cabinfeveronline

Elaine's Passing

1:00 PM, Saturday 2 February 2008 .. 16 comments .. Link
Elaine Marie Hinchey, of Tampa, joined her mother, Mary A. Hinchey and beloved Daniel A. Maier on January 23, 2008. Elaine was born in Washington, D.C. and was a graduate of Parkdale Senior High School in College Park, MD and was an advocate for the disabled for over twenty-five years. Her life was dedicated to providing a voice for the oppressed whether it be in the pursuit of a united Ireland or advocating for the rights of the disabled and homebound. Elaine is survived by her father, Charles E. Hinchey, her sisters, Elise A. Wilson, Margo T. Valenti, Jennifer L. Hinchey and their families. Elaine’s well-loved extended family included many but her life was made complete with the love and support of Sandy and Martin Maier and her very dear friend, Avery Ceo.
A Memorial Mass will be held at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, Land O’ Lakes on Thursday, February 7, 2008 at 10 a.m.


Some of you may want to leave memorial messages. Since EFx2 may eventually remove this blog, a permanent guestbook has been set up at http://www.loylessfuneralhome.com/se...76&locid=1.

FUN WITH SLAVERY?

11:50 AM, Monday 14 January 2008 .. Posted in HUMAN RIGHTS .. 2 comments .. Link
Achairde All:

Well, every time I get frightened that I won't be able to write for much longer someone does something to convince me I still have a bit of the fight left in me no matter how bad I feel physically. This time the honors go to Facebook. By and large I like the place until something happened to me- WITH OUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT- and I'm back in the saddle again!

I think we all know how I feel about slavery. Mother knows I've written enough about it for almost 5 years. Also, can anyone forget the picture I posted of the 8 year old Sudanese House Slave who was expected to clean her Master's house and watch his children for a bowl of rice a day! Or the sex slaves lured to so-called "Civilized Countries" on the promise of good jobs as Nannies only to be sold into prostitution. Those who resist are beaten, tortured and chained to a bed where they are expected to service 20 to 40 clients a day.

If you want a real picture of how bad the situation is I suggest you go to the Anti-Slavery Homepage at:


Anti-Slavery Homepage
http://www.antislavery.org/

But the reality is slavery continues TODAY.

Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their 'employers'.

Slavery exists today despite the fact that it is banned in most of the countries where it is practiced. It is also prohibited by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1956 UN Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery. Women from eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race...


Why am I so irate? Here's a clue I came across at Facebook last night:

***** spanked you.
7:44pm
***** bought you for $571, earning you $30 in profit.
7:43pm

That's right folks- I WAS SOLD, MADE A PROFIT FROM, LISTED AS ONE OF THIS BODACH'S SEX PETS AND TOLD TO REPORT FOR MY SPANKING again ALL WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT!!!!!!!!!!!

I like a good joke as much as the next woman. But if you've read me a couple of times you would agree that I am, arguably, the WORST person they could have picked to do this to. At least that was the general consensus of several organizations I contacted about it. In fact one Anti-Slavery Advocate actually said, "Sweet Jesus! I'm going to go hide under my bed until the explosions are over! Are they crazy or they just don't know who you are?" (A bit of both I think- even though my profile makes it quite clear what I do and this is my Web Address.)

General attitude- IT'S JUST GOOD, CLEAN FUN!!! I couldn't care less what consenting Adults do in the privacy of their own rooms. We all know that if this jerk had written me asking to buy me, etc. the answer would have been an emphatic, "No!" (Followed by language that would have Miss Pat and Miss Wil making me lick a bar of lye soap like a lollipop!!!)

Since Facebook is Multi-Racial and you can be enslaved without your knowledge the NAACP was even less amused than I was!

So do me a favor and take a stand against slavery in any form. If you are a member of Facebook go to the Protest Section at the following link and let them know that this is not good, clean fun. It is humiliating, degrading and since most of the slaves are women, sexist.

PROTEST@ FACEBOOK
http://apps.facebook.com/protest/

I was really depressed when we had our outage. I am SO glad to be back among my Efx2 Family where no matter the gender, age or race we know the difference between right and wrong!

Keep the Faith!

Slan leat,
Elaine
AKA Cabin Fever
CABINFEVERONLINE

MOOD: IRATE
MUSIC: ANONYMOUS 4 - GOING OVER JORDAN


THE STORY OF ORVILLE

1:05 PM, Saturday 8 December 2007 .. Posted in THE LIFE DISABLED .. 10 comments .. Link

Achairde All:



I hope that everyone who had a Thanksgiving to celebrate had a wonderful day. I know that I did. The only downside to family gatherings is that I miss my Mama and my Daniel terribly. Mama was very big on Holidays and while it saddens me to think that my sisters and I can't carry on some of her traditions: The Annual Easter Egg Hunt & Roller Derby (I gave up on that one when I was 5'2" and my sisters were 6'0", 5'10" and 5'5" and it got so competitive it was like a Roller Derby without the skates or dainty manners); The Turkey Dance & Dive Bomber Exhibition; Christmas Hide-Out (while Mama talked to Santa/Dad) complete with Reindeer Landing On The Roof with Jingling Harness Bells (the last time we did that one I was 27) and Midnight Mass & Movie Night. That doesn't mean that I can't share my familial quirks with my EFx2blogs family so here is the story of Orville...



First you have to understand that my Mama was Irish Catholic. In fact there were days when she was SO Irish she was damn near debilitated by it! She, like many of the Irish, had her own names for certain things and damned if she couldn't get others to use them as well. Not that she MADE us say them it's just that you got used to them without noticing it. I'll never forget the time when I was working at Cigna I ordered a box of pens and when the Supply Guy came by he said, "We didn't have the brand you ordered but we do have Rolling Writer's. Can you use these instead?" That's right, I had written Roller Baller's by mistake- anyone want to guess what Mama's name for Rolling Writer's was? Yep, Roller Baller. We always had a salad or a 'wettuce ledge' with supper. One night my Dad calmly advised Mama that if he EVER ordered a 'wettuce ledge' in a restaurant mayhem would ensue when he got home.

She also wouldn't buy a stuffed toy or figurine unless the face and expression were 'right'. Our grocery store was selling teddy bears and she must have checked them out 5 or 6 shopping trips before she found the right one which she promptly named Barney for her oldest brother. The thing of it was the bear really did look like my Uncle Barney! (I guess I am carrying that tradition on because my mother-in-law and I were out shopping and I showed her a doll and she shook her head and said, "Not the right face." Then she turned beet red and mumbled, "I've been around you too long!" I, on the other hand, am leaning on the doll rack and laughing so hard I've got tears pouring down my face!!!)

One Saturday, years ago, Mama is working the Bazaar Sale at our Parish and she comes home with this ugly home made orange caterpillar that looks like someone's failure at Ceramics 101. I actually said, "Good Lord, Mama were you on acid when you bought this or what? That is one tacky knick-knack. Please tell me it's closet bound because according to the bottom its been in someone else's closet since 1973!"

That's when Mama went Audible on me...

"I was sitting by the Christmas Raffle Tree taking the money for the tickets when I noticed this little orange caterpillar on the other end of my table. I was fairly busy but my eyes kept being drawn to it. Finally, when I got a quiet moment, I got up and rescued him from being so alone and brought him to sit with me. It took me awhile to gain his trust. He had been, as you said, packed away in a dark closet and no one ever thought to bring him out even though he so dearly wanted a friend. Softly he said, "My name is Orville. Do think you could find a home for me?

You see the girl that made me went off to school and forgot to take me with her. Her mother thought I was tacky and she put me in that box in the closet. At first I had hope. I just knew that when my friend came home from school she would remember me and rescue me. Then she would take me to school with her and I would meet new friends and she would be proud to show me off and tell everyone that she loved me and she had made me with her own two hands. But I was wrong, she had outgrown things like me and I stayed in that closet. Weeks became months and months became years and all the while I was alone in the dark and worse, I had no people to love me. But no matter how long I was in that lonely box there was Someone who loved me and that Someone was Jesus. He had been so sad and lonely in the Garden of Gethsemane when his friends fell asleep and left him feeling abandoned too."

So there he sat, looking at me with his little paws clutched so tightly and hope shining in his bright eyes glimmering with unshed tears. Softer still he said, "Do you think I could come home with you? I don't take up much room but I would fill your home with love. I wouldn't even mind if you put me away when company comes because I am so ugly."

That's when I picked him up, went to another cashier and paid for him. As we were headed back to my table I could just feel the love and happiness pouring off of him. I gave him Pride of Place and I assured him, "Orville you will always be where you can see others and they can see you. I would never hide you away when company comes because friends don't do that to each other. I know my girls will love you as much as I do because they will see joy in your smile, trust in your eyes and friendship extended in your little hands."

Then my Mama turned her eyes on me and said, "I must have been wrong because you judged him on his appearance and like the others who couldn't see his value you wanted to shut him away again."

Folks, I am not ashamed to say that despite being an educated 28 year old woman I sat there clutching Orville and sobbing. NOT delicate tears but the kind of sobs where you wheeze and your eyes swell shut. It was in that state that I managed to tell her, "I was wrong Mama. I was so wrong to judge him just on how he looks. There's a good heart there only I was too busy and in too much of a hurry to notice. Please Mama, let him come home with me. I won't hide him away when company comes and I will love him and be his friend because he taught me a valuable lesson. One which you taught me when I was little and I was in danger of forgetting. Please Mama, let him come live with me!"

So that's the Story of Orville. Who, for the last 20 years has sat in my living rooms with Pride of Place atop my Bibles for everyone to see him. Only now he does double duty as he reminds me of my Mama who taught me never judge others on their appearance and that the greatest love sometimes comes in the plainest or most broken of packages.

Slan leat,
Elaine
AKA Cabin Fever
CABINFEVERONLINE

MOOD: Melancholy
MUSIC: Gypsy Soul ~ Silver Lining

1ST GOLDEN CABIN AWARD & CHALLENGE

2:30 PM, Saturday 17 November 2007 .. Posted in THE LIFE DISABLED .. 5 comments .. Link

Achairde All:



As I have said before and will probably say again, "Many are called but few are chosen!" Congratulations to Paledaemon for her honesty, bravery and truly heartbreaking Comment to, "THE FAMILY & GOVERNMENT DYSFUNCTIONAL:


I'm A GCA Award Winner


She joins the ranks of fellow bloggers Miss Pat, Bitzky, MindCandy, Sharon B, Keith and the like. A rare company indeed. Massive kudos are due, folks.

That was a difficult article for me to write and I wasn't surprised that I didn't have many Comments. What did surprise me is the over 1100 emails I received and most of them were as heart wrenching as PD's situation. Two things have really shocked me since I became Disabled at the age of 31. One, if you or one of your children is Disabled there is only one state that mandates that Domestic Violence Shelters take you. For the rest of us there's "No Room At The Inn". (I know from first hand experience since I called the shelter here in Tampa while I was 'married' to the late, unlamented and annulled PFG. They wouldn't take me because I was still in a wheelchair. When I asked WHERE I could go their answer was, "No where here in Florida!")

This is the second. There are many Disabled people who do not qualify for an Assisted Living Facility (and wouldn't want to be in one of those snake pits anyway) who receive little or no help from their families. I am not speaking of personal care or money or housing. I mean help getting to the doctors, picking up scripts or getting groceries. The saddest thing of all was the majority of the people who wrote me told me that they were made to feel ashamed, were accused of 'faking' their Disability despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary or had family members deliberately pick fights so they could justify not helping out.

When did we become so uncaring as a society? One of the things I do, besides write CFO, is to help people find Social Services or step in when they've been denied assistance they qualify for. It isn't a freakin' Personality Contest folks. I have helped people that I would not choose to socialize with even if you had put a gun to my head. However, that's not the issue, is it? It's getting them the help they need and are entitled to. And the damnedest thing about it is it's the Disabled person who is embarrassed about it. Not the uncaring and self-centered families!

I used to just cringe when someone from the FL DCF, Self-Reliance or other Agency would ask about my family assisting me. I usually broke it down to one sentence, "They have chosen not to participate in my Health Care." Which earned me quite a few, "Yeah, riigghhtt!" remarks. Before Medicare Part D, when I was getting my meds through Hillsborough County, they grilled me so throughly that I actually burst into tears right in their office. They wanted my sisters telephone numbers and I wouldn't give them up because I was so ashamed and I was trying to protect THEM!!!

Now when someone asks I give them my Health Care Surrogates phone numbers and suggest they call them to ask about any family participation. The DCF called both Sandy and Avery on the subject and while I did not ask for the particulars I got the distinct impression they weren't near as 'dainty' as I would have been under the circumstances! Since I started doing this the Agencies have put away their pliers and don't ask me anymore.

That's what makes Paledaemon so brave. She makes no bones about what her family is doing to her instead of keeping it a dirty little family secret. People who read the Comments and wrote me said it was because she gave them the courage to email me about their own situation. She not only deserves her Golden Cabin she should have the respect of every person here.

Something else to keep in mind, after Katrina rescuers found a large number of Disabled dead in their apartments because they had no way to get out. 65 people in one Extended Care Facility died when the owners ran for safety and left them there to drown. Only ONE Disabled individual made it out of the Twin Towers on 9/11. That's because two co-workers carried her down 90+ floors to safety. Everyone else who went to the floor they were told they would be evacuated from DIED.

It's hard enough to be Disabled. It shouldn't be a Death Sentence during a disaster. So I am challenging the Able Bodied among us to come up with some ideas on how you can improve things!

Slan leat,
Elaine
AKA Cabin Fever
CABINFEVERONLINE

MOOD: BLOODIED BUT UNBOWED
MUSIC: LINKIN PARK - PUSHING ME AWAY
TAGS: daily life, disability, families with disabled relatives

PRELUDE

4:16 PM, Wednesday 14 November 2007 .. Posted in THE LIFE DISABLED .. 7 comments .. Link

Achairde All:


I have several articles that I have been holding onto because of the Trackback issue. Please consider this, as the title suggests, the Prelude:





Slan leat,
Elaine
AKA Cabin Fever
CABINFEVERONLINE


MOOD: PAINFULLY LIGHTHEARTED
MUSIC: NAVAJO-MORNING STAR OF THE CHEROKEE
TAGS: daily life, disability, families with disabled relatives

{ Last Page } { Page 1 of 2 } { Next Page }

About Me

Home
My Profile
Archives
Friends
My Photo Album

Links

HUMAN RIGHTS IN ACTION
GovSpot
INDIAN COUNTRY NEWS
OER EDUCATION
BRAIN INJURY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
GOVBENEFITS
BLOG PANEL
BLOG CATALOG

Talk to Me


Free shoutbox @ ShoutMix

Categories

HUMAN RIGHTS
OFF MY CHAIN
THE LIFE DISABLED

Recent Entries

Elaine's Passing
FUN WITH SLAVERY?
THE STORY OF ORVILLE
1ST GOLDEN CABIN AWARD & CHALLENGE
PRELUDE


cabinfever@gmail.com



«  January 2009  »
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 


Friends

indigomoonarts
Chica
Eclectablog
WelshPixie
libertine
Shoegal
Patty
bitzky
heidiland
kinnigurl
LadyVisine
roserose
audsmom
donald113
LauriesAsylum
birdsnest
DeeJay
womanoffeathers
whiteorchid
treasa
joetheartist
randomshinichi
Nikkie
CleanNeedles
dantesinferno
mindcandy
primarybasic
lana
grimfairy
Divalicous1
thelostprophet
selkie
paledaemon
readerwil
blogawards