Walk with me, through my world.

I have a hard time understanding some things.  

Like how insensitive people can be. And self-centered and uncaring. 

Like drivers who inconsiderately speed around, paying no mind to pedestrians, bicyclists, those pushing babies and young children in strollers, and people in wheelchairs. 

Or, like joggers who won't slow down and use caution while passing me in my wheelchair when we share walking/bike paths. 

Or people who spit on the sidewalk. Who wants to inadvertently walk/roll through that and track it into our homes? 

And then there are those that litter, completely clueless to the bad example they set for the countless children watching their actions.  

Sometimes I feel very annoyed after such people cross my path. 

A woman working at Denny's in my town came to open the door for me (AFTER I beckoned her with the appropriate hand-gesture.)  She opened the door and then stood directly in the path of my wheelchair!  

I politely told her she was standing in my way to get through the doorway, after which she griped sarcastically, "I don't know what to do!" 

And then, there are all those drivers in my town who ignore me in my wheelchair as I attempt to cross streets at crosswalks and at traffic signals. 

They speed on past me, never even slowing down, as if anyone not in a vehicle is invisible to them entirely. 

On another day, I encountered two clueless young women at the local bagel shop who handed me the key to the restroom, after which I followed their instructions to go down a narrow hallway only to discover 3 feet from the restroom door there was a step. 

To make matters worse, the hallway had boxes and supplies stacked along the side, and was too narrow for me to turn my wheelchair around to exit the hallway back the way I'd come. 

I had to back my wheelchair all the way out of the hallway, which was unduly stressful. I was even more upset the workers DIDN'T THINK to realize a wheelchair needs a ramp to traverse a step! 

It has been 23 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed to mandate equal access be granted to those who are differently-abled. It is not only cold and calloused, but illegal, for business owners to not, know about and willingly provide, reasonable accommodations so that disabled people can be included. 

We should not even need a law directing folks to be helpful so that those who use wheelchairs, canes, and walkers, as well as, those who walk unaided but with great difficulty, can be included and go places abled-bodied people go. 

Even when folks do not personally have any disabled or elderly and frail people in their lives, it only takes a small amount of imagination to become aware of the obstacles which exist that are barriers to access. 

Long before it became difficult for me to walk, when my children were little, I taught them to be aware of and helpful to those around them who were having difficulty. After all, isn't that the right thing to do?

In my view, a little awareness and empathy can go a long way to helping us all become better citizens.

Rethink Your Housing Costs

I just read that renowned economist, Robert Shiller, has been awarded a Nobel Prize, well actually only one-third of one -- the prize in economics he shares with two others. When I was reading about who he is and why he deserved a Nobel, I learned that he thinks owning a home is a terrible investment. I am not an economist, far from it, but I think he is right, and I've thought this for some time now.  It just makes NO sense whatsoever to pay $1,200 - $1,800 a month for a mortgage. Even if -- and maybe ESPECIALLY if -- you make $60k/year and are raising three kids at home!

I personally know too many people who mistakenly think that home ownership is in the best interest of their family, even as they struggle daily to survive poverty conditions. Some are even cutting back on buying food and doing without healthcare and needed medications, in order to meet their mortgage payments each month! And, the enormous amount of day-to-day stress this creates is wrecking their health, and even killing some folks. I am not joking.

Housing prices are NOT going to rise enough for them to EVER realize a profit and still, they blindly drive by house after house, on block after block, that have "For Sale" signs posted in the yard, in every single neighborhood. The message those signs tell us, just by the sheer numbers of them, is that home buyers are few and far between and decreasing in numbers exponentially yearly. Waiting a few years for the economy to bounce back so you can sell your house for a reasonable price, at this point, is a pipe dream. The painful realization for many is the value of their house can be slashed to half of what the purchase price was in as little as 5 to 10 years.

The economy has been bad for awhile now, and it may take several more decades before we are able to see any lasting improvements, and even then things will never go back to the way they were for the parents of baby boomers. It seems the only places where any housing is being built at all is in gated communities where the rich reside. Look around. In my neighborhood and most likely in yours, too, no new "affordable housing" is being constructed. And, all across the country "low-income housing" is being bulldozed to clear space for high-rise condominiums, with each unit having the typical purchase price of 5 to 10 dollars per square foot.  Do the math.


Make no mistake, it is not by accident but by design that the only places any of us can afford to live are areas as much as a 1 or 2 hour drive away from where the jobs are typically located, unless of course you work in the fast food industry. The commute will make you go insane, rob your family of your time and attention, and/or kill you, figuratively if not literally. Controlling where we live by raising the cost of housing and deciding where housing is to be built has long been an effective tool for controlling the masses.  It doesn't take a leap to realize all the things we struggle with are interconnected.  It is pretty much true that creating long commutes makes us need to buy new cars every few years. And who has time to shop for and prepare nutritious meals when both parents work full time and have daily commutes? So most of us eat fast food too often or can only afford highly processed, boxed or frozen foods that contain little to no nutritious ingredients, but only take 5 minutes to nuke. It is easy to connect the dots: instead of paying $1,500 a month for a mortgage, renting a 3 bedroom house for $1,200 could put $300 into your meager food budget.  And, then there is the monthly cost of required home owners insurance, maintenance and repairs, and a bunch of other expenses I overlooked like exterminators and lawn care and roof damage repairs from last week's hail storm.

Those who bought their own homes in the time period 1950 through 1980 had a chance to live long enough to pay off their mortgage. And, maybe those who began purchasing in the 20 year period from 1980 to 2000, have paid enough to earn equity of some value, provided they were fortunate enough to have and keep a good job. Ever since the mid-90s decent paying jobs have become increasingly hard to get, and then keep for most. Even folks with college degrees have been forced to accept jobs that pay low wages, when many industries have 150-300+ applicants for each and every job vacancy.

For those who began buying a home at any time since the year 2000, listen up: if it is NOT a struggle to pay your mortgage, fine. Keep on keeping on. However, if you struggle to financially meet other survival needs, such as food, childcare, clothing, and medical care: it is in the best interest of your family to dump the mortgage and go back to renting.


For many, this is the ONLY way they will have enough money in their monthly budgets to be able to buy kids clothes and shoes, have enough money for food, medicine, and dentists, not to mention, funding enrichment activities such as swim lessons, soccer, and dance/karate classes. Self-esteem building enrichment activities should not only be accessible for kids of rich parents.

Struggling with poverty not only wrecks the health (and sanity) of the parents, but puts horrible stress on children, as well. So, at the very least, do a budget with your mortgage payment(s) and another paying rent for housing, and then compare the two. Look at the purchase power of your monthly income, in terms of the overall quality of life for you and your children. Taking into consideration the uncertainty of the housing and job markets of today, you may decide that having the same life-goal that your parents had, of home ownership, in reality is a nightmare instead of a dream come true.

If you disagree with my opinion, I urge you to go read what economist Robert Shiller has to say about home ownership.