Bay Area Abilities Expo

[matisse]

I hope you all women devos in the area will attend the expo, which starts tomorrow and goes through the weekend.

noc.abilitiesexpo.com/iaenoc/v42/index.cvn

It's not really set up to meet people, but that's ok, it's a good place for you to check things out and learn a little. For example, every year I've gone they have had a booth from the gov. dept. that oversees the national parks, that gives info on accessibility in the parks. This could be something you could do with your future or current disabled SO's.

And if you happen to spot a few of us hot wheeler dudes, go ahead and look, we won't mind.

[LadyLuvsParas]

They actually hold one of these expos not too far from "the middle o' nowhere" where I live. I'd love to go to it next time it's held but I just don't wanna go alone. I really wish I had local dev friends sometimes!

[devogirl]

Devo Girl can't go because she has to work. Wah!

[matisse]

The whole weekend?

[devogirl]

Yes but it's just as well with you being married and all, ha ha

[matisse]

There will be other guys there I am sure......

[LadyLuvsParas]

jasononwheels said:

Hey LLP, is this one anywhere near my part of the middle o' nowhere? If so, maybe we'll see each other there.

I sure hope so Jason! Would be fun to see someone from here in person!

[devogirl]

Hey Matisse, how was it? Were you surrounded by women in the paradevo t-shirt? Sorry Devo Girl wasn't there to represent, but keep us posted on local events, especially sporting events, hint hint.

[matisse]

It was the same as last year.... and no devo t-shirts, much less thongs sticking up out of pants!!!!

They had a cafe-type set up right in front of the doors, so all of you devos could have just gone there, sat down with a drink and muffin, and watched people go in and out!! Anyone seeing you would have figured you were just waiting for someone in the show and would never know that in reality you were tingly the whole time.......

I doubt any of you are interested but as far as the expo itself......

it was the usual. They have settled down in size, this one was the same size as the one the past two years. The first year I went, it was much bigger, but then it shrank over the years until settling down at this size.

There were lots of cars and minivans on display. I will probably need one in a few years. They now have some foreign ones including a Toyota Sienna, which I will probably get since I had some problems with my Dodge when I first got it.

They also had some portable handgrips that interested me. I already use some of these for travel, but I get them directly from the manufacturer (anver). They are supposed to be used to pick up glass, but a few years ago I decided to try them for travel and they worked great. They are cheaper from anver than from the disability suppliers, but now it looks like the disability companies have used the basic concept to make ones specifically designed for disability use.

www.mobile-griffe.de/html/haltegriffe.html

These may be helpful for you devs if you have wheelers come over to your place or if you are traveling with a wheeler.

There was also another travel item--a portable roll-in shower. It was kind of a neat device, they had it hooked up and it did a pretty good job of keeping the area around it dry. I thought it might be helpful for some of my travels when I go to places that simply don't have roll-in showers. But it's a bit pricey at $2500.

www.fawssit.com/

I didn't find anything else particularly interesting.

[BA]

and no interesting women either I take it

[matisse]

absinthe said:

and no interesting women either I take it

Nope, but then again I didn't have time to linger. I was probably out of there in under 30 minutes. These kinds of things are not obviously apparent it seems, you probably have to stop and just sit back and observe for a while in order to see what's really going on.