HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE...

Every 90 minutes an American is diagnosed with ALS. Most individuals that develop ALS have been healthy and physically active all of their lives. The onset of the disease usually begins in the limbs, called limb onset ALS; 25% of cases begin in the mouth, called bulbar onset ALS. For all of its victims, ALS will eventually lead to paralysis of all the voluntary muscles of the body, but the rate of progression varies with each person.

When you’ve been healthy and physically active all your life, it usually doesn’t occur to you that you could ever become “handicapped” or “disabled”; Gene is now both. When you have been physically fit and active all your life, you never think about having to depend on others to take care of your needs. When you have been physically able all of your life, you don’t worry that hallways and doorways will be wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, or pay attention to see if a building or a place you would like to go to is handicap accessible; we do now.

As one who is physically able, I’m ashamed to say that I never thought twice about leaving my shopping cart in the blue path, called an access isle, along side the handicap parking stall. I now know that the blue asphalt directly beside a handicap parking space is not there to make it convenient for me to leave my cart when I am finished with it, but it is there for the purpose of a ramp that extends out of a van allowing a person in a wheelchair to slide out onto the pavement. If that area is blocked, the person in the wheelchair has no room to exit from their van. Even with a big “no parking” stamped on it, I see people leaving their shopping carts in the “blue” instead of returning the cart to the store or to a designated shopping cart return. I don’t think people are trying to be inconsiderate, but rather are acting out of ignorance. I was such a person, not anymore.

Lately, we have been getting an education in the ways and challenges of the handicapped. We have met with the wheelchair specialist to learn about the very specialized, high tech features that Gene will need in a wheelchair; we have had much to learn. This is not your ordinary push wheelchair. Gene will be meeting with the physical therapist, the wheelchair specialist, and the ALS specialist to do a wheelchair assessment. This will be an intense appointment where his needs will be determined and they will measure Gene for a custom fitted power wheelchair called a Permobil. It is becoming clear that the Permobil is going to be a necessity very soon. We are almost looking forward to it! We have, also, been shopping for a “ramp van” so that we can maintain as much freedom and independence as possible. We will be thankful for the blue access isle when we start using the power wheelchair.

There are many obstacles to face when you are handicapped, fortunately many of them can be overcome. We appreciate all the technology that helps Gene and others continue living as normal as possible for as long as possible. We are, also, grateful to live in a country that has made getting out into the community possible for those that are disabled. Many have worked hard so that disabled persons can have easier access to public places. We are the beneficiaries of all those that have been advocates for the handicapped and disabled.

We have also benefited from all that Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. All of us have handicaps and disabilities; some are just more visible than others. Our greatest disability is the disease called “sin”. Sin has separated us from our heavenly Father, but Jesus has made access to God possible for anyone that desires it, regardless of who they are or what they have or haven't done. Jesus’ favorite people to hang out with are those that are willing to admit they are handicapped. In fact, Jesus was criticized for hanging out with those that were the “handicapped” of society—tax collectors, prostitutes, criminals, the sick, the blind, the paralyzed and crippled, etc. He said to His critics, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Mark 2:17

Jesus is also our advocate. An advocate is “one that speaks on behalf of another. It is implied that the represented lacks the skill, ability, or standing to speak for themselves.” "Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man He pleads with God, as a man pleads for his friend." Job 16: 19-20 When we lay our pride aside and acknowledge that we cannot speak for ourselves because sin has separated us from our true Father in heaven, Jesus stands up and speaks on our behalf. He tells the Father that you have been given full access to all that is His. You have now been granted complete access to all of God’s riches through faith in Jesus Christ, who has become your blue "access isle”.

We will be back very soon, in the meantime these closing words say it much better than we could...

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:1-6

We are "rejoicing in the hope",

Gene and Michele