CELEBRATING 700,000 READERS

IN LESS THAN A DECADE, TWO THIRDS OF A MILLION

UNIQUE VISITORS HAVE READ MY POSTS

I started humbly, posting travel photos then thoughts on inclusion for people with disabilities.

I have shared excerpts of my award-winning journalism, covering topics as diverse as planning policy, urban design, hospitality and disability advocacy.

This blog has featured images from countless nations and world class cities.

It has shared news of my progress as a visual artist.

My loyal readers have celebrated with my as I grow as a Subject Matter Expert on Universal Design.

They have shared advice is a have become a keynote speaker on creating a better built environment for people with disabilities.

I will continue to post daily, sharing the best of visual and written communication.

MORE THAN 400,000 READERS!

I LOVE SHARING MY WORDS AND IMAGES 

WHILE WE PURSUE HAPPINESS

This month, my blog passed more than 400,000 unique visitors.

It has been around for nearly a decade.

I try to post daily.

Nearly 4,000 blog posts have been published here.

More than 3,000 original images – from across the United States, South America, Central America, Europe, Africa and Asia have been shared here.

I have posted collaborations created for the National Association of REALTORS, United Spinal Association, Wood Communications, Global Disability Inclusion, Barlington Group, Equitable Cities, Curtis + Rogers Design and many other partners.

About half of my posts have to do with Universal Design and advocacy for people with disabilities.

Many share best practices for urban design, town planning, architecture, transit, mobility and related placemaking.

Stay tuned, we will be well over 400,000 readers before the year is out.

CELEBRATING MORE THAN 350,000 READERS

 IN LESS THAN A DECADE, THERE HAVE BEEN MORE                                 THAN 350K UNIQUE VISITORS TO THIS BLOG 

We usually observe blog milestones by recounting the disability advocacy essays and town planning articles shared on the site.

The cumulative amount of text on this blog would fill nearly four average-length books.

But today, we want to celebrate the visual storytelling.

When we were required to take a photography course in journalism school, we were almost offended – because we always thought we would earn our daily bread via the printed word.

Fast forward to digital photography, then smart phones with amazing lenses.

And we are storytelling with images as much or more than words.

When we teach at the graduate school level and a major university, we show images of the good, bad and ugly of Universal Design – so students can understand how to create an inclusive built environment.

Sometimes, we simply write about a place we’ve been, a hotel or apartment that was great about hosting us.

These images are from Lisbon Portugal.

We always wanted to get there, but 40 years of adulthood slipped by with the great, hilly city rising from Rio Tejo escaped us till this month.

Now we dream of narrow alleys, azulejo-adorned facades, great seafood, excellent wine, kind people, 300 days of sunshine and Mediterranean climate less hostile than Miami’s global warming and sea level rise-imperiled climate.

CELEBRATING MY 3,000TH BLOG POST

 

I earned my first paycheck as a writer at age 14.

I worked as a full-time journalist at a large paper for more than a decade.

I have written about urban design, disability advocacy, architecture, mobility, town planning, travel, policy, food, music and a host of other issues during a four-plus-decade career.

I started this blog nearly a decade ago.

It has shared more than 2,000 original, fine art photos that I have taken with a variety of Nikon Digital SLR cameras.

My blog’s posts have been read by more than 285,000 original visitors.

The words, if compiled into average book length, would fill four full volumes.

I have shared best practices, humor, rage and beauty.

My reporting posted in this blog has covered Europe, Africa, Asia plus North, South and Central America.

For several years, I have posted the best elements of my blog on:

Twitter @stevewright64

Instagram steve4156

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/steve.wright.79827

I hope you enjoy my writing and share it with others, so I can gain more readers and more influence when it comes to designing a more equitable, inclusive and accessible environment for all.

The images are from the Wynwood art district in Miami.

175,000 READERS

TODAY WE CELEBRATE OUR 175,000 VISITOR TO THIS BLOG

Before this month ends, we will have posted more than 2,000 articles - all illustrated with vivid images.

More than 90 percent of the photos -- like these in our hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, were taken by Steve Wright with his various Nikon digital SLRs.

These images show off Cleveland's amazing cultural amenities, such as the Natural History Museum (top) with Heidi Johnson-Wright, Steve's wife of 30 years.

The picture below is Heidi inside the amazing atrium expansion at the Cleveland Museum of Art, where it is free to visit every inch of the collection that is not a special exhibit.

Visit Heidi's blog at http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/

170,000 READERS

THANKS FOR READING MY DAILY BLOG ON TRAVEL,

DISABILITY ADVOCACY, URBAN DESIGN AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Quite a bit has happened since our last readership milestone.

On June 1, we made our final mortgage payment on our historic house in Little Havana.

One June 10, I returned from the better part of a month in Turkey -- from my beloved Istanbul to the Bulgarian border to deep central Anatolia.

On June 11, I celebrated my 30th wedding anniversary with Heidi.

About the same time this blog will observe 200,000 unique visitors, our house near famous Calle Ocho will turn 100.

We hope you enjoy the photos -- I have posted well more than 1,000 of my original images from around the globe.

We know you enjoy the words -- my cumulative writings would fill more than four full-length books.

The images here are from the Turkish government, which is promoting accessibility for people with disabilities.

HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT'S GUEST BLOG AT THE DISABILITY VISIBILITY PROJECT

 Leg Envy/Arm Prejudice

All body parts are not created equal. This is often the opinion of non-gimps, especially when they take a break from their normal lives to observe gimps. Like when they stand on fully functioning legs waiting for their macchiatos, then take a window seat at the ADA table to sip and watch gimps pass by outside.

Before you know, a gimp rolls by in a chair. That gimp might be a CEO dressed in a bespoke suit and handmade Italian leather shoes on his way to a meeting at his blue chip company. Or she might be wearing a vintage Comme des Garcons dress and carrying a Fendi baguette while headed to a show of her artworks at a gallery. Or perhaps it’s just a regular Joe or Jane gimp. Doesn’t really matter, because the non-gimp’s instant reaction is typically something like:

“That poor gimp, confined to a wheelchair because of his/her useless legs.”

Read full guest blog here

 

 

A VIDEO OF LINK ACCESSIBLE TAXI

FRANKLY, ANYTHING COULD BEAT THE WOEFUL SERVICE UBER, LYFT  AND OTHERS PROVIDE TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Click link, scroll to bottom to see video

LINK PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES TO BETTER MOBILITY

AN IDEA WITH A LOT OF POTENTIAL, FROM DESIGNER ANDREW PERSOFF


Link proposes to create a car hire system tailored to the needs of, and designed in conjunction with, mobility users.

In viewing disability as a creative starting point, rather than a concession, Link will yield a service that is accessible and open to all.

http://linkproject.uk/ 

THE STORY OF PEDRO THE CHIHUAHUA

A MORALITY TALE ON DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

By Heidi Johnson-Wright

This is the story of Pedro, a Chihuahua. When Pedro was born, his parents welcomed him into the world, although he was different than his other siblings. You see, Pedro had no front legs, which is a pretty tough predicament for a dog. His family took good care of him, but by the time he was weaned, it was clear Pedro was going to need wheels.

So, his parents checked with their health insurer about their durable medical coverage, which is a fancy phrase for “are they gonna pay for a wheelchair or not?”

“Well,” said the client care representative, (which is a fancy phrase for someone who works in a boiler room in Waterloo, Iowa and follows a script on a computer screen) “you have coverage at 100 percent, but only for a chair made from paper clips, Fun-Tak and old Tonka truck wheels.”

Pedro’s mom and dad were not pleased to hear this. Not at all. So they began talking with rehab experts and disability ergonomic specialists and doing research online. To be able to run and play like the other dogs, Pedro needed a Canine Wheel-X 9000. This was no ordinary chair. It was made from titanium, aircraft aluminum and water-resistant micro fiber -- and absolutely no Fun-Tak. His parents got a prescription and letter of medical necessity from Pedro’s doctor, along with a cost estimate for the chair. They submitted these, along with an appeal letter, to their insurance company. Weeks later, they received a letter back.

The letter was lengthy and technical and somehow both overly polite yet very dehumanizing, or in this case, de-canine-izing. The upshot was: either accept the crappy uncomfortable, one-size-fits-most chair of paper clips and Fun-Tak at no out-of-pocket cost, or spend a prince’s ransom of their own money to get Pedro what he needed, i.e. the Canine Wheel-X 9000.

Being dedicated parents who loved Pedro very much, they bought him the Canine Wheel-X 9000. Pedro was overjoyed, and once he received his custom-fitted new chair that actually accommodated his needs, he went tearing around the neighborhood. Soon, Pedro was chasing cats and retrieving sticks. He was even able to use the fire hydrant on his own, whereas before, he always fell over without someone to lean against.

But Pedro was no dim bulb. No sir-ee. He was well aware that his family had been forced to move out of their custom Dogloo A-frame into a cardboard box. And mom was stretching the daily meal of Science Diet by adding sawdust. This was because his family had to scale back on costs because of what they paid for his Canine Wheel-X 9000.

So, Pedro began collecting up the – how can we say this politely? – “end products” of his digestive process. Day after day he saved them and after he had a huge pile, put it all into a paper bag. He put it on a little trailer and hauled it very, very far – all the way across town to the home of the company president of his family’s health insurance provider. On the president’s doorstep, when no one was looking, Pedro dumped the heavy paper sack onto the stoop. He lit the sack with a match and then knocked on the door by kicking it.

Then -- because he had the right wheelchair that accommodated his needs -- he was able to run like hell. Once across the street, Pedro watched as the door opened, a man came out and began stomping out the flaming bag. Then the man examined his own shoes and cursed a blue streak.

It was a long trip back home, but Pedro ran briskly, his little tail wagging the whole way.

THE END.

follow Earth Bound Tom Boy at:
http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (ABOUT LIFE WITH A DISABILITY)

Add caption

EARTHBOUND TOMBOY

BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

Those without disabilities sometimes think that folks with disabilities go through life bemoaning their limitations. That we sit sad-eyed, looking out the window, hoping for something that will “make us whole.” That we pray daily for the miracle that will come along and mend our broken bodies.

 

There’s also the disability myth that we’re fixated on being able to live “normal” lives. If only we could move without a wheelchair or cane. If only we could be like them.

 

While I wouldn’t turn down the ability to climb a flight of stairs, my inability to do it doesn’t cross my mind that often. I don’t stare each day at folks walking by me and shed tears because I can’t go through life in an upright position.

 

No, far from it. But what does annoy me on a regular basis is inconvenience. I’m talking about the hassle I encounter not because of my body but because of the environment around me. Things that could be changed if our culture stopped devaluing and marginalizing people with disabilities.

 

For example, if you don’t have a disability and get into a fender bender, it’s not fun. But it simply means you rent a car to drive while your vehicle is being repaired. But if my van is in the shop, there’s no place I can go to rent a comparable one with a lift. Wheelchair-accessible taxis are very hard to come by. To get to work, I would have to use paratransit or the bus. This means an added layer of planning ahead, building in trip time and modifying my regular schedule. And until I get my van back, I probably would avoid extra trips for such unnecessary things as grocery shopping or dining out.

 

You’ve probably been web surfing at least once and come upon a website for a hip boutique hotel or quaint B&B. It may impress you so much that you begin planning a vacation around it that very day. Book airfare online and your dream trip materializes right away.

 

My husband and I love to travel, and have had our own share of dream trips. But planning takes months. The vast majority – upwards of 95 percent – of hotels, inns and villas we find online are out of the question for a wheelchair user. Even the ones that are suitable require trading numerous emails and calls back and forth to confirm the accessible room with a roll-in shower. Now imagine the time it takes to also confirm access to restaurants, shops, theaters, etc. and nailing down accessible transportation to get there.

 

If, as a culture, we demanded that people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else, then we could craft a world that included accessible rental vans and taxis. A built environment in which all structures were open to all people. A world that automatically includes everyone.

 

I don’t sit around bemoaning my “brokenness” because I’m not broken. Rather, I grow irritable with added layers of hassle and inconvenience at every turn. And the icing on this reeking heap of inconvenience is that it’s unnecessary and preventable.

 

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2014/12/an-inconvenient-truth-about-life-with.html

WACK FOR WACKIES

FROM THE EARTHBOUND TOMBOY FILES...

BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

The summer just before I turned nine years old changed my life forever. It wasn’t that I acquired some profound bit of knowledge or underwent a religious conversion. Instead, it was a discovery I made with my friend and next-door neighbor, Trish.  Her family was from New Jersey, so she called pop “soda,” and tennis shoes “sneakers.” She had an infectious laugh, was rarely moody, loved Sonny and Cher as much as I did (which is, to say, a crap load), and had a wardrobe of nine or ten bathing suits. My personal favorite was a one-piece that was held together at the belly button by a plastic ring. It hurt her stomach when she’d plunge head-first down the water slide, but it made her look like a miniature Ali MacGraw.

One afternoon as Trish and I arrived at the neighborhood pool, I glanced over at another bicycle on the rack where I was locking mine up. On the fender was a Wacky Package sticker, the first one I’d ever seen. It was Six-Up (Six Fooey Ounces. You Hate It – It Hates You.) For me, it was love at first sight, later bordering on obsession.

For those of you too young to remember, Wacky Packages were a series of trading cards and stickers by the Topps Company that parodied consumer products. They appealed to me for a variety of reasons. They were bright and colorful. They often featured bodily humor like burps and B.O. (Spit & Spill Cleanser, Belch’s Grape Jelly, Heartburn Cereal) or jokes about current events, like the Cold War (Commie Cleanser, Moscow Syrup, Czechlets.)

Many included animal imagery (Pigpen Oil, Toad Bubble Bath, Ape Green Beans) and drawings of the disgusting (Nose-X Tissue, Bird Brain Leftovers, Decay Toothpaste.) I adored the Wackies of things supernatural (Hex-Lax, Scary-Lee, Play Skull) and even the jokes about death (Casket Soap, Killette Hair Spray, Nooseweek Magazine.) Their use of parody reminded me of my beloved Mad magazine. 

Starting the summer of 1973, I bought as many Wackies as I could afford with my meager allowance. Eventually, I acquired T-shirts sporting large decals of the stickers, including Rice-a-Phony and KoDuck. Forty-plus years later, I still adore them. I would decorate a room in my home with them from floor to ceiling, if I could. Wackies shaped the woman I am today. I still enjoy humor that uses both high-brow wordplay and low-brow crudeness. I appreciate tweaking the nose of corporate American and consumerism.

 

And I still think back fondly on lazy summer afternoons when I passed the time reading Mad magazine and buying Wacky Packs at the convenience mart and swimming with Trish.

 

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2014/11/wack-for-wackies.html

POWERING (AND EMPOWERING) THROUGH THE WORLD ON WHEELS

EARTHBOUND TOMBOY


BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

There’s no two ways about it: wheelchairs are demonized in our society. They’re seen as a symbol of weakness and failure rather than of power and liberation.

I had many orthopedic surgeries as a teenager and had to use a wheelchair for mobility during the long periods of rehab. But because of the way other people treated me when I used a chair, I was determined to get back up on my feet, even though walking was painful and draining much of the time.

I didn’t have a power wheelchair that I could use independently until I went away to college. I immediately realized the freedom it provided, but I was very conflicted about using it.

Normally, if I had a flare of pain, I would take my chair to and from class for a day or two. But I always preferred to walk, whenever possible. I still struggled to reconcile using a chair with my self-image. If I were a quadriplegic due to a spinal cord injury, I’d have to use one for mobility – there’d be no room for debate. But I inhabited a realm betwixt those who walked all the time and those who never did. There was no “how-to” guide for someone like me, or at least I’d never seen a book titled Sometimes Your Ass Walks, Other Times it Rolls: a Guide to the Wheelchair Netherworld at Walden’s at the mall.

Some part of me was still in denial about the severity of my disability and my need to use a chair. People treated me differently when I was in the chair instead of walking – no question about it. I sometimes felt like the homeless bag lady who everyone sees on the street yet looks right through. And like a street dweller much in need of a bath, people often made wider circles around me when I was on wheels, as if I smelled bad or had a contagious disease.

It was all pretty ridiculous, since even when I was up and walking, I would never be mistaken for an able-bodied person. My rear end stuck out, my strides were tiny and my gait included a side-to-side rocking motion. Standing or seated, I was still a gimp. But to a lot of people, a wheelchair is a prison, a sign of tragedy. It’s reflected in archaic terms such as “wheelchair-bound” and “wheelchair-confined.”

At age 20, part of me still bought in to the idea that to use a wheelchair – even when I hurt so bad, I was sick from the pain – was a sign of failure. I simply wasn’t trying hard enough, wasn’t soldiering through like I should. Using a chair meant giving in, that I would never be fully accepted into the “cool kids’ clique” of the able-bodied.

I’m ashamed to admit that, on the days in college I did take the wheelchair, I hid it. I would purposefully arrive early, find an adjacent empty classroom, park it there, then walk over to my class. Crazy, huh?

After half a century of living, I’m finally comfortable navigating through the world on wheels. The top of my head might be a couple of feet lower in altitude, but my mind, heart and soul are the same. If other people choose to devalue or infantilize me, it’s their problem, not mine. 

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2014/11/powering-and-empowering-through-world.html

THE MOST DREADED DISEASE OF ALL

EARTHBOUND TOMBOY 

BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

I like my breasts. I truly do.

They’re nothing special -- certainly not Playboy caliber. But they’re mine. And I’d like to keep them healthy.

Which is why I was disturbed the other day when I passed by a pink mobile mammogram RV. It was parked on a public plaza to motivate women to stop by and have breast imaging done.

I’m all for that. Anything that can detect cancer early on is a godsend. But what stuck in my craw were the four steps at the entrance of the RV. I circled the vehicle but saw no ramp.

I guess the message is this: access to medical care doesn’t necessarily include access for folks with disabilities.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’d already had my annual mammogram done at a world-class cancer clinic. But I thought about other women with disabilities in my community who, for whatever reason, may not able to go to a conventional facility for imaging. Shouldn’t they be able to stop in and get services at the mammogram RV, like anyone else?

It got me thinking. I thought back to my mammogram the previous month. Although the machine’s height was adjustable, there was no way I could have contorted myself into position without standing upright. Because even though I use a wheelchair as my primary means of mobility, I can stand and walk a few steps.

What about others – such as women with spinal cord injuries -- who cannot stand up for a few moments to complete the imaging? And why aren’t people designing imaging machines that are accessible to people with disabilities? If such machines exist, why wouldn’t a major cancer clinic with a stellar reputation have one?

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-most-dreaded-disease-of-all.html  

WHEN PUTTING ON THE DOG IS A PUT-ON

EARTHBOUND TOMBOY

BY HEIDI JOHNSON-WRIGHT

What is it with human beings and their tendency to exploit something, even if means hurting others?

It seems there’s been an incredible proliferation of fake service animals as of late. Some people without disabilities are choosing to masquerade as folks who are disabled and pretend Fido or Fifi is a service dog rather than a pet. Then the dog can accompany them anywhere the general public can go: restaurants, stores, theaters, parks, hotels, airplanes – you name it.

 

How can this be? Unfortunately, the law inadvertently makes fraud possible.

If someone is legitimately disabled, the disability is obvious and the dog’s assistance is readily apparent (e.g., the dog is guiding an individual who is blind, pulling a person's wheelchair, or providing assistance with stability or balance to an individual with an observable mobility disability), then the ADA says a business is not even supposed to ask questions. Owner and dog are to be admitted.

 

When the person’s disability is not apparent – as would be the case for someone malingering but also for someone with a legitimate but hidden disability -- the law allows a business to ask the dog owner two questions. Does he need the animal because of a disability and what tasks has the animal been trained to perform? But that’s it. If the fraudster says the dog is a service animal and gives one example of a “task,” the inquiry ends. Come on in.

Under no circumstance can a business require the owner to present any special identification cards or proof that the animal has been certified, trained, or licensed as a service animal.

Obviously, knuckleheads gaming the system hurt folks with real but hidden disabilities the most. But in the end, the fakers hurt everyone. Businesses are becoming more suspicious and, ignorant of the law, are insisting that a legitimate service dog must wear a special vest or its owner must have some sort of a wallet card certification.

Because folks with real disabilities are growing tired of being hassled every time they go to Red Lobster or the Gap with their dogs, they’re buying these unnecessary things. Plenty of companies online are more than happy to sell you a $5 vest, a $2 tag and a $1 wallet care for $200, plus shipping and handling.    

The more folks that outfit their dogs with these unnecessary items, the more business owners think they’re required. It creates an ugly vicious cycle.

The fraudsters apparently see no harm in their lies. They think it’s no big deal that disabled folks are being eyed with suspicion and may even be turned away by frustrated, misinformed business owners.

 

In the end, people with real disabilities who truly need service dogs are the ones who pay the price.

http://earthboundtomboy.blogspot.com/2014/11/when-putting-on-dog-is-put-on.html