It is definitely hard sometimes not being to go out, but honestly I think it’s like this in a lot of schools.  I’m not saying that this is good or bad, just what it is.  My school is right in the middle of Ann Arbor, and there are lots of restaurants, bars, and a few nightclubs.  I think that even if there were more students with disabilities here I still wouldn’t like to go out like that very much.  I love exploring new places with people but I’m not very interested in going to bars.  The one major exception though is if they have a rooftop deck.   I think those are awesome!  I actually did consider going to another school, Wright State which is in Dayton, Ohio mainly because there is a large group of students with disabilities that attend.  If I lived closer I may have tried it, but it was just too far to be practical.  Right now if I get sick my mom can get to me in about 40-45 minutes and I’m only about 5-10 minutes from the hospital where all my care is centered.  If I had gone to Wright State it would have taken her about 3 and half hours to get there.  Obviously I don’t want to get sick and don’t get sick too often, but it’s nice knowing my mom can get to me quickly if I need her.  I think the support services at school are decent.  I haven’t really utilized the office that much.  It was like that in high school and undergrad though.  I am always registered with them so I can make sure that I can sit near the front and get a certain kind of table if I need one, and if I need to take written tests I can get extra time.

I think there are people who enjoy similar things; it is just a matter of finding them.  I tend to have only a few friends that are really good friends (as opposed to large numbers of acquaintances).  For example, the last week I was on campus my friend and I went and explored an art museum that was right across the street from my dorm.  He really wanted to show me this exhibit about fluxus art.  Let’s just say its interesting…. Haha.  But it was super fun.  Throughout the semester we have hung out and went to the game room and gotten lattes.  He introduced me to the game of backgammon.  So while it  may not seem like much, we always have fun hanging out and can talk and get to know each other.

Also during that week I went on my own and explored an archeology museum.  There are a number of museums on campus that are owned by the university so it’s free to get in!  After I got back from that museum I went and bought some stickers for the back of my wheelchair in the bookstore:

The main thing that has been going on here though is I started something called serial casting last week.  Serial casting is where I go in about every 2 weeks to have a set of casts put on, and in this case its for my legs.  The goal is to try and straighten my legs to gain some extension.  I went last Wednesday to have them put on, and then had them taken off on Friday.  After they were removed we added straps to use as splints.  The doctor was really nervous about my legs getting too weak since I can’t move very much with the casts on.  So, if I use them as splints I can still use them to stretch but can take them off to walk around and keep active.  I went with purple glitter. :)