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KaraSwims

Sr. Hondonian
  • Posts

    289
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About KaraSwims

  • Birthday 01/23/1980

Contact Methods

  • AIM
    kara6417
  • Website URL
    http://www.karasheridan.com
  • ICQ
    0

Previous Fields

  • How the hell did you find us?
    Hondo's was super supportive during my Paralympmic experience
  • Group Affiliations (optional)
    USA Paralympic 2004 Team, Nova Southeastern University clinical psychology doctoral candidate
  • My greatest contribution/thread (optional)
    probably in some serious debating thread-I struggle with the light stuff
  • Name
    Kara
  • Most influential piece(s). also optional.
    Favorite book: White Oleander and The Pact Favorite movie: Murderball Favorite song: depends on my mood! Before I swim: Enter Sandman But I also like lots of other music...rap, pop, r & b mostly

KaraSwims's Achievements

Pipe-Smoking Sage

Pipe-Smoking Sage (38/65)

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Reputation

  1. Where'd you go, miss kara? im gonna assume they released a new harry potter book or somethin.

  2. HAPPY BIRTHDAAAY!! <33

  3. Who knew giving bulldogs a bath could be an envigorating form of exercise? P.S. This is my FIRST post in this here random thread.
  4. IKNOW! our problem exactly! Try watching Adam and Panch playing Dragon BAllZ for HOURS upon end.....I'm near death from it! BUT at least it's free!
  5. I just started back today at the JCC swimming and the water was actually too hot! They've heated it up because the air is cooler I guess. Anyways--I'd MUCH rather be hot then cold. I'm quite proud of myself for getting back in the pool..hope this keeps up because I don't have any meets until February probably...... If you add running--it would be really fun to get a group together and do a 5K! There are SO many down here--I used to do them in KY...you get up early on a Saturday-get a Tshirt to commemorate your suvival and you feel so productive! Lots of them are for good causes too!
  6. That's not Britney silly! That's Lindsay Lohan! Get it right or pay the price!:-) Just kiddin! Kara---
  7. I agree it's great that he made any effort....and his influence shouldn't be any less because he was rich---I think the point with that is that he had probably the best medical care available to anyone in his situation--money was not an issue.....There are VERY few other quads that have this luxery..many of them wish that he would have recognized this daily fight they dealt with in addition to his interest in cures and walking. But I totally agree--any effort is better than none...however, from the disabled community's perspective, with his good, he also did some harm.... Kara
  8. You don't have to tread carefully-it's something that I'm totally cool with talking about....I actually toned down pretty much everything I said related to what many in the disabled groups are and have been speaking about for years...I expressed the main points but minus the harshness which is disrespectful considering his recent passing. Yes, I and others, understand FULLY there is a huge difference between being born with your disability or acquring it. I agree that many f the responses, statements that Reeves have made and that many people with disabilities feel falsely represented us were because Reeves struggled with the change--it was a HUGE lifestyle change for him...as it is everyone who is injured. But I also have many friends that also became paralyzed later in their life like Reeves---their focus is not usually on learning to walk again and as small as it sounds..finding a remedy for presssure sores would help them life life NOW more then a cure would 50 years from now. I also do know people that are waiting and are highly interested in stem cell research (which I do think shows promise and I hope that is expanded)....So, I think I agree with you for WHY he may have chosen the avenues to support that he did and I agree that he had a HUGE change... I guess what frustrates me is that I see others that had just as large of a change but NOT the funding he had to hire endless personal assistants, buy his own rehab equipment, bypass insurance if necessary---I see these people-most better adjusted-at least in their statements....But the rest of the world doesn't get to see them or hear from them as they did Reeves... I know this too is because of the irony...superman in a wheelchair now...He spoke for people with disabilities on many occasions but on many of those same occasions he didn't truly represent us.
  9. As some of yall know by now-I'm a wheeler! A member of the disabled community/CULTURE-not everybody with a disability sees it that way but I do..it's part of my identity and something I'm proud of...anyways...Christopher Reeves was a very influential person and his views were often taken to represent those of the population of people with disabilities. I admire his career and his passion for what HE worked so hard to obtain. I also see what great impact he had on so many lives..So--there are many positive things to be said about Reeves... Many of you may not know that in the disabled community is divided on this issue. Most that I know though (and I) feel that it was saddening to see nearly ALL of Reeves focus be on WALKING. He was known to "chase cures" making a cure his ONLY focus. Not improving rights, education, career, or even equality in his own business of entertainment. It was his choice what to push for and how to apply the millions of dollars he generated with his influence. I, personally, wish he could have expanded it from the single minded goal of WALKING. To lots of wheelers, walking is really not THAT important...I have never spent my life chasing a cure when I could just be living. It's depressing to think of all the change that could have been had he used his influence to fight for things to improve LIVING with a spinal cord injury. What if he could have researched treatment for the pressure sores (which effect MANY people with SCIs) that eventually led to infection and his death? Reeves also chose not to cast an actress with a disability in his upcoming made for TV movie based on a true story about a girl that uses a wheelchair. Again, his personal choice, BUT as a person with a disability it would have been a very important statement for me to make to cast someone with a disability or at least try and exhaust every effort to expand the entertainment industry to include more diversity. And last.....I have been bothered by many of Reeves statements that went out to the public like "My children lost a father the day I was confined to a wheelchair." Watching interviews with Reeves children, it's clear tehy are very thankful they do HAVE THEIR FATHER. I wish he would have clarified with several of his statements that it wasn't really that he could not either father or be a complete person without walking but just that he personally was struggling to put his identity back together as a person with a disability. So.....I know it's pointless to say/think about what could have been...He is admirable and had a strong impact-much of it positve to many-but it's dangerous not to consider the other side of the coin. At least from my perspective and other people like me that are not hangin on edge waiting to walk--One of the reasons his message caught on so well is that he said what the AB (able bodied) world wants to hear-that we miss walking soo much, that we need their help, and that we'd give anything to get back "the life" of putting one foot in front of the other. (there's not much of ANYTHING I would give for it!) So--that's my lil novel for the day! Kara
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