Finetooner's Blogs

Our family of 6 adults and 6 children (ages 3 to 11) spent a wild week in Orlando visiting The Magic Kingdom, Sea World, Lego Land, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. OUR only regret? Not enough time to see it all. My only regret? Mobility issues. I rented an electric scooter at The Magic Kingdom but it was defective so I brought it back and rented a wheelchair instead. (not to sit in but to use as a walking support) This trip finally drove home how much I need a rolling walker or electric scooter for walking long distances. This problem greatly affected my ability to enjoy the theme parks because I was in constant pain trying to get around! Although I don't need these devices for ordinary every day use, any extended walking would be better with a rolling walker. I saw DOZENS of them and just hanging on to an empty wheelchair made a huge difference in my comfort. I feel kinda foolish contemplating this but my whole family insisted I look into a rolling walker. I'll give you an update on what I decide. As far as theme parks....best bang for the buck? LEGOLAND! It hit a grand slam with ALL of our grandkids and adults. Biggest disappointment? The Magic Kingdom: rides down for repairs, seasonal maintenance closing many attractions, incredibly over-crowded and over-priced. All of the parks we visited were as accessible as they could be made to be. We had fun watching the kids have fun. We rented a 6 bedroom home for the week and it was just about ideal. http://florida.legoland.com/

I have attended every Abilities Expo that I can remember here in Atlanta. I will be attending on Friday, Feb 17th because there is a travel seminar on that day and I plan to "hijack" it. The seminar on travel I attended last year was just downright DISMAL. I was going to enter my own seminar this year but was just too busy. Next year, I'm going to offer my own seminar on flying with a disability. If any of you out there in "DO-Land" plan to attend on that day please let me know so I can look for you and introduce myself. This year it is at the World Congress Center, one of the world's largest convention facilities so I anticipate it being bigger and better this year. And, Jaybird, I plan to talk up "DO" as much as possible among the participants and visitors!

Just yesterday I had two that I'd like to share with all of you. I was with my wife in our spiffy new Sam's Club and spied two girls and their Mother looking through the Wii's and DVD's. The Mom then left them for another part of the store. The youngest girl was about 10 maybe and the older was about 12. What was sweet was the older girl had cerebral palsy and used one of those horseshoe-shaped walkers with a little pull-down seat on the back. She struggled to maneuver with great effort and difficulty but what was so sweet was how the younger sister doted on her and helped her at every moment. There was such love and respect going on between them and I could see how the younger sister looked up to and idolized her big sister! It would have made a wonderful Youtube video on how to do things the right way. It was just so gratifying!

Then, right next door in the Home Depot I encountered a Father and his young son who was in a wheelchair. The boy was perhaps 9 or 10 and had severe cerebral palsy to the point he was unable to walk or speak. On his wheelchair he had a visual touch pad with which he communicated by touching various icons. I was so curious as to how this device worked I stopped them and asked the boy if he would show me. He did! He asked me my name; He then told me his name (Stephan) and the Father was obviously very pleased. Daddy told me that his Son programs the touch point computer with his own phrases, likes, dislikes, etc. Well, I don't know who made who's day....I think we made each other's own day! I LOVE these encounters because all it takes is a brief moment's greeting to encourage someone with a disability by simply paying attention to them and making them feel more than invisible. What do you think?

That is what my wife and I did this weekend. What a romantic, dreamy, and spectacular event it was! For those of you not familiar with the Biltmore Estates in Asheville NC, it is America's LARGEST private residence comprising 6,000 acres of parkland, 175,000 square feet, or FOUR acres, under roof and contains 250 rooms(!) The tour must have covered a mile-long route inside the house and included much traversing of 4-5 flights of stairways. I did see guests in wheelchairs and walkers but I didn't see any elevators so I would consider the house as NOT wheelchair accessible, other than possibly the ground floor. There were hundreds of elaborately decorated Christmas trees, ALL of the fireplaces were ablaze, thousands of candles were lit, musicians roved about playing Christmas music and a choir sang in the conservatory. It is a spectacle that cannot be seen any other place on the planet. What an ideal escape from the current turmoil of the Christmas rush. I consider the Biltmore one of the modern wonders of the world. The house could not be duplicated today at ANY cost because much of the original structure and decor is no longer available or too rare to obtain.

http://www.biltmore.com/visit/calendar/holiday.asp