5 thoughts on “Handicap Accessible”

  1. Leslie, you just made my day. May I use your super design for free to make a sign to put around my neck so people stop nagging me about not looking handicapped for real ?

    • Silver-
      Enjoy it, with my blessings and prayers that it will get the result you’re looking for. It seems rare to find anyone who understands the hurt and frustration we suffer simply because our pain and disabilities fail to meet the erroneous preconceptions of others. While I’m a firm believer in the power of positive thinking, only a fool would blame the “victim” by suggesting their pain, exhaustion, or other physical complaints are either made up, exaggerated, or somehow their fault. It’s up to us, though, to educate the ignorant and to not allow those who prefer to remain ignorant to steal our dignity or threaten whatever chances we may have to recover by shaking our self-confidence and faith or taking our focus off healing. I love your idea of a sign and the empowerment that can bring.
      If you go ahead and make and wear that sign, it’d be really cool if you uploaded a picture of yourself wearing it, to be shared on this blog. I got a feeling that you’d be making a lot of other people’s day with that, as well! If you can’t upload it via a comment, just e-mail it to me and I’ll be sure to post it and give you credit.
      Thanks for supporting my blog and for sharing your own experiences.
      Leslie

  2. Leslie,

    How wise and generous of you. I agree that it can bring empowerment. So I made it into a simple word document with the text : “Souriez! Ma condition est invisible”, which translates to “Smile! My condition is invisible”. I will share it freely with my community, feel free to use it too. The idea comes from a gentleman who is wearing a sign he made about being electrosensitive, so people avoid using their cell phones around him. It saves him quite a bit of trouble and explaining. It take self acceptance to wear it though. Photo coming up in a while. Thank you so much: your design looks like something I could wear while keeping some sense of aesthetics, it looks trendy.

  3. Leslie, I to would like to utilize your wonderful icon. I have been taking care of my grandmother for many years and she had recently fallen and broke her back in 3 places. Since this has happened it has opened my eyes to how hard it is for the disabled to get around the average home. I have been in the construction remodeling business for 16 years now and have shifted all my efforts into beginning a company that focus’s on helping the disabled by making their homes ada compliant. I have even found different grants to help people pay to have their homes retrofitted to meet their needs. Being a new company we are trying to put our name out and help as many people as we can. Your art gives great style to an everyday symbol.

    Jason

    • Jason,
      I admire what you are doing and wish you good fortune with it! There is a huge need for such assistance and the individual needs can be very different (no ‘one size fits all’ solutions). Prior to my own forced retirement due to my declining health and disabilities, I had been a medical, commercial, and residential space planner. I had fought hard to include considerations for accessibility even when it wasn’t required by the building codes, because no one can take their good health for granted as any one at any time may find themselves suddenly disabled, whether temporarily or permanently. Out of curiosity, and for the benefit of any of my readers who have such needs, where are you located?

      As to your request, I am honored for you to want to use it for such a worthy project. While I would normally charge a fee for commercial use, as a start-up company with your intended market, I am willing to grant you permission to utilize my icon, royalty-free, with the understanding that I still own the rights to it (thus you cannot register it as your trademark, license others to use it, or sell any derivatives of it as your own or for profit). I also ask that if you use it on a website or blog, that you include a credit line somewhere on the page with a link back to this blog.

      Good luck to you, and keep us up to date on your progress!
      Leslie

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