Karl’s Wheelhouse Inaugural Blog
The term “wheelhouse” comes from the nautical world.
I confess that before this venture began, I did not know that. I thought that ‘wheelhouse’ was just one’s area of expertise…though if pressed I wouldn’t at all have been able to explain the connection between ‘expertise’ and ‘wheelhouse’!
According to trusty old Oxford, the wheelhouse is “a part of a boat or ship serving as a shelter for the person at the wheel.”
Gosh is that true for Karl right now.
As of two weeks ago, at 21, Karl wrapped up his school career.
For any number of reasons—particularly as we coincidentally launch Karl’s Wheelhouse this week of all weeks—the anniversary of the accident—that end-of-school marker both takes my breath away and gives it right on back.
Before Karl’s Wheelhouse took shape, David and I were looking ahead at Karl’s days, not just summer but all his days, and they were, well…let’s call them ‘undefined.’
It didn’t take much imagination to realize that one can and should only play so many games of Wii Bowling and watch so many reruns of Twins games in one day, let alone in an endless stretch of them.
(These days, actual Twins games would have been even worse.)
So we went to work to find Karl some work.
It wasn’t work to earn an income, per se. (The systems that are in place for people with disabilities want to know whether someone with a disability can be “competitively employed,” a term that itself seems so adversarial, and contrary to who Karl is. There was some conclusion that Karl could not be competitively employed, which was a gift, in fact, freeing him from expectations under which those of us without—perceived and acknowledged—disabilities labor.)
We will always take care of Karl, and he doesn’t understand the value of a nickel vs a quarter anyway.
No, we went to work to find Karl some work, because Karl does understand the value of time with family, of bringing something new into being, and of sharing with pride what one has done.
As I mentioned on this page of our website, Karl’s wheelhouse, namely his area of expertise and what gives him shelter from boredom at the wheel of his days, is the sharing of joy.
We hope that the products that Karl will be helping to make will bring a bit of joy into your wheelhouses, too.
Anna, David, and Karl
