Life From Two Feet Below

So, my name's Jason Rhode. I'm a 40-year-old crip (I'll get to the crip term later). I live in Midland, Texas with my wife, who I’ll be writing a lot about and who’s also a crip with a different disability than my own. We have two fur babies, Hollywood, a Shih Tzu, and Chewy, a Lhaso Apso.

I’ve been around a bit and have seen a lot change in the crip world. My brother, Joey, and I were among the first kids mainstreamed to public school in ’82 and the introduction of the ADA (American With Disabilities Act) Laws, which Joey — my wife, I know it’s complicated with all the Joeys in my life — has a love/hate relationship with… but, those’re both different blogs. I’ve seen a lot NOT change in the crip world, which is sad since we are in the 21st century. This is where this blog comes into play. My goal is to engage crips and able-bodied people together to teach, learn for myself from both sides, and hopefully entertain with stories and hijinks, and believe me, there’s plenty of shit I’ve gotten myself into to keep you reading, hopefully.

Okay, so class is in session…

One thing you have to know about me is I’m un-PC… I’m not politically correct by any means. I offend able-bodies and especially crips. Given that, I’ve been a crip all my life and have gone through all the types I’m going to list below at some point in my life, might still have bouts every now and then, but, by and large, I’ve gotten to a point where I know who I am, and unless there’s a miracle, which could happen, I’m accepting of where I am. I’ve got visible scars all over my body from the multitude of surgeries I’ve had along the way, and I’m fine with them showing… They’re a part of me, for better or worse.

So, without further ado, here are my definitions:

HANDICAPPED — These people are the "pity me," live-off-the-government type crip. They are butt hurt easily, and don’t want to talk about their crip-ness under any circumstances. They might be a young-born crip, but I find that they’re the crip that got themselves put there from something stupid they did in the able-bodied life. Some were from occurrences that were outside their control, and I feel bad for them and want to help them. But most of these are the former… and I want to throat-punch these people.

DISABLED — PC term. These people may or may not have accepted their crip-ness, they may or may not live off the government tip, and may or may not get butt hurt easily. These people you have to walk on eggshells around. Some days, they might be willing to answer questions. Some days, you might be told to go to hell… it’s a crapshoot.

Then, there’s Joey and I.

We’re the CRIP. They know their limitations, and have accepted their crip-ness, and run with it. The name of the game is adapting. Joey and I live by the quote from the awesome, awesome film Rocky Balboa (2006): “It’s not how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward.” Their lives are open books. They'd rather be asked questions than stared at... yes, people do still do stare…and, it’s not just kids.

Okay, so, now you know.

Class dismissed.

So, anyhoo, like I said earlier, with this blog, I hope to entertain, teach, and maybe help other crips and people in general going through this trip we call life on this berg we call Earth.

Peace out and much love.