chronically yours

Gentle yoga for beginning and intermediate students to relax your back and strengthen your core. You will need a bolster or a pillow.

general ideas for modifying yoga poses for various problem joints and health conditions 

On June 3rd, 2014, the Serrano family was having difficulty with a young female family member who suffers from a mental illness and depression. Yanira Serrano-Garcia, 18, had apparently gone off of her medication and became agitated and hard to control.

“[Yanira] wanted to be normal. She wanted to stop taking her medication, and I get it. Sometimes when my feet hurt I just want to be normal. I don’t want to take pills. I get her…all we want is justice,” said a friend of Yanira’s during a community march. 

“Sadly, they mistook her for something she didn’t do, and a cop decided to get his gun out when he could have gotten out his taser, his pepper spray,” she said.

A PSA From A Person In A Wheelchair

Alright folks, let’s talk about helping people in wheelchairs.

First off, let me start by saying I know that the people who want to help have good intentions. Many people don’t want to help at all; in fact, they’ll go out of their way to not help. So, thank you.

However, oftentimes, good intentions can lead to bad results. I don’t know how many times I’ve gone through a conversation like the one above. (Obviously, the one above is exaggerated but I digress.)

In fact, let me tell you what inspired this comic. I was wheeling towards a door in my residence hall yesterday (a door that I had opened multiple times) when a person raced up and asked if I needed help opening it. When I declined, they said, “Let me help.” I tried to decline again but by that time they had opened the door. So I thanked them and entered, only to have them race past me and open the next door. Again, I thanked them and told them that I didn’t need help. I turned the handle of the third door and they abruptly pushed it open, pulling my arm in the process. I thanked them through gritted teeth and they grinned, pleased that they had helped someone.

It’s one thing to offer help. It’s another to insist that you help, especially if the person in the wheelchair declines.

One, frequently asking (or downright insisting!) is going to make the person in the wheelchair uncomfortable and annoyed. Secondly, you might unintentionally end up injuring said person or otherwise inconveniencing them.

"But I want to help!"

I know you do. And that’s great.

But do me a favor and follow these two rules:

1. Wait until the person in the wheelchair asks you for help.

However, if you don’t want to wait and insist on asking them:

2. If you do ask a person in a wheelchair if they need help and they decline your help, DON’T HELP.

It’s that simple!

When I worked at a non-profit that handled suicide prevention, I had access to the donation records. Each month, a specific man donated 15$ to our organization. It was like clockwork.. same day, same man, he had been doing this for over 4 years. It always seemed odd to me but I never questioned it… until I saw a note attached one month. "For Noah- Dad"

his donation was once his child’s allowance.