Public Thnx4 Journal

Besides my neighborhood, I feel grateful to live in my community of Sarasota, Florida [a smaller city south of Tampa but north of Fort Myers] comfortably from a financial perspective. That is because Sarasota is (1) pleasantly warm even in November and (2) by the water. I'm particularly grateful because a lot of people either come down here as the vacation they have been saving for from the north or are unable to live here full-time even if they wanted to. I am lucky in that my paternal aunt and parents bought our house here decades ago, we would not be able to afford a similar property here if we had to buy today. What is really cool, in retrospect, is that you can definitely see the license plates of different US states [and I swear I've even seen an Ontario, Canada license plate] during the right season and in the right places around town. The Florida Gulf Coast in general have some great towns with nature that is never too far away: a string of pearls. Sarasota is a midpoint of sorts. I usually am more familiar with going up north to Tampa and St. Petersburg more frequently, North Port and Venice to the south are very much different, [as are the more southern parts of Florida, even further south than Venice.] There is a vibrancy and beauty to where I live this gratitude journal has helped me appreciate, to truly experience Florida is to spend hours driving through it. I have never been to Miami or Key West even though I live in the same state, and have only been to Daytona Beach or Saint Augustine [on the East Coast of Florida] only once, respectively. Northern Florida is different too, a deceptively long journey to reach the border with Georgia.

Today in my literature class, we had a really great discussion about the novel we just read. Everyone had so many interesting insights and perspectives, it was a truly enriching conversation.

I took a Mindfulness workshop over the course of 3 days.

As something connected to yesterday's entry, I am grateful for the opportunities that I had to travel to different places throughout my life. I've gone to places like Orlando, Daytona Beach, St. Louis, New Orleans, Rhode Island and New York City, West Jefferson in North Carolina, and Japan. My trip to Japan specifically in the Summer of 2017 as part of a tour group is something that I think that I will remember the rest of my life, in that I am grateful for the people that made it happen and the opportunity to visit Tokyo, Kyoto and Hikone specifically. In the context of yesterday’s entry, I am grateful for my tour director and her husband, as both of them help to make my trip possible in terms of my accessibility concerns. (So, I am grateful for both the opportunity to travel and for the people who I have traveled with, both the something and someone.)

Completei o estágio de PDI nas escolas e foi um último dia muito agradável com as crianças.

Consegui uma boia para brincar na piscina da Famerp.

After writing my entry for yesterday, I decided to look further into accessibility in the airline industry. After my research, I realized that I am not just grateful for the general notion of new accessibility changes, but the individuals and organizations behind said changes. Delta Flight Products and UK organization Air4All, for example, have already made prototypes for seats that allow people in power wheelchairs to stay in their chairs while on flights. All Wheels Up, a US accessibility organization, too, have continued to pressure the US Congress and US Department of Transportation [DOT], and likewise the DOT has announced distinctly partial accessibility reforms surrounding the lavatories of certain classes of commercial planes that were not required to be accessible before. I am grateful for these efforts, especially as I learned more about them yesterday. I am grateful that I have never had my wheelchair so severely damaged before by airlines, though that does not mean it does not happen. The conversation to balance the safety of passengers and the need for accessibility is very much ongoing: both DOT and the airlines themselves have used safety regulations as a barrier to implementing accessible solutions as mandatory for decades. There are very much powerful interests at work here, both DOT and the airlines themselves, that built this inaccessible system. This fever is finally seeming to break.

I believe in grace and Guardian Angels and today I experienced both in a fantastically practical way!

Since I am a person with disabilities, and I've been thinking about my disability a lot lately before and since my first entry on November 9, I am grateful for the wheelchairs I have. I received my first power wheelchair when I was three at the recommendation of medical professionals. Though my parents were concerned then I would get hurt in my first power wheelchair, the amount of freedom this accessibility invention has given me is truly life-changing. Mobility, in my case, is vital to my freedom of movement. I am also grateful for my current wheelchair: as I've gotten older I have had to understand that really nice electric wheelchairs cost thousands of dollars, and not everyone is as lucky as I am to have insurance options that cover this cost. From my perspective, casually at least, there is an economic question here, especially concerning disability needs and health insurance. My family and I have always tried pass on the gift of mobility to others, we always donate the previous wheelchair I do not use anymore after I upgrade to Shriners Hospital for Children.

Consegui fazer a prova de PPI.

Fiquei feliz de poder dormir com ar-condicionado ligado no calor.

I got to hang out in a witchy store for a day with Savanna while she worked

Able to attend our research symposium, in person. Received some great information.

I had a day off, Vet Day holiday. Went to SLOMA to see Leslie's exhibit and that other great "immersion" light one that Emma had a Cuesta. Red and white, lacey light. Amazing.