Week 7

Wow. I’m now the big one-nine. It’s a little surprising to think that I’m already here, and having such a challenging, yet really fun time. We had a tough week at work this week because we went into crunch time- mode for our big forum. It was a challenging week, but I was glad I was able to help in this process, especially with tasks like fact checking, and making sure our formats on documents matched. I know I asked a lot of questions, and made some mistakes, but I’m glad I did my job. On another note, I had a great interview with Aaron Bishop, it’s great to know there are awesome Wisconsinites out here. We spoke about NCD (which he is the executive director of), the future of the disability community, how youth can help NCD, and also, my future. His most important piece of advice was to continue to have a life outside of my disability work. And boy, did I live it up this weekend, although I couldn’t celebrate on the day of my birthday (it was a Wednesday), I went to Wicked on Friday. It was absolutely amazing, and totally worth the price I paid. The accessible seating was incredible, we had a completely uninhibited view of the stag, and the leads had some pretty incredible chemistry. I also had a great night with an awesome friend, Krista, a fellow AAPD intern. I must say, though I loved the musical, I found their characterization of the Witch’s sister (who uses a chair) to be interesting. It really emphasized the loneliness and perceived uselessness of a person with a disability. While I understand that mindset, and have even felt the same way at times, people need to move beyond the disabilities and just see people as people. Between strawberry mango cheesecake, Wicked and a productive workweek, it’s been a great week.