While the original slogan, “Keep Calm and Carry On”, was first brought to life on a motivational poster designed by the British in 1939 as they prepared for World War II, I am thankful to say that our slogan does not precede any wars, surgeries or the like. While this meme has been used in popularity for a few years now by various groups for their own motivational spin on things, we are viewing ours not only as motivation, but also as a reminder and as a little of a societal push for change.

The COLTRAIN Team Shirt: Keep Calm and Roll On (back) / Team information on front “pocket” area  (The generic shirt has the KEEP CALM design on the front only)

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that we are doing our first Spina Bifida Association (SBA) Walk ‘n Roll, with the SBA of Michigan. This event takes places on August 16, 2014, in Waterford, Michigan. Every cause has walks, fundraisers, and various ways to support the overall mission, research, advocacy and support its national and state offices provide. The SBA and SBA of Michigan are no different and we are excited to be joining the walk this year and to be a large part of the planning committee (difficult, seeing as we’ve never been to one!). We already have a strong team of supporters coming to walk with us and a generous group of donators. We invite you to also join us (donation or not!) at our walk and/or donate. And if you want a little something extra for donating, we are selling t-shirts and bracelets with the slogan, KEEP CALM AND ROLL ON. We have team tshirts designed with both a slogan and an extra graphic for Colten’s team, The COLTRAIN, we have Spina Bifida Awareness bracelets, and we have generic KEEP CALM AND ROLL ON tshirts.

We chose the the wheelchair in motion symbol because we feel this is more descriptive of not only Colten, but of many of the people we’ve met that are in wheelchairs or mobility devices. A wheelchair is not about sitting up straight and still. It’s about movement, motion, mobility, and independence. Also interesting, there is a NEW handicap-accessible symbol being used in some cities (NY) that is similar to the icon we found and it will hopefully fully replace the current “static” wheelchair icon used around the world. It’s a small change but all this adds up to society seeing things differently.

Let’s not look at wheelchairs and get nervous, scared, or sad. Let’s look at wheelchairs and KEEP CALM. Let’s see that a wheelchair becomes a part of its user. It can, for many users, provide a way to move, be active, and get around. Even those in wheelchairs/accessible strollers that require someone else to push, or are electric. They still provide movement, mobility, speed. They allow people to get around, go places, stay on the move. They allow them to ROLL ON!

So when we see a wheelchair symbol – either the old static version or the new “in motion” version, and when we see someone in a wheelchair, let’s remember to KEEP CALM. Let’s remember that this is the symbol that allows so many people in our world to ROLL ON.

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Learn more about the Spina Bifida Association, the SBA of Michigan, and the 2014 Walk ‘n Roll