Women IN Power WITH Disabilities. Tough Beans. Say Thanks and Be KindER

Hello again, digital reader - have you chosen a life motto? In your search for one, did you think to settle on "Don't judge a book by its cover..." ? I happen to know someone who did. I think we've all been guilty of that literary crime. It's "not rreeaalllyyy" a "crime" but that little white lie we tell ourselves when we skip ahead to the "good parts" is still not the complete truth, now is it?

So, let's be real about ableism for a moment, in honour of March 27th - the day AFTER Purple Day. Still an important day. Yesterday, my best friend, Deidre Syms, gave her first live interview on Global News. She was phenomenal. She is the executive director of BC Epilepsy, our province's go-to society for supports for thousands of people living with epilepsy and rocked it. I watched in awe the whole time.

Listen up now, all of you.

Any person on this planet could "need support overcoming a barrier." I'm paraphrasing the intent I (personally, not as an employee) had when helping draft the ABCA. Those words mean simply that humans, by nature, are not immortal, and will face barriers to health (age, "dis"ability, "mo"bility etc.) in due time as death nears. That is simple fact.