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Hi all,

I am retiring my blogger site and have moved to a new, improved WordPress blog site. Go check out my new blog site!

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Justin Smith
JustinSmithWrites.com

Getting ready for Charting the C's Conference

Video blog for my latest update

Check out my latest video about how I get ready for being a keynote speaker and having several breakout sessions at the upcoming Charting the C's Conference. At last count, there will be about 650 educators, therapists, and K-12 school professionals at the main conference. 

My keynote presentation title is Reimagining the Possibilities: A Work in Progress. I'll be sharing my insights and perspectives about living with a disability that impacts movement, speech, hearing, and vision and why inclusion and accessibility matter. 

Watch for my next post in a couple weeks with more about technology that helps me do what I want to do. Lots left to do in the next couple of weeks, so time to get back to work! 

You can also go to my YouTube channel to watch this video and some others that I've posted over the past several years. 

Show Up and Dance with Me!

Show Up

It was an exciting day yesterday. I was a delegate to my Senate District’s Organizing Convention. I believe it's so important for young people and people with disabilities to SHOW UP and get involved in the political process. You can have a voice in the nominating process and resolutions that help build the political parties. I don’t care what political party you are supporting, SHOW UP!

Justin at Senate District DFL Organizing Convention

Justin with his US Representative Betty McCollum

State Delegate Justin with Alternate Delegate Emily

And Dance

Also, thanks to the staff at Palace Theater last night. It’s always nerve wracking to go to new places and not know what the accessibility will be like – especially for things like concerts or places with crowds.The ADA general admission seating area was awesome. And the staff was great at helping me navigate paths through the crowds. And the bathrooms set aside for ADA were amazing! They were huge and no lines! My favorite song was Shut Up and Dance and my mom’s was One Foot. Thanks to random acts of kindness and the nice young women who helped push my stuck wheelchair out of the snowbank on our way back to the parking ramp. 6" of snow makes sidewalks and roadways a mess!

Started off the day being political and ended up dancing! It was an AWESOME day!

Fun dancing with the cool strangers behind me!

Walk the Moon at the Palace Theater

With Me

Next up with me:

Speaking engagement coming up – I will be the keynote speaker and also have a couple of sessions at the Charting the C’s Conference in April. My keynote speech is about Re-imagining the Possibilities: A Work in Progress and the importance of inclusion and accessibility. Excited to be invited to speak to educators and therapists working in schools! Find out more about Charting the C’s in the conference brochure. 

Don’t forget to be awesome,

Justin

Contact information page

Life as I Know It

I haven’t written much lately. I try to be positive about living my life and don’t always share when life gets hard. Lately, it’s been kind of rough, though.

I thought I’d be excited to get my new wheelchair. Yesterday, I about drove into the garbage cans at the Mall of America, when my joystick got stuck in drive. Luckily, my mom, got to me and turned the chair off before I crashed. How do I be independent when I can’t count on my equipment? My new chair has been one frustration after another. First, I am having a difficult time getting the seating to work well for me and it took about three months to get the appointments for working on seating in the first place. Because of my movement and muscle tone, everything needs to be customized and incredibly sturdy. Also, the joystick just broke after only three months of use. I continue to work with my clinic’s seating specialist and physical therapist, our equipment provider, and vendor to try to figure it out. Wish me luck in trying to get this chair to work. Without a working power chair, I feel excluded from the world.

Pain. Pain. Pain. As I’m getting older, I spend a lot more time in my wheelchair (yes, the non-working one), even less time weight-bearing or exercising, and that is taking its toll. My hamstring, ankle and knee on my right leg have been a 6-8 on a 10-point pain scale over the past several weeks. Pain is exhausting! I’ve seen an orthopedic doctor and now waiting to get into my physical rehab doctor to see if it’s time to try botox again. Haven’t done that since elementary school and never tried it on my leg. Hoping my medical team can help figure out how to help me feel better.

And my family is a pain, too. Oops, I mean they’re in pain, too. My dad has a bulging disk in his back which is causing him a lot of pain. He’s my main caregiver so need him to feel well. My mom is doing a lot better after having foot surgery in November. We try to take turns on being messed up in our family. So far, Nathan, never has taken a turn on being messed up. My younger brother is really cool and helpful!

On a lighter note (because even when life is feeling a little upside down, I try to focus on the positive), the fifty-second Super Bowl was in Minnesota, my home state. I wasn’t able to get to any of the Super Bowl Live events, because, see above. But, it was fun to watch on tv. The game was awesome, even though the Vikings weren’t in it.

Next up, I’m going to the Walk the Moon concert at the Palace Theater in a couple weeks no matter what! And I’m preparing for some March Madness! Hopefully, just the basketball kind, and not related to medical madness!

P.S. Call your US House member and ask them to vote “NO” on HR 620, a bill that will weaken the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Hello 2018, Goodbye 2017

Top things I look back on from 2017

1. Making my voice heard – If you would have told me a year ago that I would be featured in a Microsoft Inclusion in Action video series that hundreds of thousands of people would be watching, I would have said, “are you kidding me?” I feel honored that so many people were able to see my story about why accessibility is so important in helping me do so many of the things I want to do.
2. Along with the Microsoft video, I also had some amazing opportunities to share my story. I spoke with former Senator Dave Durenberger and Dr. Colleen Wieck at the Minnesota State Capitol Grand Opening and at the Global Accessibility Awareness Day event at the MN Department of Education. 
3. Travel to Toronto- Despite numerous buildings not being accessible, it was fun with getting soaked on the boat ride at the powerful Niagara waterfalls, a baseball game, and museums. This was an awesome family trip and my first time to leave the country!
4. Advocacy for disability rights- this year has been interesting with the push to slash Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. I’m going to say the same thing I said in previous posts. So many people with disabilities DEPEND ON Medicaid and health care to live independently in our communities. Please do NOT slash Medicaid and other important services that we depend on.  The disability community, our friends, and families WILL NOT give up the fight for protecting the services that move us forward in embracing inclusion and independence.

 Looking forward to 2018

1. Public speaking about accessibility and disability rights
2. Getting involved with our state and federal campaigns- I want to do my part to make sure that candidates that support disability rights are elected to office.
3. College – continuing to plug away. Learning all about Political Science this spring.

I am grateful for the viewers to take the time to read this blog. Have an awesome New Year all of you!