Allison M Boot's Blog

Thank you Letter to Cerebral Palsy

Dear Cerebral Palsy,

I read recently that thankfulness takes the sting out of adversity. In that spirit, I decided to write you a thank you letter.

You are my friend. You are my enemy. You have been my constant companion from the moment that I took my first breath. You have shaped my life in ways that no one, including myself, ever imagined possible.

My early years were full of uncertainty. Whispered questions of what a life with you would look like were uttered almost constantly. You were seen as a weakness. My family, friends, doctors, and therapists did all they could to help me become stronger in spite of you. However, no matter how strong I became, there were still things people told me I couldn’t do thanks to your presence in my life. Fortunately, I listened not to those people, but to you, my frenemy. You pushed me to think outside of the box and prove the naysayers wrong. I thank you for lighting that fire inside of me and pushing me to learn how to do things like ride a bike and climb a wall. Those may seem like minor accomplishments to some, but to me those accomplishments mean everything because you were with me every step of the way.

My formative years were a constant battle between you and me. Once I became strong enough to survive with you, my goal was to defeat you. Nearly, every hour, outside of school, was focused on making you disappear.  At one point, I even thought I had found a secret weapon.  For six years, I poured every ounce of my energy into a therapy that was rumored to have made the constant companions of others disappear. Year after year, the therapy awoke muscles that you had tried to shield from me. Time and time again, I would get my hopes up only to have them come crashing down because my ultimate goal was not met. Try as I might, I could not make you leave. In time, albeit begrudgingly at first, I came to accept that you will be with me forever.  Years have passed since our battle, and I must admit, I am grateful that we didn’t part. Now I understand that together, we are fighting a battle far greater than any I could fight without you.

Adulthood with you has been very interesting so far. Every few years you bring about new aches and pains, but also new adventures which I have learned to embrace. Embracing you and the challenges you bring about has helped me to grow as a person and to realize my purpose.   My life partner and I have a level of understanding and empathy for one another that most people cannot dream of having thanks to you. As much as I wish things were easier for us sometimes, I know that our level of connection would not be possible if you were not also his unwavering companion. Thanks to you my eyes were opened to just how much encouragement the people of this world need to embrace differences and accept one another.  I have made it my mission to spread that much needed encouragement to others by disseminating messages of acceptance and equality. I can fulfill this mission because of the unique perspective you have given me on life. The battle for equality in this world is ongoing, but I know as long as I have you as my partner in the fight, I will undoubtedly make a positive impact. So, thank you for always being there. Thank you for fighting the good fight with me.

As you know, despite all of the positive things you’ve brought into my life, there are still moments and days that I despise you and wish that you did not exist. From now on, when I find myself having those moments or days, I will read this letter to remind myself of the impact that you, my forever frenemy, have had on my life so that we can continue working together in the fight for equality.

All my love,

Allison M. Boot

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Encourage Adaptive Recreation in Your Community to Support Inclusion

It’s been nearly 20 years since I first rolled onto a stage with butterfly wings on the back of my wheelchair and tried my best to dance like no one was watching, but I still remember just how exhilarated I felt.

Adaptive recreation is a a great way to encourage the integration and inclusion of people with and without disabilities and encouraged equality in communities. I participated in a wheelchair ballet class from age 12 to 14 and loved every minute of it. The class gave me the opportunity to get out of my wheelchair, have fun, and work with real dancers as a part of the beloved ballet performances A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Nutcracker.

Despite only being in wheelchair ballet for two years, I can honestly say that my childhood would not have been what it was had I not been a part of the class. My time in the class was short-lived, not by choice, but because too many students’ parents became stage obsessed and complained about their children not being the star of our recitals. Just before rehearsals for what would have been my third recital were set to begin, I received a call from the head ballet instructor saying that she was no longer offering classes for people with disabilities and we could not join another class because our parents caused her too much stress.

Even at age 14 the fact that integrating people with disabilities into a standard ballet class had been discouraged struck me as odd. My mother and I looked for other extracurricular activities for me take part in but could not find something that was adaptive and held my interest. The summer between my junior and senior year of high school. I heard about Springhill Camps which surprisingly offer every summer camp activity from horseback riding to zip lining to children and teens with and without disabilities. I spent the next two summers living it up in the outdoors trying everything from kayaking to a high ropes obstacle course. Admittedly, although I fancied myself Invincible and capable of doing anything as a teenager, I was sometimes as surprised as my fellow able-bodied campers that I could complete camp activities. Looking back, for me, the experience highlights both the purpose and importance of integration and inclusion of people with disabilities. Without those summer camp experiences, I may have never realized my true capabilities

I joined an adaptive recreation club in college. I enjoyed getting to know other people with disabilities and playing wheelchair basketball and wheelchair football, but I was once again struck by the lack of integration. Until I invited some of my able-bodied friends to participate, the only able-bodied people involved were those paid to be assist people with disabilities. I attended Wright State University, which is known for its support programs for people with disabilities. It surprised me that adaptive sports were not better advertised to all students at a university known for supporting those with disabilities. The lack of able-bodied student participation in adaptive recreation was a wake-up call for me. It made me realized just how much the integration of people with and without disabilities still needs to be encouraged in society.

According to an article on www.cnn.com, in August 2017, a huge victory in the fight for integration was achieved when a loving father created the world’s first ultra-accessible water park. Morgan’s Inspiration Island in San Antonio, Texas, was named for the daughter of its creator and is known for the culture of inclusion that the environment and its amenities, which include a waterproof wheelchair and riverboats that rise to the level of those with disabilities, help to foster.

One can only have that Morgan’s Inspiration Island is a sign of where efforts to further integrate and include people with disabilities in society are headed, but if my life experiences, as limited as they are in this area, show anything it is that we have a long way to go before integration becomes commonplace in society. As is true regarding any advocacy effort, we will not achieve this goal unless we fight for it and become the change we want to see in society.

I hope this article serves as a push to others who read it to encourage integration and inclusion in their communities. Get creative. Bring a few people with disabilities and some spare wheelchairs to your local basketball team’s next practice, organize a trip to Morgan’s Inspiration Island for your local boy or girl scout troop, or start a adaptive recreation club in your town and encourage any and all to join. Whatever you choose to do to help integrate your community make sure that it is as fun and inclusive as possible.

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Stand Up Against Subminimum Wage

How do you think people around the country would react if the government suddenly passed a law stating that people with blue eyes would be paid less to perform jobs than people with brown, green, or hazel eyes?

Chances are people would be in an uproar and stand up to the government for passing a law dependent on something like eye color which no one can control. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about subminimum wage laws, which allow companies to pay people with disabilities based on performance, even though people with disabilities can’t help the fact that they have disabilities any more than people can help their eye color.

Many people with disabilities these days earn pennies per hour at sheltered workshops. According to an article on the National Public Radio (NPR) website www.npr.org, such sheltered websites are regulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 which allows companies to pay subminimum wages, based on how productive a person with disabilities is compared to a worker without disabilities doing the same task.

The NPR article goes on to detail how the law mentioned above was originally intended to encourage the hiring of veterans with disabilities, but in recent years has come under fire for reinforcing poverty and segregation of those with disabilities.

The fact that this problem still exists in a country where over the past couple years the idea of nearly doubling minimum wage to $15 an hour has been a hot button issue is ludicrous. Think about it this way. The country is considering doubling minimum wage for able-bodied workers who often have lengthy gossip sessions during smoke breaks or sit on their cellphones making weekend plans while taking restrooms breaks yet the country is perfectly okay to pay workers with disabilities who are often very enthusiastic and dedicated to their jobs a subminimum wage. In what way does that make any sense?

As a disability advocate I’ll tell you, it makes no sense at all. Advocates fought for years to have the rights of people with disabilities in all aspects of public life, including employment protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The rights that we gained under the ADA should not be threatened by another law. Especially a law that is clearly outdated.

Unfortunately, there are many people who disagree with me and support subminimum wages by saying that most people with disabilities are happy to work regardless of their wage. Additionally, supporters of subminimum wages believe that working is what impacts self-esteem and not wages earned so therefore their wages do not matter. In a world where the housing and job markets are flooded with competition, the idea that wages earned do not matter is absolutely crazy.

Personally, I’d like to ask the lawmakers without disabilities who support subminimum wages a couple of questions. Firstly, I’d like to ask them if they would be okay with being compared to other lawmakers and being paid based on their performance? Secondly, if given a chance to speak to a supporter of subminimum wage, I’d question, if pay based on productivity is fair, why pay earned during smoke breaks, restroom breaks, and other unproductive times is not deducted from the paychecks of able-bodied workers?

Advocates have been asking politicians questions like the ones above for many years to no avail. Lawmakers have told advocates for various states that it would take too long and be too costly to outlaw subminimum wages, but that has not advocates from fighting for “Real jobs and real wages” for people with disabilities. A small victory occurred for advocates in 2014 when President Obama signed an executive order raising the minimum wage for workers employed by federal contractors including those with disabilities to $10.10. According to an article on www.the mighty.com, another small victory occurred this February when Alaska became the third state alongside New Hampshire and Maryland to eliminate subminimum wages. These small victories are proof that subminimum wages can be outlawed, but the fact that only a few states have gotten rid of such laws shows that we have a long way to go before getting subminimum wages outlawed nationally.

I hope this article inspires others to join the fight and stand up against subminimum wage. If abolishing subminimum wage is something you believe in, then there are few ways you can make your voice heard. Contact your state senator and express why subminimum wages should be outlawed, start a petition to outlaw subminimum wages and get others to sign it, and/or educate others about this issue so that they will join the fight. Remember…nothing about us with us.

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The Importance of Advocacy in the ADA Generation

People with disabilities born in the U.S. a few years prior to or after 1990, such as myself, have had the great fortune of growing up in a world where the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) exists to protect our rights and are known by older advocates as the ADA Generation.

While society still has a long way to go in terms of truly accepting people with disabilities, the ADA Generation has not had to fight for our rights with the same intensity as older advocates because we have always had the law to fall back on. The ADA Generation had a bit of a wake-up call recently when a new political party entered the White House and aspects of our very existence in society were threatened by proposed cuts to Medicaid. According to a February 2018 article on www.time.com, older advocates and advocates from the ADA Generation came together in March 2017 and staged a die-in at the Capitol Rotunda in protest of the cuts which threatened the right of people with disabilities to live in our homes with the help of personal assistants and assistive devices. Many advocates at the protest were members of ADAPT, a national advocacy organization founded in 1983 with the goal of making transportation accessible. The organization has since evolved and now advocates for the right of people with disabilities to live as independently as possible with the help of personal assistants. The cuts to Medicaid were appealed after the protest allowing members of ADAPT and other advocates to celebrate a small victory.

Unfortunately, over a year later, the rights of people with disabilities are still at stake due to threats to allow states to add work requirements to Medicaid and threats to go back to insurance policies which consider pre-existing conditions. An article on www.bustle.com details how such changes could make most people with disabilities unable to afford much-needed health insurance plans and have potentially fatal consequences for many which means the lives of people are essentially at stake as much as our rights are. This is a prime example of why older advocates and the ADA generation need to continue to come together to protect our rights. The fact that our very existence is being threatened in a world where the ADA exists shows that we need to protect our rights now more than ever.

Just as older advocates didn’t stop at Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, we can’t stop now. The ADA Generation along with older generations of advocates have a responsibility to continue to fight for acceptance and inclusion in society as well as to advocate to maintain the rights we already have. Lastly, and perhaps mostly importantly, we have a responsibility to instill the importance of advocacy into members of future generation to ensure our rights remain protected in the future.

The challenges that disability advocates often face and the responsibilities that come with being an advocate probably seem daunting to some people, but, at its core, advocacy is simply about standing up for you believe in and making your voice heard. I will admit that I’m not a very political person, but the more involved with advocacy I become, the more I understand how much politics and advocacy go hand in hand. Voting, for example, is one way people can become part of the political process in this county and ensure their voices are heard. Now that the lives of people with disabilities are essentially at stake, the disability vote is more important than ever before. One of every five people in the U.S. has a disability. There is strength in numbers. If we all come together and ensure our voices heard, then we will not only be able to protect our rights, we will be able to make equality a true reality.

As a closing to this article, I urge any and all who read it to advocate for the lives of those with disabilities in any and every way possible. Vote in local and national elections, join your local chapter of ADAPT, get involved with your local Center for Independent Living, educate others about the impact of potential Medicaid cuts so they too will join the fight for disability rights. We need allies now more than ever before. Whatever you do to advocate and help protect the rights, make sure your voice is heard! A new chapter of the Disability Rights Movement has begun, and we cannot rest will remain intact for this generations and all future generations.

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Are “Smart Onesies” Really Smart?

In a world full of “smartphones” and “smart watches,” it’s no surprise that “smart onesies” exist. While “smart onesies” cannot track how far babies crawl or alert them to needing diaper changes, the onesies are able to help babies develop motor and cognitive skills.

According to an article in the Huffington Post, “smart onesies” were developed specifically to be a means of early intervention for babies with Cerebral Palsy (CP). As a person with CP, I understand the importance of early intervention and believe therapeutic and surgical intervention can improve a person’s quality of life. However, in my opinion, such forms of intervention should only be utilized when medically necessary.

The Huffington Post article details how “smart onesies” have sensors that allow doctors to monitor brain activity, are attached to babies via a harness, and are coupled with the use of a skateboard-type-crawler which helps to promote early movement. Such onesies have helped babies as young as two months old have the best start in the life, according to the article.

While a “smart onesies” sounds good in theory, as a disability advocate, I find the message promoted through such onesies to be offensive. With all due respect to the biomedical engineers and physical therapists who developed “smart onesies,” the idea that babies with CP must be hooked up to harnesses and have their brain activity monitored to have the best start in life is completely ridiculous.

“Smart onesies” are one of many quick “fixes” or cures that promise a “normal” life for people with disabilities promoted in a world saturated by miraculous technological and scientific advances. Unfortunately, society being bombarded by such messages has perpetuated the belief that people must be able-bodied and “normal” to live a worthwhile life.

As an employed, married, home-owning woman with CP, I am living proof that people do not have to be able-bodied to fulfilling life. I currently spend my days advocating for others with disabilities through writing and working at a non-profit which helps people with development disabilities gain independence and live the lives they choose. I became the person I am today because while growing up my mother always told me that even with my disability I could do whatever I set my mind to. I became the advocate I am today after becoming involved with a Center for Independent Living (CIL) and learning not only about how far the Disability Right Movements has progressed, but how far we as advocates still have to go in the fight for equality.

Becoming involved with a CIL opened my eyes to the fact that people with disabilities are part of a rich and beautiful history. I couldn’t believe that I had not heard of advocates like Wade Blank, who fought to make our public transportation systems accessible or Fred Fay, who fought for Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which was a precursor, so to speak, to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) before getting involved with the CIL. I thought to myself, ‘why didn’t I hear about these incredible men and their first for my rights in school?’ I also found myself wondering why my parents had never spoken to me about them or other advocates. In time, I came to realize that I had not been educated about advocates with disabilities because they do not meet societal definitions of normal. Instead of being respected, the earliest disability advocates who fought for our basic human rights were considered less than and, as a result, their stories were not publicized as they should have been in society.

It is high time we change the definition of normal in society today to include people of all cognitive and physical abilities. Disability advocates can help do this by embracing life and living it to the fullest with our disabilities. I hope this article serves as a call-to-action for other advocates. I urge you to share your story, the stories of other advocates you know, and the stories of other advocates who came before you and paved the way. Help show society that a disability is not something that needs to cured or fixed, but rather something that should be embraced. People with disabilities have made amazing, life changing contributions to the world. There is no telling how many more incredible improvements we can make on this planet if society realizes it is best to embrace us rather than cure us.

It can be tempting to share stories like the one about “smart onesies” with others, but I hope after reading this article, when you spot or hear such a story, you will ask yourself whether or not the story has a message you really want to spread throughout society and then choose to share your story instead.

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Ask Me Anything…Tomorrow Night

Is there a question that you’ve always wanted to ask me,but are constantly forgetting to post on my discussion page? Now is your chance.  I am being featured  as “The Author Spotlight” of Disability Empowerment Coach Latrea Wyche’s Empowerment Hour at 7pm/6pm central tomorrow night. Tune in to hear us discuss the inspiration behind Just the Way You Are, get some juicy details on my future projects, and ask me anything you want about myself, my life, and/or my books. Call in toll free at 646-787-2869. Hope you will join in what is sure to be an awesome conversation. Until next time, don’t forget to love yourself just the way you are

The Book I Dislike Most

 Hey Readers,


I have an interesting question for you today. What book do you dislike most and why? The book I dislike most is Wuthering Heights. I read the book in high school because I was required to write a report on it. While I greatly respect Emily Bronte as writer and believe that she was a great writer for her time, I found the book to be very boring and hard to get into. As a result, it took me forever to read the story and I did not enjoy it. I found the plot and the repetitive  use of names to be confusing. The story itself was also very anti-climatic in my opinion. In a nutshell, with all due respect to Emily Bronte, Wuthering  Heights was a slow, boring, and confusing book. Comment on the discussion page associated with this post and let me know what book you dislike the most and why. As always, until next time, don’t forget to love yourself just the way you are

Launch Team Needed for The Magic Within

Hey Readers,

I’m looking for a launch team for my upcoming book entitled The Magic Within.  Being on a launch team might sound like a lot of work, but it is actually quite simple. I’m looking for 15 people who have at least 200 Facebook friends to be on my launch team. In about a month, when the release of my book is approximately a month away, I will send the 15 people who join book related information and statuses that I have shared on my social media every 2 or 3 days. The only requirements to join and stay a member of my launch team are to agree to share my book related statuses with your Facebook friends at least twice a week through the book release and to agree to attend/ be a part of the virtual launch party I plan on holding for The Magic Within. If that sounds like a deal you can agree to and you would like to be a member of The Magic Within launch team then comment the discussion page or social media posts connected to this blog and let me know. Feeling skeptical?  Let me sweeten the deal by telling you that the 15 people who join my launch team will get a free copy of The Magic Within. I can’t wait to see who joins the team. Thank you all so much in advance ! Until next time, don’t forget to love yourself just the way you are

Seeking Opinions about the Sequel to Just the Way You Are

 Hey Readers,


I am happy to report that now that The Magic Within is in the final stages of editing, I have decided to revisit the sequel to Just the Way You Are. I don’t want to give too much away but I will say that the sequel is entitled, Perfectly Imperfect and will be told from Kara’s point of view. Before I get too far into writing it, I wanted to come to you as my readers and ask some questions. What are you hopes/ expectations for the sequel to Just the Way You Are? Is there anything you would specifically like to know about where the characters are in their lives now? Is there anything that you don’t want to see happen in the sequel to Just the Way You Are? Is there any minor character from Just the Way You Are that you want me to be sure to include in the sequel? Comment on the discussion page connected to the blog or the social media posts associated with it and let me know your answers to the questions. I will do my best to address them when writing the sequel. My readers are very important to me and I want you all to know that I respect your opinions. I’ll look forward to hearing from you. As always until next time don’t forget to love yourself just the way you are :-).

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What Type of Villain Do You Prefer?

Hey Readers,

I have a question for you. Do you a reader prefer villains/ antagonists that are completely dislikable or villains / antagonists that make you question whether or not you should really dislike them? In my opinion,  Trovella, the villain in Just the Way You Are, is a completely dislikeable antagonist. While antagonists like her are fairly easy to write I prefer antagonist like Dylock, one of the villains from my upcoming book The Magic Within, because he will definitely make readers question whether or not they should dislike him. He is definitely a more complex character than Trovella and was a lot more fun to write. I personally think it is harder to dislike a villain once you find out more about their motivation for being evil and/or disliking the protagonist/ hero of a story. I believe that is definitely true in Dylock’s case and I’m anxious to see how you as my readers will react to him when The Magic Within comes out in March 2018.  What type of villains do you prefer?  Do you agree with me or have a different opinion?  Comment on the discussion thread or social media posts associated with this blog and let me know. As always until next time don’t forget to love yourself just the way you are :-).

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