accessible dinner theatre in the street

“… For the times they are a-changin'.” Bob Dylan

It’s been 49 years since Bob Dylan penned that verse. Yet Monday night while we pushed and rolled through the staging of Carlisle’s Halloween parade I personally was startled at the number of wheeled people participating.

Carlisle Halloween Parade 2012

We discovered two floats sponsored by care facilities escorted by several rolling residents. … plus a float promoting a local autism school including parents and students for grades K – 12. ... and our personal favorite kids roasting marshmallows on a trailer. 

When able bodied people plan or organize anything, people with disabilities physical or mental can become unintentionally marginalized and/or largely invisible…. It is a rare community of people who can be genuinely inclusive.

While the visual impact was revolutionary for our years of parading … when you factor in a dependent population due to increasing chronic illness and age plus the reality of 1 in 88 kids with autism growing in leaps and bounds from childhood to young adulthood … if anything this parade was also a peek into the future.

Of course both in Carlisle above and pictured below in Mechanicsburg  there was still an overwhelming representation of fairy tale creatures, zombies, marching bands, cheerleaders, and the limitless creativity of Halloween.

Mechanicsburg Halloween Parade 2012

Small town America, at least here in South Central Pennsylvania, turns into the land of Halloween Parades in October. Just within a 20 minute drive of Patti’s care facility are seven such parades.

Patti’s Multiple Sclerosis visual impairment (legally blind) prevents her from seeing the distance from the curb to the center of the street so last year we began arriving about an hour before hand and push and roll through the staging area as floats are assembled, groups organized, and last minute costume adjustments made. Patti can see up close and enjoy interacting with participants

MS fatigue and her preferred bedtime of 7 PM becomes less of a problem as we are heading her to bed about the time most parades are kicking off.

Five more to go! As we always combine an outing with carry out finger food (which we have been praciticing with for months), it’s kind of like dinner theatre in the street. J

by Patrick Leer

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Caregivingly Yours, MS Caregiver @ http://caregivinglyyours.blogspot.com/

My Lung Cancer Odyssey @ http://lung-cancer-survivor.blogspot.com/

multiple sclerosis caregiving care giving halloween

wheelchair accessible corn maze

   On a 75°F (23.9°C) Sunday afternoon in October one voice in my head screams ‘corn maze’, while the caregiver voice wonders is there even such a thing as a wheelchair accessible corn maze?

   Googling and phone calls led me to Hayman Farms, seven miles northeast of Carlisle, PA. 

   Hayman Farms is a privately owned working farm venturing into agritourism.  Calling them I hear them say their maze is accessible but hearing their neighbor uses a wheelchair and is one of the first through the maze is all the proof I need. … The heart is always the best blueprint.

  Now add Multiple Sclerosis symptoms of short term memory loss and visual impairment (legally blind) on top of the bafflement of a 2 acre corn maze, … well, I am quite sure that Patti and I have never laughed so hard in the middle of a field of corn.

   Afterwards, we (OK, maybe just me) had time to grunt and squeak and squawk with the animals, "of courserous! Can't you?" While Patti and her goat buddy tried to ignore me, the sheep was captivated by my singing.

   As the day was simply marvahlous dahling, we headed next to picnic in Willow Mill Park . You just do not find many parks that have pavilions with ramps and an entire row of tables custom cut for wheelchairs. 

   What better way to end the day, then settling in on the shore of the Conodoquinet Creek for some whale watching.   …

   Never did see one but that’s OK, when the day started I had never seen an accessible corn field either.

   Adventures in accessibility are somewhat like a recipe. You take a dash of daydream mix in planning and work and with a pinch of good luck, let the good times roll.

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

web site: http://caregivinglyyours.com/
videos: http://www.youtube.com/daddyleer 
musings: patrick ponders

rollin' and howlin' in the streets

Halloween Я Us - its a family tradition for as long as I can remember.

Talk about mixed mythologies between my own earliest photographed Halloween costume as St. Patrick and our daughter’s first as an angel with two devils as parents.  

No doubt a psychoanalyst would have a field day with Halloween and me. For years I set up skeletons representing friends who had died and sat down for a beer with them at a patio table before Trick or Treat would begin.  The longer you live the more people you miss, now days it takes a parade!

With the temperature dropping just below 70°F (21°C) it was a magnificent evening for our small town Halloween parade and a bottle of Zombie Zinfandel with ‘friends’.

As the wheelchair pusher a special treat about parades is use of the streets closed to vehicles. Love that no sidewalk and no curb cut freedom.

Parades also seemingly fit Multiple Sclerosis symptoms like a glove. Short term memory loss and attention span are non factors. Life sized to larger than life unquestionably helps with visual impairment, and for a brief moment in this parallel universe sitting in a wheelchair trumps sitting on a curb.  

Dancing ghouls, cheerleaders, politicians, marching bands, fire trucks, floats, and costumes could only be made better by parade marchers giving out candy! So much candy that Patti actually said “no mas”.

For reasons I have never figured out Patti while wanting to attend will sometimes upon arrival transform temporarily into a total grump. As if on cue down the street toward the grump zone came an exuberant bouncing pack of cheerleaders and aspiring mini-cheerleaders. As if guided by some mystical unhappiness antenna they stopped pivoted and performed a happy cheer. Turning to caution Patti not to be rude I found a laughing clapping Patti. Never underestimate cheerleaders as healers.

Politicians I found a fascinating addition to this year’s parade and created the opportunity for some spontaneous chat about upcoming election choices. I do have to credit Patti for raising the quintessential political tiebreaker, “which one is giving out candy?”

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer 

web site: http://caregivinglyyours.com/
videos: http://www.youtube.com/daddyleer 
musings: patrick ponders