this morning thinking I had nothing to look forward to except an ultrasound and a day of writing ahead of me, but then I saw the first episode of Push Girls dropped a week early. Post-Memorial Day weekend blues cured. SPOILERS AHEAD *** The first episode is titled “Everyone Stares,” which couldn’t be a better name for the first episode (that’s one of the first things you’ll notice when you use a wheelchair – everybody stares). And as the 12 minute preview (released last month) of the series gave me hope for, the first episode hit every note – the reality of dating in a wheelchair, health…
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Quadriplegic moves robotic arm via thought, touches girlfriend’s hand
This has got me so excited I don’t know where to even begin. Researchers have finally figured out how to hook up our minds to robotics after successfully implanting electrodes into the sexy red-headed brain of Tim Hemmes (a C2 quadriplegic injured in a motorcycle wreck 7 years ago). Will this be the eventual spinal cord injury cure? Read this entry
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SCI Superstar of the Week: Mark Zupan
The original tattooed hardcore wheelchair athlete, Mark Zupan is the King of “Muderball,” aka quad rugby, the crazy wheelchair flipping sport (you only wish you were as cool as this Austin, Texas dude). He has the sexiest tattoos ever, more confidence than any guy should legally have….what’s not to love about this guy? Love him! Read this entry
