by Tiff -

A New Year! Do You Need Love Advice?

Happy 2017! I hope you are healthy and relatively happy. My blog has been around for awhile (since 1996!), and my FT job as executive director of Spinalpedia.com has kept me busy…but my goal this year is to post more. If anyone out there is still reading 😉 I would love to strike up the Dating On Wheels advice column again, so if you have a burning question about this complicated topic, please send it to tiffiny@beautyability.com. I have been lucky enough to find a great guy, but oh my my has it been a struggle. Dating with a disability is hard. Dating is hard. But never lose hope.

Let’s chat ok! Keep my mind busy during the always blech Minnesota winters I endure.

Here is my special man in my life. We are at an on fleek (am I saying that right? lol) Cuban restaurant in Tampa, FL last year.

xo,

Tiff

by Tiff -

Dating On Wheels: 20 year old can’t catch a break

Dear Tiffiny,

I’m a 20 year old guy with Friedrich’s Ataxia, a very rare genetic disorder, similar to Muscular Dystrophy. I’ve been in a wheelchair since age 14, and have never dated. Not that I haven’t tried. 

I’ve asked girls out and have tried loads of dating sites, but with no luck. Girls I ask out say no, and girls on dating sites rarely respond. Friends (who do happen to be girls, but aren’t my “girlfriends”) have said I’m handsome, so I don’t think I’m rejected because I’m ugly.

I’ve felt depressed at times, because I’m never able to attract the right type of girl. Any advice?

by Tiff -

Dating on Wheels: Newly paralyzed chef stuck with woman he doesn’t like

Dear Tiffiny,

I am a 27 year old chef and was recently involved in a motorcycle accident leaving me paralyzed from the chest down. I was really concerned that I would never date again and then in the hospital I met my current girlfriend and was really happy.

It’s been 5 months since the accident and now I am kinda realizing that I don’t know if I really like this girl at all.

by Tiff -

On the hunt for a new EZ Lock mount

Sometimes having a blog has a few benefits, and this is one of them.  I’m using my blog to to send a question to the masses today, regarding EZ lock mounts for power wheelchairs.

I’m so excited. After 7 years, I’m finally getting a new wheelchair; Upgrading from a TDX 3 to a TDX SP (Invacare powerchairs).  However, I just found out that the EZ Lock mount on the my chair (that locks me into the floor of my van when I drive, enabling me to drive for my wheelchair), cannot be transferred onto my new wheelchair.  Of course it can’t be transferred :/

by Tiff -

Dating On Wheels: Dating newbie with CP afraid to say she’s disabled

Dear Tiffiny,

Hi, my name is angel and I’m a 19 yr old college student in Buffalo. Many of my friends have had a dating life; some are engaged. It always made me feel socially behind. I felt like i’d be in the “always a bridesmaid , never a bride situation.” I’m tired of that now. So I’m gonna try dating now.

by Tiff -

9/26/12: Paralyzed race car driver ready to begin dating

Hey Tiffiny,

I was injured on August 13, 2005 racing motorcycles in Canada by braking my back. I was only 12 at the time. That was a huge change in my life with being paralyzed after. Up till I was injured, I had 14 national championships. I was having the time of my life! In 2007 I was cleared to start racing again which was very good!

By 2009 I had won another 3 championships racing go karts. In 2009 I started racing cars (kinda look like an IndyCar). In 2011 I was third in the Championship running with the best drivers in the U.S coming up the latter. This year is my first year running on a pro level racing cars. Its amazing! In a few years, hopefully I be racing IndyCar! I love what I do!

by Tiff -

Push Girls Episode 11 Review: Breaking the Ice

In episode 11, the girls get to do one of the best adrenaline rushes you can still get when paralyzed – downhill skiing. They head to Big Bear, Cali for the classic weekend ski getaway.

Tiphany and Chelsie have fun rating hot men during the road trip there, Chelsie can’t calm her nerves before she skis and Angela has so much fun she can’t stop smiling. Also, watch Mia prove paraplegics can conquer the top bunk!

SPOILERS AHEAD ***

The episode begins with a flurry of activity at Angela’s house – all four girls are there, plus Chelsie, to pack for their trip to Big Bear (Auti’s idea. She’s the only one in the group who has gone adapted skiing before).

Both Chelsie and Tiphany have gone skiing before their injuries, but Chelsea is definitely the most scared to go.  She tried snowboarding her first time a month before her injury, and talks about how she’s afraid it won’t be the same.

Angela thinks it’ll be scary. “Come on a quadriplegic skiing?” Mia says this is the first time she’s ever gone skiing, and I think she kind of likes it that way.  We get a cute shot of Angela and her 25 year old boyfriend (she’s 37), and calls herself a “cougar kitty.”

Their relationship is definitely getting stronger.  Cody says learning to be with Angela has been an amazing growth process. “I had to battle immaturity to be her boyfriend,” he says.

by Tiff -

Dating on Wheels: In Love but Worried

Dear Tiffiny,

I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for about five months now.  We met online and, in the beginning, he seemed to be alright with my wheelchair situation, but now I am not so sure.  Things are going pretty well…  I’ve met his parents, friends, except I’m starting to worry that my limitations may be getting on his nerves.

He’s really sweet, and that’s part of the problem. I’m afraid he wouldn’t tell me to what he was really feeling even if I asked him.  What can I do to make sure he’s not starting to get annoyed with my disability (I would hate for it to get the point that he gets so fed up that he just walks away)?  Thanks for taking the time to help me. Read this entry