in my experience, they don't take your calls.(I mean, I'm sure they like her, but in the immortal words of the Breakfast Club, they don't take her out to the parking lot to get high. She's a mascot. Just like I was a mascot.)

I'm as guilty as anyone on two good feet of being blind to the disabled kids in my schools, but I always felt so uncomfortable when they'd be pointed out in assemblies and such. And the ones who didn't want to be touted for their bravery and guts and all that were always looked at funny, like they weren't following the script.

Not that I made a point of befriending those kids who wanted to keep their dignity. I'll own that guilt.

How about "My Life as a Mascot?"

I hope I'm sensitive to this, since I've spent some time on crutches and a couple of years in which stairs meant agony. What bothers me is the people who think something is "accessible" if the person in the wheelchair can get in if she asks people to lift her up a step, or she has to go in through a back entrance that has to be unlocked. It seems to me that "accessible" should mean "accessible without help." That's probably because I'm pathologically unable to ask for help.

There's a music venue here that has a roomy accessible bathroom stall, which would be cool if there was any way to get to it without climbing steep stairs.

which would be cool if there was any way to get to it without climbing steep stairs.

Wow. Megafail. And yet, I've seen that too.

People just don't think stuff through. Not that they need to design this stuff personally...there are uniform guidelines.

I've found (in my markedly limited experience) that if they manage to keep everything to ramps and no steps, they feel like they can pat themselves on the back - without taking distances into account. I get my elderly mother around town a good bit, and in addition to balance issues, her sciatic is royally fucked, so walking (even with the walker) gets painful FAST. I've complained to Petco Park (Padres Stadium) more than once. Depending on where our seats were, we've had to cut through employee entrances, go through the middle of a restaurant and around the far end of the park, and generally walk distances that made ME tired. My mother gets exhausted, near tears from pain and frustration...and then they invariably lose whenever we're there. And ramps (everywhere) are always on the far end - like the fact that you've got wheels under you means you never expend any energy.

Yeah, it's awful.

The Main Branch of the Library back home was a huge disability fail. They designed it with very steep steps. And no ramp of any kind originally. So they added a ramp, but it was really long and it was tiring to walk up the ramp and even more tiring to walk up the steps.

Finally a couple of years ago they built an elevator.

And this wasn't a disability issue, but the back of the library opened on to on street parking. BUT there was only a second floor back entrance. So you could find a spot, pay the meter, and still have to walk up stairs to get inside.

The whole thing was really open and echoy and noise traveled. Just badly planned all around. I lived in a nearby town in Georgia and complimented the library and the librarian said they'd gone to my home town and took notes on how not to design a library.

If I'm writing a story where it's about things people do online, how do I keep my people from seeming like talking heads?

Do it in the form of facebook quotes, tumbler posts, pintrest post, emails, the occasional tweet, etc? BTW can you link to the Kos post?