antiquity
12-09-2002, 03:06 AM
Couple tackles causes, life from wheelchairs
Partial paralysis no cause to stop
By Tom Bailey Jr., The Commercial Appeal
December 8, 2002
MEMPHIS - The concrete walk makes their small backyard and deck in midtown Memphis accessible to their battery-powered wheelchairs.
When the concrete was still wet a few years ago, he scrawled into it a message guaranteed to endure.
"Suzanne, I love you forever. Always, Me."
You could call the love story of Chris and Suzanne Colsey extraordinary, but they would balk at the description.
"We're just like regular folks," Chris, 54, said. "We're not special. I hate that word 'special.' "
Suzanne, 36, was born with cerebral palsy, including some paralysis and difficulty speaking.
Chris was 33 when a stroke paralyzed the right side of his body.
The Colseys are activists for the civil rights of people with disabilities and are promoters of "people first" language (saying for example, "He has a disability" instead of "He's disabled").
Both the Colseys are active in American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, which promotes civil rights and independent living for people with disabilities.
But most of all, the Colseys say, they are simply a husband and wife, workers, a daughter, a son, volunteers, neighbors, friends, moviegoers, shoppers and home-mortgage payers.
"My disability is not who I am," Suzanne said.
They met in the late 1980s at a protest of the Jerry Lewis muscular dystrophy telethon. They and some others with disabilities say Lewis uses pity to raise money.
But Suzanne was engaged to someone else.
"I said to myself, 'Hands off, Colsey,' " he recalled with a laugh. "I found her attractive."
But things changed several years later.
"She was not engaged anymore," he said. "I made my move."
Together, they had the right chemistry.
She loves his personality. "He's crazy," said Suzanne, who smiles often and brightly.
Chris agreed, acknowledging, "You never know what I'm going to say."
Suzanne and Chris married at St. Peter Manor independent living facility, where they both lived, on April 25, 1998. A crowd of several hundred spilled out of the chapel.
St. Peter Manor residents Jean Phelps, 79, and Bessie Simpson, 91, were among the friends first Chris, and later, Suzanne, made at St. Peter.
Simpson even stood in for Chris's family as a member of the wedding party.
In 2001, the Colseys built a small, $73,000 midtown house that, for the most part, is easy for them to use, and moved out of St. Peter.
The kitchen sink and stove are low enough that Chris can make meals and clean up from his wheelchair.
The bathroom shower is designed for easy access.
The bedroom has enough space between the waterbed and dresser for wheelchairs to negotiate. Even the closet is wide enough for wheelchairs.
And the home's rubber floors are easy to roll on.
On a typical day, Suzanne's aide comes from 6 to 8 a.m. to help her out of bed, shower and get ready for work.
Chris cooks breakfast.
Suzanne leaves for work just down the street at the Memphis Center for Independent Living. She is program coordinator of technology outreach.
Chris often volunteers there. They both receive Social Security disability income.
Suzanne comes home about 5 p.m. While Chris makes supper, she's often on the computer e-mailing friends or handling bookkeeping chores for the household or ADAPT.
Their nighttime entertainment doesn't include much television. Instead, they pop in a DVD movie before bedtime. They position their wheelchairs side by side in front of the television in the living room.
They're a team, for each other and for their causes.
"I'm the strength she needs," Chris said.
The best thing about being married, Suzanne said, "You've got somebody to share everything with."
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/0,1406,KNS_348_1595477,00.html
Partial paralysis no cause to stop
By Tom Bailey Jr., The Commercial Appeal
December 8, 2002
MEMPHIS - The concrete walk makes their small backyard and deck in midtown Memphis accessible to their battery-powered wheelchairs.
When the concrete was still wet a few years ago, he scrawled into it a message guaranteed to endure.
"Suzanne, I love you forever. Always, Me."
You could call the love story of Chris and Suzanne Colsey extraordinary, but they would balk at the description.
"We're just like regular folks," Chris, 54, said. "We're not special. I hate that word 'special.' "
Suzanne, 36, was born with cerebral palsy, including some paralysis and difficulty speaking.
Chris was 33 when a stroke paralyzed the right side of his body.
The Colseys are activists for the civil rights of people with disabilities and are promoters of "people first" language (saying for example, "He has a disability" instead of "He's disabled").
Both the Colseys are active in American Disabled for Attendant Programs Today, which promotes civil rights and independent living for people with disabilities.
But most of all, the Colseys say, they are simply a husband and wife, workers, a daughter, a son, volunteers, neighbors, friends, moviegoers, shoppers and home-mortgage payers.
"My disability is not who I am," Suzanne said.
They met in the late 1980s at a protest of the Jerry Lewis muscular dystrophy telethon. They and some others with disabilities say Lewis uses pity to raise money.
But Suzanne was engaged to someone else.
"I said to myself, 'Hands off, Colsey,' " he recalled with a laugh. "I found her attractive."
But things changed several years later.
"She was not engaged anymore," he said. "I made my move."
Together, they had the right chemistry.
She loves his personality. "He's crazy," said Suzanne, who smiles often and brightly.
Chris agreed, acknowledging, "You never know what I'm going to say."
Suzanne and Chris married at St. Peter Manor independent living facility, where they both lived, on April 25, 1998. A crowd of several hundred spilled out of the chapel.
St. Peter Manor residents Jean Phelps, 79, and Bessie Simpson, 91, were among the friends first Chris, and later, Suzanne, made at St. Peter.
Simpson even stood in for Chris's family as a member of the wedding party.
In 2001, the Colseys built a small, $73,000 midtown house that, for the most part, is easy for them to use, and moved out of St. Peter.
The kitchen sink and stove are low enough that Chris can make meals and clean up from his wheelchair.
The bathroom shower is designed for easy access.
The bedroom has enough space between the waterbed and dresser for wheelchairs to negotiate. Even the closet is wide enough for wheelchairs.
And the home's rubber floors are easy to roll on.
On a typical day, Suzanne's aide comes from 6 to 8 a.m. to help her out of bed, shower and get ready for work.
Chris cooks breakfast.
Suzanne leaves for work just down the street at the Memphis Center for Independent Living. She is program coordinator of technology outreach.
Chris often volunteers there. They both receive Social Security disability income.
Suzanne comes home about 5 p.m. While Chris makes supper, she's often on the computer e-mailing friends or handling bookkeeping chores for the household or ADAPT.
Their nighttime entertainment doesn't include much television. Instead, they pop in a DVD movie before bedtime. They position their wheelchairs side by side in front of the television in the living room.
They're a team, for each other and for their causes.
"I'm the strength she needs," Chris said.
The best thing about being married, Suzanne said, "You've got somebody to share everything with."
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/state/article/0,1406,KNS_348_1595477,00.html