Speechless: A Season to Remember

A week ago today, the season finale of ABC's Speechless aired.

Speechless, a relatively new sitcom, is about JJ DeMao and his family. JJ DeMao, played by Micah Fowler, is a teenage boy who has Cerebral Palsy. Speechless is a light-hearted show, that not only portrays life with a disability, but life as a part of a quirky family.

Speechless is a revolutionary show for multiple reasons.

Micah Fowler, the actor who plays JJ, actually has Cerebral Palsy. It is extremely uncommon for Hollywood to cast a role of a disabled character let alone let a person with a disability fill that role.

JJ DeMao is not a prop in the background, he is not that token disabled supporting character; JJ is the main character. More often than not, Hollywood does not cast a disabled character as a main role. However, Speechless is different; this show is built around JJ's life.

That is another thing, in Speechless, JJ is just living his life. He is not planning his death, he is not being portrayed as just surviving or as dying; HE IS LIVING! When Hollywood does write a part of a main character who is disabled, that character is often too sick or disabled to enjoy life, and the show typically ends with the death of that character.

JJ is not a burden, nor is he one to be pitied. He is a person who is loved dearly by his crazy family. He is a DeMao, and that is just as important -- or possibly even more important -- to his character, than him having Cerebral Palsy.

Speechless portrays JJ's life well; this show reveals what life is like with a disability, but at the same time does not obsessively focus on the disability. It is refreshing to see disability portrayed as just one aspect of a person's life, not as their sole definition of life. JJ is a person, not his disability, and Speechless expresses this well.

Comfort v. Ease: The Wheel of Two Chairs

I have two wheelchairs: one manual, one power. A manual wheelchair is operated via one's own power or the power of another, while a power wheelchair can be electronically operated via a pair of batteries and a joystick.

My manual chair -- which I paid for out of pocket -- is exactly what I wanted. It fits me well; it is comfortable and fashionable. I feel good in my manual chair, not just physically, but psychologically as well. However, there is one catch, I am not physically able to independently propel my chair in order to get from point A to point B.

On the other hand, my power chair solves this; when using my power chair, I have the ability to freely move from point A to point B with the flick of  joystick. Unfortunately, my power chair -- which was purchased through my insurance -- is too big for me; the seat swallows me; there is not enough support and I slide all around. This is uncomfortable, and within a half an hour of sitting in my power chair, I am in pain. I need to use my chair ALL day; it is my access to mobility, but it is not enjoyable to be in pain all day.

This dilemma has forced me to choose comfort over ease.  Either way, I have mobility, but it would be more beneficial to me if my power chair fit me comfortably, on top of giving me my independence and freedom.

I have had this power chair for a little less than a year, and with the insurance under which I am covered, I can get a new power chair every five years. So, here's to figuring out how to be comfortable and independently mobil. I am pretty sure four years will give us enough time to figure that out... However, getting a new power chair does not guarantee that it will be a comfortable fit. And, by that point, who knows what insurance will be like, and if I will even be able to get another power chair (but that is a topic for another time).