Wrap-Up

Being on the Diane Rehm show yesterday was a memorable experience. Thankfully, Scott took off work to escort me into DC because, let's face it, navigating the Metro and the city streets is not my strength. I was happy for the extra set of hands to get Robby ready for school allowing me the opportunity to primp and to go over my talking points one more time. Unfortunately, I failed to notice that Scott dressed Robby in his dedicated fence painting shirt (riddled with droplets of dark brown wood stain) and a pair of dark blue pajama shorts which were chosen because they "looked comfortable." If the school has a problem with my showing my socket, I'm sure they were offended by Robby's attire!

After dropping my little pajama wearing boy off at school, we hopped onto the highway and headed towards the Metro. I tried to keep my nerves calm, and the fact that I didn't vomit or cry is an indication that I was at least quasi-successful! True to the internet schedule, we arrived at the station on time and had 30 minutes to spare before the show went live.

As soon as I sat down in the studio, put on the headphones and the little light above the host flashed "on air," my anxieties began to fade. I tried to pretend like I was talking with a friend who was interested in my life. For the few opportunities that were provided for me to speak, I think I was successful.

While I am pleased with how I portrayed myself and the community, I was disappointed by the tone of the show. I was hoping that we would have been able to explore the availability and financial constraints that purchasing bionic technology places upon the amputee. Unfortunately, the DARPA arm was a source of fascination and monopolized the majority of the conversation. I was never provided with an opening to address any of my well-honed talking points.

As it turns out, this show did not make the inroads towards obtaining equitable access to prosthetics that I had hoped, but it wasn't because of my lack of trying. I attempted numerous times to bring attention to the issue of insurance fairness and the cost prohibitive nature of these technologies, but I wasn't able to redirect the conversation. At least I know that I made a good effort towards starting a conversation. I'm going to keep trying because one of these days, somebody will listen!



In case you missed the show, you can watch and listen on this link.

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2013-05-16/scientific-advances-prosthetic-limbs