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Posts tagged ‘Heather Morgan’

Liebster Award Nomination

WheelchairVista has been nominated!!

Many thanks to the lovely Lucy Lewis of The Thyroid Damsel who has nominated me

The Liebster Award is an internet based award given to bloggers by other bloggers as a way to promote each other and get discovered online.

This great idea first started in 2011. The blogging community is a wonderful group to be part of. I feel truly honoured that my blog as been recognised and nominated. 

Before I take on the tasks that Lucy has set me, I want to share a little about The Thyroid Damsel. Lucy has Graves disease, this is a condition causing an overactive thyroid gland. It is the most common cause of an overactive thyroid , also called hyperthyroidism. It is named after the Doctor who discovered it. Lucy also battles with auto-immune conditions as well as fibromyalgia. Her blog gives an insight into her story and how she is still able to work part-time.

As part of my nomination, I have to answer some questions that have been given to me by Lucy, these are her questions and my answers:

1) Why did you start your blog? Was it for money or for love? 

I started to blog when I was trapped in a flat that was not adapted for my needs. I could only leave the flat with assistance from a friend or carer, so was going stir crazy! I’ve always enjoyed writing and wanted to use my blog to highlight the difficulties faced by disabled people. 

2) What is your favorite thing to do? 

I love travel, getting on a plane to visit unknown cities and countries is always a wonderful experience. I took my first trip as a wheelchair user last year, going to Gran Canaria. I’m planning a trip to Malta with friends next year.

3) If you could achieve one thing in your life, what would it be and why? 

I would make all transport, shops and buildings fully wheelchair accessible. This would make life so much easier for those of us who have no choice but to use a wheelchair or buggy. It would also enable us wheelie’s to actually do things spontaneously, instead of needing to do days of planning. It would also make life easier for anyone who has mobility difficulties and parents with buggies or pushchairs.

4) If you had unlimited money for a week, what would you do?

I would travel, probably to the US or Canada. I would also use some of the money to help other wheelchair users. So many of us now have to pay for own wheelchairs, and that is often beyond most people’s budget. So I would set up a fund that could help both adults and children. I would also want to set up a project to increase awareness about hidden disabilities and conditions. This would also highlight signs and symptoms that can often be missed in childhood, which if they had been detected earlier, made a huge difference to those people as adults. 

5) What advice would you give to newbie bloggers and vloggers? 

Find something you are passionate about and become an expert in your skills.

For me the best part of being nominated is that I get to nominate 5 other bloggers for this award. Here they are:

Heather 

Powered by Love

Heather has been navigating disability one way or another her entire life and has recently become wheelchair user. She has years of experience working with physical disabilities, autism, mental health issues and rare diseases, including issues around global delays and palliative care. This is how she describes her blog: The whole purpose of ‘Powered by Love’ is to create a space for change to occur. If you’re reading something and you feel like it’s time to take on the challenge of living more fully as the person you were made to be, you don’t have to do it alone.

Cece Alex

The Wallflower in Wonderland

Cece blogs about epilepsy and mental health. Her posts are wonderfully insightful and she is often positive in the most difficult of situations.

Katy 

Katy the Night Owl

Due to severe health problems, Katy is 100% house-bound, and spend some of her time – when not inadvertently sleeping – by crocheting, reading, or chatting to all the many friends she has made all over the world. Katy’s posts often highlight social inequality issues. 

Sue

Spoon Shortage Sue

Sue is a Chronically sick mum, sharing with spoonies everywhere. She has a very rare disease called Adult Onset Still’s Disease. Which means she needs to use a power wheelchair most of the time whilst fighting a fever, flu-like symptoms and severe fatigue, all part of her condition. Sue has also taught psychology, so some her postings have an interesting prospective.

Sarah

A Life Less Physical

Sarah was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia in 2009. As a result of this she decided to look for new hobbies that didn’t require quite so much physical activity. After a while, the hunt for a life less physical became an activity in itself.

So my nominees, all you have to do accept this award is: link back to this page to acknowledge your nomination, answer these 5 questions and nominate 5 others blogs for the Liebster Award

1) What do you like about blogging?

2) What is your favorite book?

3) What is your favorite quote?

4) What is your favorite form of social media?

5) If you were President or Prime Minster for a day which 3 laws would you enact? 

Enjoy!!

 

 

 

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Awards

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5 Different Ways to Survive Disability

 

Heather Morgan

Guest Post from Heather

When I was first drafting my “Ways to Survive Disability” I sent a copy to my friend Heather in Canada. We have in fact never met, but know each other through family connections. Instead of amending what I had written Heather, with her different take on life, came up with these words of wisdom. I am honoured that she has allowed me to share them. 

Heather Morgan lives with her husband and teenage children in Canada, where she writes, coaches and looks for joy in the everyday. She has lived with disability in herself and her children her whole life, and recently joined the ranks of wheelchair users everywhere. Heather now blogs at: poweredbylove

1. Find ways to (re)connect. Friends and family are important to everyone, but when disability strikes it can make it difficult sometimes to connect in the ways you are used to. This in turn can lead to feelings of isolation and increase issues with depression. This can be particularly difficult if your disability affects your energy levels, but finding new and creative ways to connect becomes really important at this point, for you and those who care about you. My husband and I have always enjoyed being outdoors and exercising together, but that’s almost impossible for me now on my own steam. However, he found a charity that offers special running strollers for adults with a disability to use in road races. So in May, he and I will be out racing a 10k race together.

2. Be willing to try old things in new ways. For example, I used to love cooking, and now energy is at a premium, so I don’t get to do much cooking anymore. But I’m discovering how much I still enjoy putting salads together for lunch for the family, even if it’s out of a kit from the store. 

3. Find ways to nurture gratitude. There are a lot of new frustrations available for the newly disabled. If you’re anything like me you may have never noticed just how inaccessible the area you live is before now. Not to mention all the things you never had to think twice about doing that are now challenging or even out of the question. But it turns out that cultivating gratitude in the midst of this space can be really helpful for our mental health. I’m back at it again after a brief lapse, and am trying to look for at least three things a day to be grateful for, which I then write down in a journal before I head to bed.

4. Practice being honest. I don’t just mean about whether you ate the last cookie or invited your partner’s family over next Tuesday. I mean practice being honest about yourself – with yourself and others. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never been particularly honest with myself about how my body was feeling. Tired? It didn’t matter, I still had things to do. Sore? That wasn’t going to get the dinner cooked. Hungry? Thirsty? I’ll get to that as soon as I can. But now not only is it important that I’m honest with myself about how I’m feeling and what I need, I also have to learn to be honest with those around me. 

5. You are not your disability. When we first get diagnosed with a disability it can rapidly become all we think about, and all we spend our time on. That’s ok for a time, but before too long you’re going to want to remind yourself of who you are. Although “what you did” may or may not be available for you to do anymore, depending on the nature of your disability, “who you are” – your values, your passions – those will always be with you. Finding ways to be “you” on a daily or weekly basis will go a long way to helping you make the transition to your new way of life.

 

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Everyday Life, Guest Post

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