Welcome everyone
Hello
It is cloudy outside here in Minneapolis for... I think this is day 15 in a row
Yeah
So our energy levels are kind of like this (groans)
But the sun will rise again
Okay, Shane, thanks so much for that
I'm trying to be inspiring here
Okay, you don't need to be, you don't need to be, just rein it in
Rain...oh, rain
I'm spiralling, I'm spiralling
(intro song) Hello, hello, welcome to the show, welcome to the show
Welcome to the show, it's time to talk about our lives (Chloe bark)
Today's video is going to be a fun one
And it was inspired by a common question that we get, which is
"What is wrong with Shane?"
And that's not the best way to phrase it, people phrase it in a variety of ways
But people are curious about what disability I have
And very recently someone approached us in a grocery store
And they were like "is he a quadriplegic?" and this was a little bit embarrassing
But I turned and I said "oh, hello, I have a disease called Spinal Muscular Atrophy"
"That's why I use a wheelchair" and it I think went over their head
And they said, "are you a quadriplegic?"
Yeah, that wasn't the question they asked, you didn't answer their question
(laughs) I didn't, I was not using my listening ears
And I didn't know how to respond
Yeah
As I thought about it more, and Hannah and I talked it over later
I don't know
I've never used that word to describe myself
But I know it's a very common way of describing disability
But I've only ever heard it used in terms of like a spinal cord injury?
But now that I think about it I feel like I've also heard for things like CP
Yep
So I have no idea
So today's video, we're gonna find out
I hope Google can tell us because we're counting on that
I hope so, we're banking on that
And if you have insight from your own experiences please share them with us
Yeah
Maybe only if you're a doctor
Yeah, well whatever, I mean we're not doctors and we're about to say yes or no
I used to be a doctor
(Hannah sighs)
So Shane, do you think that you are a quadriplegic?
My understanding of the word is that a quadriplegic does not have significant use
Or function, in their limbs, all of their limbs, all four of their limbs
And I don't
Check, check that definition off
Alright, let's do a test, alright
Legs, nope, nothing, not moving
Arms, little bit but nothing that you would write home about
So I'm thinking in the dictionary sense of the word
I might qualify as a quadriplegic, but again I've never used that word as an identity or..
So you don't feel it
I don't feel it
Yeah
I feel like I'm a wheelchair user, that's kind of my identity
Yeah
How about you? Do you think I...
My opinion?
What's your opinion? What's your guess?
I mean I agree, I think maybe technically yes
Unless there's some very specific criteria that we don't know about
It seems like the answer is yes
Yeah, like "must be from Vermont", then I would not qualify
Something like that, yeah
Alright, should I google it?
Let's google it
Okay
Alright, intermission
(elevator music plays)
Thank you to Hero for sponsoring this video
Today we have a very special guest for you
None other than the one, the only
Hannah's dad
George has a very specific problem that I think many of us can relate to
He's gonna tell you about that problem and then we're gonna tell you how Hero solves it
H: Alright, so you've got your pill system here
These are all the pills that I take
H: Uh huh
And this is the dispenser I guess you'd call it
H: Uh huh
And so I fill this up once a week and then every morning, or every evening
I pop open that day's tab and take what's in it
H: Have you ever messed up? (laughs)
(George laughs) There has been a rumor that I occasionally mess up, yes
It's a pain in the neck, and you have to be careful in terms of morning, evening
You have to take them from the right place
So it's really not a pleasure to do
H: Yeah
Hero is a medication management service
They are all about making it easier to take and manage your medications
So when you join, you get the beautiful and super handy smart dispenser
The connected app, automatic refills and free delivery, and 24/7 live support
This is not only a great service for people that take a lot of medication
And maybe find it difficult to manage
But also for caregivers of loved ones that take medications
And need a little bit of help handling it
So if you go to the link below you can learn more about Hero
And as a special gift to all of our viewers
Hero is waiving the initiation fee when you use our link and code below
Thank you
Yeah, there you go, that's really something, I gotta say
(elevator music resumes)
I'm typing in definition of quadriplegic, here we go
Here we go, let's find the best website
Oh, we're just on dictionary
Well, Oxford languages? Should I not?
No, that's good, that's sounds official
Well, in the dictionary it says "a person affected by paralysis of all four limbs"
Oooh, paralysis
Now, spinal muscular atrophy destroys motor neurons leading to paralysis
Well, but, so...my understanding, again, all of this, grain of salt
Yeah
My understanding is that my arms and legs are not paralysed
I can flex my muscles, I can move my toes
Barely, but I can activate those muscles
Yeah
I can activate my arm muscles, so I don't think I have paralysis
Or it's partial paralysis, if that's possible
(elevator music plays)
I'm still looking
(music)
Cause in the Miriam Webster dictionary, it says
"One affected by partial or complete paralysis of both the arms and legs"
"Especially as the result of spinal cord injury or disease"
Oh, that made it even vaguer, and harder to decide
When will I ever know what I am?
When will you ever know? Hold on
Quadriplegia is... this is on disabled world dot com
That's a source
"Quadriplegia is paralysis caused by illness or injury"
"That results in partial or total loss of use of all their limbs"
I'm gonna look up paralysis definition
(music)
You know?
Yeah
"The loss of the ability to move and sometimes to feel in part or most of the body"
"As a result of illness, poison or injury"
Poison played no part in it, I have not been poisoned
Well you did have a loss of ability to move, and partial
Yeah, but is it... can it be partial?
Yes
So I have partial paralysis, right?
Yeah, and that's all four limbs
By definition standards
Yeah
So maybe on paper, I qualify as a quadriplegic
I'm still not gonna use that as a identifier
Alright, so the verdict, we need like a gavel
I know
Do you have a gavel?
Not on me
Use your hand in gavel shape
Not your phone.. oh there we go
What am I gavelling about?
The verdict is in, on paper
At least according to those couple of websites that we looked at
We think
We think, giant asterisk, we think that I technically qualify as a quadriplegic
Yes
So I need to now go back to that grocery store, find that person
And give them the answer that they so abrasively tried to get out of me
(Both laugh)
That was interesting
Yeah
I like learning about words and stuff
Yeah
Aww, you do? You like learning about words?
As an almost thirty year old author...
It's important to know the definitions of words
I need to know every word I can
Anyway, that was fun, I enjoyed that
Yeah, alright, maybe we're totally wrong
We're probably gonna get comments that are like "nope"
Yeah, if we're wrong, tell us
That's okay, it's okay if we're wrong
It's okay to be wrong
Alright everyone, have a good day