Special People Normal World is wonderful new show that will be premiering on the web this week. The wonderful ladies behind this show are Susan Stevens and Kristi Hogg. Susan is the grandmother of Garrett who is a year younger then Haley my daughter and also has CP. Garett’s family was told that he wouldn’t walk until he was five and then he would only walk with a walker. Garrett’s family and his grandmother, Susan, refused to accept that and he is walking unassisted today.

Susan does all the work behind the camera for the show. Kristi is the face on the camera. She has a daughter Maci who has mitochondrial disease. Maci is now 8 years old and doing well with a treatment that Kristi found.

The treatment that Kristi found is HBOT – Hyperberic Oxygen Therapy. There have not been the typical medical studies done on this treatment because there is no money in it for the companies that sponsor these types of studies. However I have spoken to many parents who have tried the treatment and all of them have had success stories including Kristi. The treatment is used to treat, seizures, CP, mitochondrial disease, and even ADD. Unfortunately since HBOT is not a recognized treatment it is very expensive and not covered by insurance companies. It was this common therapy experience and the success they had that seems to provide the inspiration for Susan and Kristi to create Special People Normal World.

They are covering difficulties related to Autism, CP, Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders. They will be discussing treatments, nutrition, and support. I think this show is a must for anyone who is a care taker of special needs people, friends of a special needs person, knows a special needs person or anyone who just wants to understand more about what a special needs family must do to provide the optimal in care for their children.

Check out the sneak peek now!

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Earlier today I was talking with someone from work as we were leaving and a great idea for a blog topic popped in my head. I remember as clearly as I can remember waking up this morning. It was a fantastic topic and one on which I have written articles before. I couldn’t wait to get home and start writing. Anyway my friend then started tell me about his research on genealogy and then I took my long ride home and then put the kids to bed and I can’t for the life of me remember what the topic is. I remember the inspiration but not the topic.

Well this is the type of thing that always happens to me if I don’t write stuff down. I used to think I could keep everything in my head but that’s crazy and I’ve become worse at it as I get older. The funny thing is I’ve been keeping a journal related to the development and writing of this blog. I am tracking other blogs that I want to read for inspiration, articles I want to write, improvements that I need to make, resources I want to capture and provide to the community, interviews I want to conduct, people I want to profile, etc. Maybe this isn’t ADD maybe it’s a function of age after all I did forget to get ice the other day at the grocery store one day this weekend and then stamps another. Maybe I’m just loosing it all together. I wonder if I’ll miss my mind. Oh I forgot I lost that a long time ago.

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I remember getting all wrapped up in a cord as a kid as I paced around while on the phone. Today I still tend to pace while on the phone but now I have a wireless headset. Now plenty of people pace but few do it with the fanaticism I do it with. When I’m on the phone at work I put my headset on with the intention of taking notes at my desk, but as soon as I’m asked a question, I’m up out of my seat and half way down the hall before I even know I’m moving. It’s crazy and luckily most of my office just laughs at me and they all know I really can’t help it. Well last night I when I was reading symptoms of ADD I found out that the pacing thing is just part of it.

I’ve known I’ve had ADD since I was a child but I haven’t looked at the symptoms in the last 15 years or so. I had forgotten how much of my personality is based on my ADD. The funny thing is I love it. I think it adds character to who I am and sometimes I just can help being me.

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Alright I guess I’m showing my ADD by typing this blog post as I was just doing research for this blog. I have been gathering resources, finding related blog’s, and just doing planning. Time has gotten away from me as I now realized it’s 12:37 AM and I was distracted by an ADD Test on OneADDplace.com. The test asks great questions and while they say you shouldn’t self diagnose based on the test, I personally believe that test is incredible. By the way as this is one of my firsts posts. I’m not editing my writing so readers can see my dyslexia/ADD at work.

The checklist consists of 78 questions that can be ranked from 0 to 4. I know I have learned to deal with my ADD as an adult but it’s interesting to take the test and see that I score a 3 or 4 on 90+% of the questions. I guess I’m still quite ADD. But at least I know that’s it’s normal for me to get up and walk around my office while I’m on the phone, procrastinate, need crazy high levels of stimulation, move to think, and have low attention to detail. Well ADD NORMAL anyway.

And imagine dispite all this I still managed to work for IBM, UPS and Sage Software, as well as write a blog like this, do some business consulting on the side, play with my kids, be a great dad and husband and generally be involved in the community. I kind of like being ADD NORMAL.

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