This past weekend we attended the Abilities Expo in Edison, New Jersey. It was an incredible experience. It was hands down the most inclusive place that either of us have ever been and we met some of the kindest people. One of my favorite parts was seeing older interabled couples because it gave Charlie and myself a glimpse into our future.
We met this woman name Kristy Lacroix. She is a travel agent that specialized in booking accessible vacations, this is inspired by traveling with her husband who has MS. The presentation she gave was very informative. She spoke about all the different places that are in fact accessible such as Alaska, South Africa, most of the Caribbean, Ireland, as well as cruising through Royal Caribbean and Disney. She even had a copy of the sign that she puts on her husband’s wheelchair for airplane travel. Her website is http://www.wheelchairescapes.com
The convention was an awesome experience for us as an interabled couple. I can say with confidence that this was one of the few times that we walked into a place and didn’t get looked at for having a wheelchair with us, and people did not assume I was Charlie’s aid, or his sister(one time I was asked if I was his mom, meanwhile Charlie is two years older than me).
Several different wheelchair manufacturers had booths and had products to try, some were even doing repairs. Seeing as Charlie does not often use his power chair and his manual chair is in good condition, we did not stop at any of those booths. There were several car companies that had vendors there as well, we did not check them out because we are not in the position to buy a new car just yet.
There was a dance company that did a few numbers that included able bodied dancers and wheelchair dancers. As someone who has danced her whole life and is limited in her dance abilities because of scoliosis sand being fused throughout almost her entire spine, it was incredible to see dancers of all abilities performing together. The name of the company is Dancing Wheels Company. They are located in Cleveland, and they perform all over, so if you ever get a chance, definitely check them out. I have a few clips that I’m including for you all.
This tap company, named Tap Dancing Hands Down, was definitely interesting to watch. The story of how it came to be hit close to home. The founder of the company was a dancer her whole life, her mom was also a dancer. Her mom had suffered a stroke and was no longer able to dance so the founder took a pair of black gloves and attached the tap parts of a tap shoe to the gloves so that her mom could still tap. I only have one video of them because the story hit too close to home having lost my mother a few months ago after a stroke in the beginning of 2020 and being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2021(if any of you want me to post about that, let me know and I’ll gladly share my mother’s story).
Overall, the Abilties Expo was an amazing experience, I cannot wait to go back next year and continue to network with other interabled couples and be inspired and inspire others.
Just interabled Things 