Milestones - The 75TH Disability Blog Carnival!

Welcome to the 75th Disability Blog Carnival!  I chose the theme Milestones based solely on the fact that 75 seems to be a huge number! I have to say I didn't realise when I chose the theme that the day of the carnival would be a bit of a milestone day for me.  And yet the sort of milestone that only another crip can truly understand the meaning of.

My powerchair broke down almost four weeks ago.  It's been a long and complicated road to getting it working again.  And it's been really hard.  Today it returned home, cleaned, with new tires and with the fault fixed.  I've been treating it to a nice long charge before taking it out but tomorrow is the day!

I'm not the only one who has been sharing their milestones and their thoughts.

Gemma has written about a milestone in her journey with mental distress.  Her bravery and her honesty in Finding Ways To Cope show just how strong she is (contains potentially triggering material)

One of the things I like to do when I host the carnival is to include some new or new to the carnival bloggers.  I love discovering new blogs and I was especially pleased when Hannah started her blog because she's an old school friend of mine.  In her post for International Wheelchair Day she wrote about getting a wheelchair and the freedom it gave her - a pretty big milestone in life

Andrew is also new to the carnival.  Milestones is his first submission and is about his journey since losing most of his vision

Allison is turning 21 this month which I hear is a big milestone in the US as it's the legal age to drink (it's 18 here).  She wrote about how she plans to celebrate and how she and her family have made sure she hasn't missed out on other milestones even when her blindness made the traditional way impossible.  Celebrating Milestones With My Dad is well worth a read and I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Allison a very Happy Birthday!

As I have CP, I've always been disabled and so have no before and after memories or a day when my life changed.  Funky Mango (welcome back to blogging!) was diagnosed with MS on 17th March 2005.  In Happy Birthday to my MS she explains why it's a day she celebrates every year

For Todd the last Christmas Day represented a difficult personal milestone showing the difficulties disability can bring and how not all milestone moments are good ones and it's not always possible to be happy on days like Christmas.

Carl has been thinking about various different Milestones in his life - and how some people make more of them than he thinks necessary.  The old "oh look, a CRIPPLE!" type thing.  His post is thought provoking and very interesting (and not just because he described my blog as great).

Sue Marsh is an avid campaigner and blogs at Diary of a Benefit Scrounger.  She recently did a week of posts on ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) which is the newish benefit to replace Incapacity Benefit and is paid to people too sick or disabled to go to work.  I won't go into details as they are all on Sue's blog but suffice to say ESA has been badly planned and badly executed and a lot of disabled people are scared. Where's The Benefit frequently receives comments from people considering suicide if they don't get ESA and there are many similar stories on The Broken of Britain and One Month Before Heartbreak.  Recently it was announced that a public inquiry is to be held into ESA - a huge milestone considering how many people have been campaigning for change.  In ESA Week Ends in Success! Sue explains the details of how to submit to the inquiry.  She is also offering to help anyone who for whatever reason can't put their submission in the required format.  I'd like to encourage all UK residents who read this  to strongly consider doing so.

Elizabeth McClung recently read Wish by Joseph Monninger and in made her think.  She reviewed it and shared how it relates to her own experiences.  People don't always let you do what you want and experience what you want when you have an illness or disability as both the book and Elizabeth's own experiences showcase.  An example of the milestone twisted by the well meaning but thoughtless person on the sidelines.  It sounds like a great book as well, I really want to read it now!

Milestones: Seeing Change Blossom Before Your Eyes is posted on Life of the Differently Abled.  It's about having CP and being a blogger and it's perfect for any Disability Blog Carnival but especially for this one.

Apparently, today is Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day (I didn't know) which I'm sure you'll agree is kind of important and what are milestones if not important?  Spaz Girl has written What I Want You to be Aware of on CP Awareness Day

Cynical Beauty is getting married this year which is pretty much one of the biggest milestones ever.  Her blog, Disability and I Do is about the planning and the thoughts behind it.  I particularly liked her post Should You Hide Your Scars On Your Wedding Day?  And if we're talking about weddings I should mention that another crip getting married this year and blogging about it (amongst other things) is Mary.

That's it for this carnival I think!  As always let me know if any links are wrong or otherwise don't work.  I believe the next carnival is being hosted by Cheryl but I don't know the details.