Justin, young man smiling in wheelchair wearing blue rain poncho and his mom standing behind, red telephone booth and red London doubledecker bus next to them, British flag hanging across the street, people walking on sidewalk
Accessibility (#A11y), travel

London calling

I loved the public transportation in London. My parents had the Transportation for London TfL app and Google maps to figure out the best routes and for the most part, it all worked as expected. The trickiest parts were finding tube and train lines that were wheelchair accessible. Sometimes we had to go out of… Continue reading London calling

Flight tracker on plane that shows Destination of London and plane flying over England
Accessibility (#A11y), travel

“Love these skies I’m under”

I love Mumford and Sons and there is a line in Hopeless Wanderer that is perfect for this post: “I will learn to love these skies I’m under.” This is a start of a quartet of posts about transportation in England and Ireland. This is the skies post. The next two posts will be related… Continue reading “Love these skies I’m under”

Musicians on stage at Eventim Apollo theater, blue lights
Accessibility (#A11y), Music, Sports, travel

Voyage on – what worked well on my England travels

This is brilliant! Caregiver tickets for free! Personal Care Assistants or caregiver tickets to everything we went to from concerts to AFC Wimbledon to museums were free. This was also the case when we went to Toronto about 5 years ago. So, England, Ireland, and Canada have this figured out! We do NOT have it… Continue reading Voyage on – what worked well on my England travels

Justin in wheelchair in front of word wall of literary words such as wordsmith, essayist, comedian, scriptwriter, novelist, poet, and quote "Noble words coming. Look out. Could you try your hand at it you..." from James Joyce, Ulysses.
travel

“Raise your hopeful voice”

This line is from the song Falling Slowly from the movie, Once, which is one of my favourite movies set in Dublin, Ireland, where I just got back from. Some of my favourites in Dublin included pubs, buskers, and learning about Irish history in museums like the GPO Museum of the 1916 Easter Rising, EPIC… Continue reading “Raise your hopeful voice”

Castleton street with stone buildings, pink flowering trees, green hill, stone wall
travel, Uncategorized

England is Awesome

I love England! My favorite things so far have been experiencing AFC Wimbledon in person, going to the Birdy concert, and meandering through graveyards in the Peak District. Cheers! "Beware of a slow sudden death" Here are some of my favorites from graveyards in Eyam and Hope. In 1665, Eyam was struck by the Bubonic… Continue reading England is Awesome

Justin, young man laughing, wearing red and black houndstooth plaid shirt, seated in power wheelchair, in front of One Minnesota 2023 Inaugural Celebration banner with yellow and blue pine trees
Accessibility (#A11y), Advocacy, travel, Writing

Hello 2023 – AWE

Welcome to 2023, everyone. Here’s my annual post about my 2023 goals. This year is going to be AWEsome as I Advocate, Write, and Explore. Advocate Affordable and accessible housing Watch the awesome video of the Minnesota Council on Disability Legislative Forum where I recently spoke with Minnesota State Representative Reyer about the dire need… Continue reading Hello 2023 – AWE

Quote by Ida B. Wells on wall: "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them."
Accessibility (#A11y), Music, travel

Part 3: Fun things I did in DC & Philadelphia

Finally, here’s part 3 of my road trip blog posts. The top five things I did when I was in DC and Philly are as follows: Ben’s Chili Bowl (DC): AWESOME!  This diner was a great spot to eat with my parents. The coolest part was Mister Keith. The tour group that was supposed to… Continue reading Part 3: Fun things I did in DC & Philadelphia

Young man in wheelchair in front of quote painted on wall by Soren Kierkegaard, 1849, "Once you label me you negate me."
Advocacy, Political, travel

Part 2: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Hi – here’s part 2 of my trip to Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Oh, by the way, I just got denied for the Section 8 housing voucher for the 4th time so might be a little distracted. The barriers I’m running into is why my advocacy and opportunities to meet with my US Representative… Continue reading Part 2: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington