By Frank Nadeau

My name is Frank. I am - at the time of this post - forty five and three-quarters years old. I suffer
from chronic depression, and have suffered from chronic depression for at least the past twenty
five odd years, though I never sought diagnosis and treatment for the condition until 2007 or so -
and I never truly admitted to myself that the matter was a lifelong struggle until the past . . .
three years? Maybe four?

 Our staff evaluated the accessibility of some of the key parks in the North Shore in Hamilton, Topsfield, Danvers, Salem, Beverly and Peabody.

Imagine for a minute that you need to unplug your phone charger to bring to work with you. You reach down to grab your charger and you’re met with a tangled mess of wires from all of your devices, and all of the wires look the same. To top it off, now you’re late for work, sweaty, and the mess of wires is so tangled that there’s no hope of untangling them in the near future. But at least you have your charger.

By Maggie Winter

My name is Maggie and I have chronic or persistent Lyme disease. Lyme disease is a spirochete bacteria, think of syphilis, that is passed from vector born insects, ticks, mosquitos, and spiders. Research is also showing that it may be passed sexually and that it can be passed to an unborn fetus from an infected mother. These vector born insects carry all sort of bacteria, parasites, and co infections, so you are getting all sorts of diseases from one bite. Lyme disease is a multi systemic disease affecting every part of your health in multiple ways. It’s extremely debilitating and unpredictable. One day you may be somewhat functional and the next day you are bedridden and suffering. Because you may look normal on the outside, it’s almost impossible for others to understand the pain you are feeling and how sick you really are. I can tell you first hand, we all become amazing actors.

By Posie Mansfield

I know only too well how many people tell that you can’t do something that ‘normal’ people do because you have a disability. I lost my leg above the knee in 2011 due to an infection in my knee. Since that time I have been told many times that I couldn’t return to the activities I used to do before I lost my leg.