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Over 30 years ago, my late husband was paralyzed as a quadriplegic in an auto/motorcycle accident. He lived 13 years after his injury and his death was due to a bladder infection. Together, we spent over 6 months in a comprehensive rehabilitation center where many of the patients were also recovering from aneurysms, head injuries, et al. So, I got to know a lot of individuals, their families, the staff and I also observed the therapeutic process for many different sorts of conditions. I cared for my husband after his rehab, as well. This included yearly reevaluations at the same rehab institute, where I saw others years after their initial therapy.

In addition, I grew up in a small town in the 40s and 50s, where people with disabilities were simply included in the activities of their extended family. From a very young age, I spent real time with real people who had many disabilities.

In the early 1990s, my present husband and I spent 9 months in a medical massage course with a concentration on rehabilitation. I worked as a massage therapist, on MD, DO and APRN referral, on clients in varying stages of post stroke/cerebral incident rehab for 11 years. I retired from that work just this January, as I have another business that has grown to the point where it is taking all my time. My husband, however, is still in practice and I work part time scheduling his appointments, taking histories and charting progress.This includes time spent with clients discussing and observing their difficulties and process of recovery.

In short, my experience is of many real people in the real world over a long period of time, coupled with a better than lay knowledge of the processes involved.

One of the concomitant symptoms of any spinal cord, brain/CNS injury is depression. It varies in degree and each individual deals with it according to who they were prior to the injury. I have known extraordinary individuals who overcame their disability in a relatively short time, some who never accepted their condition and became whiners and others who remained jerks. But I have learned that usually the person is aware and present within their body, regardless of their ability to effectively communicate with the outside world. It bothers me a lot to read the partisan disrespect I have found on threads concerning Tim Johnson. He is the same person he was, modified by a traumatic experience. He has been tested as I hope I never am. There is nothing as brutally honest as a rehab ward where many patients are working out at the same time. If he is confident enough of his abilities to have his office modified for a wheelchair or a scooter, then I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he can discharge his senatorial duties.

BTW, if he can use a scooter, then his trunk muscles are strong enough and his balance is good enough for him to sit upright without support. He also must have stamina just to spend more than an hour at a time on a scooter and to deal with transfers to the toilet or a regular chair. He may end up with no more disability than Bob Dole or John McCain and perhaps less than Byrd.People can be very sensitive about appearing publicly when one side of their face is paralyzed (they can drool) or their speech is not what we consider normal. I do not read anything sinister into Sen. Johnson not appearing in public just yet. There but for the grace of God goes any one of us.