Mobility and Barriers

I confess...I'm 58 years old but until this past year I didn't really feel old. However, now that I can't even get discount coupons without joining Facebook or revising my world so that it fits neatly into 140 character tweets, I have decided that I have turned a corner and I am going to enter the blogosphere.  But what to write about?  Well, for almost 3 years now I have been pretty much obsessed with my mobility, or lack of mobility.  I have been obsessed and frustrated with the barriers I keep encountering.  Hence the first blog's title- Mobility and Barriers.

Writing this blog led me to the discovery that the simple word MOBILITY has way more meanings than I would have thought. And most of them have nothing to do with what I think of as mobility.   There's mobility technology, mobility across class and race in the economic world, mobility platforms for laptops, netbooks, population mobility, social mobility, and on and on.  And then there are the barriers.  Lack of cell phone coverage, lack of education, lack of opportunity, lack of money, and many many other deficiencies that keep people from moving forward whether it be in their life, or in their efforts to make a phone call or send an e-mail.

For me, mobility is the state of being in motion, especially physically.  And the barriers are those things that prevent mobility;  these include lack of access, prejudice, a lack of understanding or an unwillingness to understand, discomfort, and fear.  In the 3 years since my accident I have learned a lot about myself, about medical equipment, about the ADA, about traveling, and on an on.  But there is a whole lot left to learn and I would love the chance to share and learn from other interested people.  So comment, ask questions, give advice, share your information, and perhaps we can create an ever growing community of support and guidance.