I was speaking with a friend the other day, after a particularly difficult few hours trying to travel around Manhattan on the city bus and my motorized scooter, when she jokingly said we should develop a reality show about all the challenges I face while living independently with physical disabilities.  At least I thought she was joking, she knows how I hate reality shows.  But when I thought about it I wondered if that wouldn’t be a great way to get people to at least think about some of the obstacles people with physical disabilities face, after all anything labeled a reality show seems to be very popular.

Personally I don’t think most of current reality shows on TV should be called that.  The few I have had the misfortune to see at least parts of seem to naturally fall into three different categories; Game Shows, Competitions, and Unscripted Shows. I haven’t seen anything that comes close to approximating my life or that of anyone I know.

But my purpose for this Post is not to rate the existing reality shows.  The one my friend mentioned would be more realistic and portray a real woman trying to remain independent while coping with real physical challenges and disabilities.  Although I had 4 spinal surgeries and have lived with chronic pain in my back and legs since I was 12-years old, I was able to raise my daughter as a single mother, put myself through college and graduate school and advance in a career that was very demanding.  I had many hospitalizations and several surgeries during this time, but we were an excellent team and we persevered.

  In the early 1990s, I was also formally diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a progressive, and often disabling, condition of the Central Nervous System (CNS), although some doctors said I had it as far back as 1980, when the MS lesions were evident on my spine during my third spinal surgery. The MS caused me to have increasing difficulty with my mobility. It also started to affect my eyesight and other bodily functions. 

In 1998, two weeks after my daughter graduated from law school, my physical condition had deteriorated to the point that I had to stop working and go on disability. I still wanted, however, to maintain my independence and live a full and productive life.

I could no longer drive so I sold my house on Long Island and moved to Manhattan, a move that brought change to every aspect of my life.  Can you see this reality show taking form? Think about the current Desperate Housewives of New York.  Now think about An Independent Woman on Wheels, about a single woman with disabilities, who has to make many major changes in her life. She now has to use a scooter to get around the city, and there aren’t elevators on most of the subways so she can only get around on the bus or Access-A-Ride, the small buses designated for those with disabilities.  You can picture several rather humorous episodes built upon this.  While these episodes can be made humorous I can assure you some of them are rather desperate!