We Are All Disabled - Part 2

Losing a job and finding a life...

I was in LA in January and had a blast hanging around and playing with some hugely talented guitarists. Sometimes, I want to believe I’m one of them but other times, I’m not so sure, especially today when I think about how music will pay the rent for the rest of my life. 

I lost my job recently after 20 years of working with Rick Hansen. We did everything together, first best friends growing up in Williams Lake, then on the Man in Motion Tour and finally at his foundation. But things change because some people get really good at business and some people not so much. 

I’m unemployed, in the real world anyway. I do things that get me into music magazines but I’m running out of time to become a guitar hero and these days, I think too much about whether losing a job will help me find a life beyond always being in the shadow of my friend. 

Twenty years ago, I remember seeing a quadriplegic guy performing for tips on the street in front of the old Granville movie theatre, just sitting there singing Elvis tunes to his beat box. I wonder if I have as much courage as he did? 

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Don Alder is a musician and partner in a grand adventure - "Man In Motion" that forever changed the way we see disability. He lives alone in a basement suite over run by guitars, note books full of ideas for songs and everywhere, memories of going around the world with his best friend, Rick Hansen.