day of acceptance

i'm feeling good! yesterday i accomplished a whole lot, which meant tons of break-less hours, continuous movies, a hungry belly, and indescribable back pain...and lots of finished artwork!

today is the international day of acceptance! january 20, 2011 to honor the late annie hopkins, founder of 3e love and creator of the international symbol of acceptance. to celebrate her message of social acceptance of disability. 3e love is a social advocacy entrepreneurial experiment, learn more at http://www.dayofacceptance.com/. embrace diversity, educate your community, empower each other, love life.  wear your heart on your sleeve on 1/20/11. today. wear 3e love tattoos or apparel to spread annie's message.

As you know, today is January 20th, the International Day of Acceptance. Today thousands of people are "wearing their heart on their sleeve" all over the world. Hundreds of thousands of people will see the International Symbol of Acceptance today, take a second look, then think to themselves, start a conversation with a friend or stranger, and look at the traditional symbol representing "disability" in a new way.

today i'll be wearing my 3e love hoodie, and as usual, i have my tattoo of the lovely symbol on my wrist. unfortunately, i more than likely won't leave the house since i'll be painting all day, but that's why i have my happy little blog to spread the word. i know i've posted previously about 3e love, but it is a disability awareness clothing line and marketing company founded in 2007 by annie and stevie hopkins, their family and friends.  the company's mission is to create and bring to market products and services that embrace life no matter the obstacles, and by doing so, educate society and empower those with disabilities to love life. 

i just think that what they do is fantastic and the symbol is perfection, but i'm horrible with words, so it's tough to say how i feel about it. instead of listening to my rambles, i encourage everyone to read more about 3e love at the website: http://www.3elove.com/. 

on a related note, i wanted to follow up about my recent posts full of rants and complaints about wanting accessible seating at arenas/shows, but having to pay extra and/or being separated from my party because of "policy." a few weeks ago, i took tim to see the broadway show wicked in new york.  i was prepared to pay a hundred (more or less?) for seats, but to my delightful surprise, handicap seats were only $26. so while there are some venues who for whatever reason want to punish the disabled, by making them pay more for the only seat they are physically able to sit in, the nice folks at wicked ask for less than half a normal priced  ticket. not to mention, they were pretty great seats. i strongly advice those who are disabled to see wicked. for that cheap, why not? plus it's an amazing show. so take that! 2 points for the handicapped! i wish there was actually someone's face to shove this in, a face to go with the ridiculous policies.

i feel like i should check with other broadway shows to see if any others have the same deals.

handicap seating: part 2

i just wanted to follow up about my recent handicap seating post. i wrote it because i was having issues getting accessible seating for an event on new years eve. when no one returned our calls about handicap seats, we ended up just getting our tickets in an inaccessible area, which they told i could roll up right next to my seat and transfer over.  meaning, no carrying me or going up and down stairs. they said it would be level with my chair. unfortunately no one ever seems to know what's going on, or they lie so they can stop dealing with angry customers. either way, it's irritating. when we arrived, my sister ran to check out our seats to see how "accessible" it would be, and found out there was a huge cement step in the way, that we'd have to carefully squeeze around, not to mention we were high in the arena right on the ledge, where god forbid we slipped trying to get me into my seat. so apparently it was a potentially dangerous, or less dramatically, kind of scary to attempt..at least that's what my paranoid sister said (i didn't actually see the seats) but i really didn't want to deal with the fear or hassle.

so on we all went to our seats on the upper level, when we were racing down the empty path we came across a nice security guard who asked where our seats were. when we told him, he let us know it wasn't accessible and we told him i would just be picked up.  thankfully, he was the first person with a brain in his head and offered to switch our seats to accessible ones. it's always a shock when someone is helpful. we followed him down, sat in our new seats, looked around....and realized there wasn't a single wheelchair anywhere in near sight.  which means, every handicap seat was open. which means, all the fighting and arguing we did for handicap seats was for what?

if you remember from my last post, handicap seats cost more than the cheapest ticket in the arena, giving us no option but to pay more, like a fee for being handicapped. i was about to give in to paying a little extra for the accessible seats, but they would only sell us 2 seats, while we needed 4. i still don't think that is right or fair, but they refused to budge. i can't begin to express how angry i was to get there and find all of the handicap seats empty. they refused to sell 4 seats together because of "policy" yet they were empty. if i wasn't so damn excited and giddy about seeing the show like a little child, i would have exploded.

it's frustrating how helpless these people in the offices with their strict dumb policies make you feel. it's the ones who are there, can see what's going on and the way things really are who are helpful. i am so grateful for that man who helped us, and that we happened to bump into him at the right time. in conclusion, we ended up getting infinitely better seats and it was a blast. point for the handicapped!

handicap seating

apparently some people out there think that the disabled deserve to be punished. have you ever tried to get tickets for an event, if you're disabled? beyond one of the most frustrating and sad processes i've come across and i'm nearing my breaking point. surely it has had it's advantages on rare occasions... such as when it's always sunny in philadelphia live tickets were sold out, but tim and i got to go thanks to some open handicap-only seats (yeah!) and handicap seats many times have pretty decent views with nothing to obstruct your view. but the process of actually getting these seats is miserable.

first off, these ignorant policies that are found in most venues is ridiculous. not only am i only allowed to sit with one person from my party (despite how many people i'm with), but i have to pay extra for it as well.  please send over any reasonable arguments as to how this is fair because i'm all ears, but i'm seriosuly outraged that i'm forced to be secluded from my group just to sit and enjoy a show (whatever show it may be.) i know the main reason you go to shows is simply to see the show, but a part of it is also to share and experience it with people you care about. if i wanted to watch it by myself, i would go by myself. i get it if there is only a limited amount of space for wheelchairs, and i'm not about to take away the chance for another wheelchair user to see a show, but i can't tell you how many times i've been to arenas for ice shows, concerts, sports, where there has been tons of empty space in the handicap section. if it's that big a problem, make more space. don't get me wrong, i fully understand about larger groups of 7, 8, 9+ people, but when there is only 4 of us, is it really necessary to split that up?

as for the paying extra part, if i wanted the cheapest tickets available, i could get them...if i were "normal." however, since i'm in a wheelchair, i don't have the option for cheaper tickets. wheelchair seating is many times priced higher, and since "it's just policy," i'm forced to pay extra, despite where i want to sit. i don't care if they are better seats or how much anyone else in that section is paying.  if that is my only option, i shouldn't be penalized for being disabled. we've fought the policies many times and luckily have gotten seats for the cheaper seats, but if you refuse to play fair, then it's time to make a new handicap section in every price range, so we all have equal chances.

i'm not trying to scam the system for cheaper tickets or special treatment. i know i've admitted, and i'll keep admitting that i love the perks and advantages that come along sometimes from being disabled (and who wouldn't love it?), which sometimes may not be fair to others, but maybe that's just another issue to resolve. i don't care about the advantages, i'd prefer it to be fair for everyone. i'm getting really sick of the moronic policies that force me to feel so horribly like an outsider. i have enough issues to deal with during daily life that i don't need to feel bad about the things that are supposed to be a fun and entertaining escape. i just find it sad.
my worst experience with wretched policies was at dorney park (every year, but most specifically with this past october).  i have been meaning to write about it for months, but i'll save that for another day.