CELEBRATING MORE THAN A THIRD OF A MILLION READERS

EARLY THIS YEAR, WE MARKED MORE THAN 333,333 UNIQUE VISITORS TO THIS BLOG

We focus a lot of our blog on Universal Design, Inclusive Mobility and all planning, architecture, urban design, mobility engineering and landscape architecture that impacts the built environment.

We point out barriers to people with disabilities and share best practices for removing those barriers.

We share images of travels around the world.

We suggest better public policy.

Long before DEI was a catch phrase, we underscored the need for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion + Accessibility.

We share news from our teaching at the University of Miami School of Architecture.

Most of our blog posts address social justice.

This week, our alma mater – Kent State University – will observe the 52^nd anniversary of the May 4^th 1970s shootings.

The room in Taylor hall where we learned to be a professional reporter, writer and communicator – is now home to the May 4 Visitor’s Center.

https://www.kent.edu/may4visitorscenter

 

GROWING STRONGER TOGETHER

 ON THE FRONTLINES OF CAREGIVING

I think I put stress on myself to the point where if my wife is having a flare up, or is in a brain fog because she’s devoting all mental energy into mustering enough white noise to drown out gnawing pain –

I start to almost (and quite foolishly) feel resentful when she is not appreciating my best efforts.

I also got good (I say with all irony) at fighting battles my wife has no desire to enter. 

I’m the hulking beast (used to weigh 310, now around 170) tossing chairs out of our path, leaving a raging note on the car blocking the access aisle of an accessible parking space, turning red faced while scolding a hotel manager for placing us in a room with the opposite of 21st century accessibility.

GROWING STRONGER TOGETHER

  ON THE FRONTLINES OF CAREGIVING

Yes, I try to do the thinking for a person that–by any of a dozen measures–is 10 times more bright, educated, resourceful and resilient than I’ll ever dream of being.

So that’s the big takeaway I have for families in which one spouse is a caregiver–

if you are responsible for a good amount of your beloved’s bathing, dressing, house cleaning, light physical therapy and more–get super self-aware of the things you can and cannot control.

GROWING STRONGER TOGETHER

 ON THE FRONTLINES OF CAREGIVING

If I plan a dream trip to death, nothing will go wrong – no airline breaking my wife’s wheelchair, no hotel booking us a room without a roll-in shower, no museum failing to repair its long out of service elevator.

If I tell enough jokes, cook a perfect made from scratch breakfast – my wife will not be so stiff, sore, flat out in pain from waking till bed time.

If I strategize enough (crossing the line into toxic territory of being parental instead of spousal) before an event, my Heidi will never suffer the horrible impacts of ableism—from a boss, bus driver, physician, or grocery store clerk. 

GROWING STRONGER TOGETHER

ON THE FRONTLINES OF CAREGIVING

I try too hard.

It has just about zero to do with my beautiful bride or her disability from juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, plus dozens of major surgeries–some botched, and some inducing joint pain and nerve damage.

I’m pretty sure it comes from expectations I put on myself. I’m a fairly rational guy, but when it comes to being a front-line caregiver for more than 35 years, I’m susceptible to magical thinking.

GROWING STRONGER TOGETHER

 ON THE FRONTLINES OF CAREGIVING

I quickly fell in love. 

We married a few years later. Heidi Johnson-Wright (Americans with Disabilities Act expert, lifelong public servant, law school graduate, author) has put up with me for more than a third of a century.

Why am I still an idiot?

Because I get frustrated, angry, impatient. 

There. I said it. 

Things I’d love my bio–as a husband, caregiver, award-winning writer–to exclude.

I don’t need to come off as perfect, but I’d sure like to think I have modified my behavior to eradicate those times when I’m a caregiver in body–but not so much in mind–because my mind is in chaos and temper overload.

GROWING STRONGER TOGETHER

 ON THE FRONTLINES OF CAREGIVING

I was, and every other day probably still am, foolish.

I was fixed up on a date with a pretty girl who used a wheelchair for mobility.

I had no immediate experience with disability to that degree up to that point–which was my junior year in college about a month before turning 21.

My wife’s personal care attendant was dating one of my best friends from the dorm.

They arranged the date.

I wasn’t sure how to open doors, plan a date at a place that had wheelchair accessible parking, entrance, dining, or restrooms.

HONORED TO BE PRESENTING INCLUSIVE MOBILITY BEST PRACTICES

AT THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE

Teaming with Deborah Myerson to present "Mobility Matters: Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make."

Creating an inclusive and accessible environment requires more than adhering to basic ADA requirements, avoiding ableist terminology, or providing closed captioning for city meetings.

These actions are important, but local governments must be dedicated to widespread accessibility and mobility.

Otherwise, micromobility for some — like scooters — creates outright travel hazards for more vulnerable pathway users.

Examine these and other common mistakes in planning for accessibility and learn how local governments can adopt a more comprehensive approach to accessible transportation and mobility for people with disabilities.

Speakers highlight opportunities and examples of how to:

Involve disabled people in decisions about transportation design, construction, maintenance, and operations.

Seek meaningful input and share decision-making power.

Establish an equitable process based on transparency, inclusiveness, respect, and building trusted relationships with the community.

Prioritize safety and ensure access in sidewalk design, roads, public rights of way, and other transportation facilities to reduce risk for the most vulnerable users.

Adopt ongoing evaluation and assessment to improve equitable outcomes.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

“I wanted to show real life examples of couples doing well, with disabilities from combat,” said Tepper, noting he took to the road to start interviews and filming with his son who was doing photography and his son’s fraternity brother, who was in film school.

“I also wanted to touch on a wide range of disabilities.”

“It is a film about sexual health.

It is as much about compassionate love as it is about sex,” said Tepper, emphasizing that he is a sex educator and researcher, not a sex therapist.

“Even though it is about injured vets, all people could learn something about sexuality and love by watching what these folks have gone through.”

Learn more by visiting https://www.loveafterwar.org/

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

 CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

Tepper is working with organizations that help independent producers to place their documentaries on PBS and other broad platforms. 

The film, considered low budget even though it cost about $100,000 to produce, has a website that allows supporters to make contributions so it can be distributed.

Tepper got interested in helping those who serve our nation when he spoke at a national conference in 2006 that had several severely disabled veterans and their families in attendance. 

He learned from Department of Defense research that failed intimate relationships are the leading contributor in about 40 percent of suicides by service members.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

 CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

Tepper hopes that treatment centers, from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to Veterans Administration hospitals to many other medical and psychological health centers that interact with veterans can expand and advance sexuality care. 

As a doctoral-degreed qualitative researcher, Tepper wants to partner with vets groups and others to expand the reach of his documentary as an educational tool.

Tepper’s goal is to have his documentary broadcast nationwide on PBS.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

 CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

Tim Hornik, a retired Army Captain who is blind as the result of getting shot through the head in Iraq. 

He talks about struggling to adjust to his new post-military life with his wife, Cate Smith, the only partner who is not on camera in the film.

Tepper’s vision was to create a film that could address an integral part of life – intimacy and sexuality – for disabled active military and veterans.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

 CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

Manny Gonzalez, a Marine Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear specialist, who received second and third degree burns to 80 percent of his body including his face while rescuing a fellow Marine from a brush fire during a training exercise. 

It took him 16 years to get the confidence up to ask someone out on a date, but he is now married.

Casey Kimes, an Army airborne unit veteran with TBI, hearing loss, multiple orthopedic and spinal injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

His wife Tosombra (Tai) experienced military sexual trauma.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

 CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION\

The Love after War film takes us into the lives of five couples.

Aaron Causey, an Army explosives technician, suffered multiple limb loss, extensive genital injuries and traumatic brain injury (TBI) after stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He was married to Kat Causey for 18 months when he was injured.

Tyler Wilson, an Army paratrooper shot multiple times during a firefight in southern Afghanistan resulting in spinal cord injury and lung damage. He married Crystal, a recreational therapist he met in a handcycle clinic.

PROUD TO BE PRESENTING UNIVERSAL DESIGN BEST PRACTICES

AT THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION 2022 NATIONAL CONFERENCE

My topic is No Person Left Behind: Truly Inclusive Design. The course will cover:

People with limited abilities are often "designed out" of places, events, and activities.

Three decades after adoption of the ADA, the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the need for planning for inclusion and equitable access and accepting the challenges of safely separating users and uses. 

COVID’s silver lining may be renewed emphasis on safer pedestrian travel, transit, and more open outdoor-recreation spaces.

Mobility remains a sometimes-insurmountable challenge for people with disabilities.

Scooters, bikes, and utilities often block wheelchair users and trip blind people. 

Transit access depends on compliant sidewalks with clear paths to accessible stops.

Ride-share, mobility, and other first mile/last mile “solutions” are not accessible to wheelchair users and many other disabled folks.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

Tepper took a break from board level activities while working through his master’s and PhD programs and getting established professionally, but continued serving through providing webinars and writing a brochure on sexuality and SCI for members. 

He has recently stepped up his involvement and is serving as VP of United Spinal Association Atlanta where he now lives.

“United Spinal holds a special place in my heart.”

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

A 1982 diving accident resulted in Tepper’s cervical spinal cord injury. 

His pursuit of knowledge about the intersection of sexuality and disability started in rehab and became a decades-long career as a researcher, educator, consultant, author, and now filmmaker.

Tepper’s association with United Spinal also began in rehab.

“After I broke my neck, somebody visited me in my room and my mother signed me up as a member,’’ he said.

“I got very involved in leadership roles through the 1980s with what then was the National Spinal Cord Injury Association Connecticut Chapter, eventually serving as their President before moving on to be Executive Vice President of the national organization (NSCIA).”

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

While super-relevant to people with disabilities and their partners, the frank and open sharing is enlightening and informative to all audiences. 

The full-on injection of raw humanity — shared with a purpose to make lives more full and pleasurable — is an essential element of addressing disability and sexuality.

The film addresses intimacy:  including sexual acts/behavior/issues – but not in a vulgar way. 

Participants may strip bare their lives, challenges, therapies and adaptations — but they are fully clothed. Were it rated, the film would be PG-13 at most.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

 CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

Tepper, who may be familiar to long-time New Mobility’s readers as the co-author of the long-running Love Bites sexual advice column, is a sexologist who has been living a full life with spinal cord injury and a United Spinal member for nearly 40 years.

Tepper completed his Master’s in Public Health while at Yale and his Ph.D. in Human Sexuality Education at the University of Pennsylvania.

Viewers will experience warmth, compassion and understanding. 

The couples interviewed are candid and open. 

Personal fears, failings and frustrations are shared in frank storytelling by real people in their own words. 

Tepper comments on each topic, sharing plain spoken expert advice and a wealth of ideas for modifying behavior and working through physical and psychological barriers.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

The Love After War documentary, which has won numerous honors at film festivals, weaves personal stories woven in with Tepper’s expert advice. 

The vision is to restore emotional closeness and physical intimacy after serious combat-related injuries.

“Insights are drawn from the stories told by wounded warriors and their partners who are surviving and thriving in their relationships despite injuries like burns, amputations, genital injuries, traumatic brain injuries, PTSD, and spinal cord injuries,” he said.

LOVE AFTER WAR DOCUMENTARY FILM

CANDID AND EXPERT STORYTELLING ABOUT 

DISABILITY, INTIMACY, SEXUALITY AND COMPASSION

Love After War: Saving Love, Saving Lives offers realistic hope for active duty service members and veterans who have returned home with physical and/or psychological health challenges that are creating difficulties in their intimate lives.

The blurb above, taken directly from the 57-minute documentary’s website, so perfectly describes first-time director-producer-writer Dr. Mitchell Tepper’s triumphal film, there is no sense in paraphrasing the words. 

PLANNING, ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN DESIGN

NEVER SHOULD BE EXCLUSIONARY, ISOLATING, HUMILIATING, OR DEHUMANIZING

So why do we still allow so many barriers and ignore people with disabilities when we create the built environment?

This dangerous, disgusting, dignity-robbing mess is the Biscayne Bay front wheelchair accessible route to Miami’s Grand marina, retail and hotel complex.

Dumpsters block accessible path and filth creates barrier to elevator entrance—but 6 signs all declare this is the ADA route.

Will anyone fix this?

Does anyone in the City of Miami care?

 

GROUNDBREAKING UNIVERSAL DESIGN COURSE TEAM TAUGHT BY HUSBAND-WIFE DUO

DEBUTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

“For centuries, everything from a home entrance step to park benches has been designed for a 5-foot-10 able-bodied male, an approach that excludes the majority of people,” Johnson-Wright said.

“Less than one percent of all housing in the U.S. is readily accessible to people who use wheelchairs. 

That's why we must create architecture, planning and design usable by everyone to the greatest extent possible without adaptation or specialization.”

GROUNDBREAKING UNIVERSAL DESIGN COURSE TEAM TAUGHT BY HUSBAND-WIFE DUO

 DEBUTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

The late architect and planner Ronald L. Mace, FAIA, founder of the Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University, coined the term universal design.

He defined it as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design."

GROUNDBREAKING UNIVERSAL DESIGN COURSE TEAM TAUGHT BY HUSBAND-WIFE DUO

 DEBUTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

"This is the fulfillment of a dream, the fruits of a decade of labor researching, exploring and building a course for a school of architecture,” Steve Wright said.

“The COVID pandemic has proven that the way we build and plan our environment MUST be safe, accessible and inclusive for all. 

We are eternally grateful for U-SoA Dean Rodolphe el-Khoury’s leadership in making this unique course a reality.”

The Wrights are donating 100 percent of their pay to support further outreach and education about Universal Design on a global scale. 

Funds will be used for travel expenses that support pro bono presentations on design for all at planning, architecture, urban design, engineering and similar placemaking conferences, conventions and symposiums.

GROUNDBREAKING UNIVERSAL DESIGN COURSE TEAM TAUGHT BY HUSBAND-WIFE DUO

 DEBUTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

"The course belongs to U-SoA's long tradition of community building. It sustains its commitment to diversity and inclusion and ensures that U-SoA graduates are prepared for the evolving social and cultural landscape,” said Dean Rodolphe el-Khoury.

Universal Design is extremely relevant because the United Nations has identified more than one billion people in the world have disabilities and Centers for Disease Control research has proven that one in four people in the United States will experience some form of disability.

GROUNDBREAKING UNIVERSAL DESIGN COURSE TEAM TAUGHT BY HUSBAND-WIFE DUO

DEBUTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

Johnson-Wright has used a wheelchair for mobility for 40 years and brings her practical experience as well as her 30+ years of professional expertise to the classroom.

Wright is America’s go-to journalist for reporting on architecture, town planning, mobility engineering and urban policy – as they relate to people with disabilities and access for all.

GROUNDBREAKING UNIVERSAL DESIGN COURSE TEAM TAUGHT BY HUSBAND-WIFE DUO

 DEBUTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

Steve Wright, an award-winning journalist and marketer, and Heidi Johnson-Wright, a lifelong public servant and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) expert, have teamed up to teach a course this semester at U-SoA. 

The course focuses on Universal Design – a concept that is essential to creating access for people with disabilities, but also adds comfort and ease of use for all.

GABRIEL BALDERAS SAXAPHONE

THE BEST JAZZMAN IN MEXICO CITY

Gabriel Balderas is not famous – yet – but I consider him the premier jazz player in Mexico City.

And that’s no small statement, as there are easily a half dozen or more jazz venues in the cultural capital of the Americas.

I lucked out when I walked into Parker and Lenox – in the Roma neighborhood – and heard Gabriel on the sax.

At the end of the show, I started out in my horrible Spanish and we quickly switched to his English to talk about jazz greats, Mexico City and music.

A few nights later, I was at Jazzatlan Capital, also in the hip Roma neighborhood, and caught Gabriel sitting in with the night’s featured act.

Seeing me twice in one week, he was so kind that he gave me a CD of his fabulous Voices From The Border.

You can check him out at many different streaming services, including Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/58qSHv8M0ELKIDSObDqEFH?si=nX3om57RS3-AKvy6VeXDOw&utm_source=copy-link&fbclid=IwAR2T6GfpMUrYh9PtCPZFno_gtz6fgbNuMfBe3dSOoAZa2_98A-Z1O3GsN_0&nd=1

NEW ORLEANS NEIGHBORHOODS

 VERRET'S BAR & LOUNGE

Great neighborhood bar with music in Central City, just a few blocks from St. Charles Streetcar and Garden District.