What A Person With Hemiparesis Can Do

I am getting very, very tired of people making erroneous assumptions about what I can and can't do as a disabled individual. I get tired of people assuming that there are no simple adaptations for common tasks, therefore they can be used as discrimination points for jobs because they don't want to face the reminder of their own mortality that my presence brings to their life.

Tough.
Learn to deal with the fact that the disabled have a right to live and work too.
Learn to deal with the fact that young people have strokes, and aren't always able-bodied, thin and fit.
Learn to deal with your own mortality, and don't use your unwillingness to be uncomfortable and unwillingness to be creative deny me a job and a livelihood.

The Ugly Truth

I was born in 1961. I had an AVM blow out as they were going in to remove it in 1995 - a hemorrhagic stroke. I have hemiparesis. This means I have decreased use of my right leg, and very, very limited use of my right arm and hand. I also have some balance problems. It is true that there are some things that it is literally impossible for me to do.

I weigh over 200 pounds at 5' 8". I do not have high blood pressure or high cholesterol or any of the other "fat people" problems. The stroke was due to a congenital problem, not "bad lifestyle choices" or other such nonsense.

What I Can And Can't Do

The "can't do" items are actually limited to stuff that fully requires strength and/or dexterity in both arms, or good balance. The "can do" items are everything else, including stuff that a lot of folks assume is on the can't list, but is actually possible because of ingenuity and adaptation.

Can't do:
• Knit by the standard method (supposedly there's an older method that is usable one handed.)
• Play the flute (Takes two hands for fingering.)
• Ride a bicycle (Balance issues, still.)
• Climb a vertical ladder (No way to stay on it while I move my hand up.)
• Pushups (I never was good at these.)
• Wire wrap jewelry (Haven't managed to adapt the tools yet.)
• Stand on my feet all day (The bum leg gives out.)
• Drive a manual transmission vehicle
• Stand up from the tight areas without something to grab on to
• Walk a straight line with my head back and eyes closed like the drunk test, or "put both my hands in the air".

Can do:
• Lift a 50 pound case of paper, or bags containing 12 2-liters, or a 50 pound sack of sand.
• Crochet (Modified two hands method.)
• Type 35 wpm on a standard keyboard
• Ride an adult tricycle.
• Climb a stepladder (As long as it has a slant and is stable, I'm good.)
• Go up and down stairs (I live in a house with stairs, and handrails are my friends.)
• Play the trumpet or french horn.
• Embroidery, needlepoint and sewing.
• Beading, candlemaking and soapmaking.
• Assemble a computer from parts.
• Crimp ends onto a cable.
• Situps.
• Use a nailgun/staplegun
• Drive an automatic transmission car, truck or van without modification.
• Dye my own hair.
• Get up after falling or tripping

If You Need It, Ask!

As you can see, the list of things I can do is longer than most people might expect. I also have a pretty good sense of what is really posiible with a little ingenuity and adaptation (cheating, faking it, whatever you want to call it) and what I just can't do.