That’s the title of CareyRN’s post about each person’s pain - physical, emotional or spiritual - being unique. CareyRN writes the blog Big Grey Birds under the pseudonym “Muffy Jorn.”

She writes tight, short stories about life up-close such as “Northtown,” in which a naive young woman (Is she Muffy?) encounters urban depravity.

She also writes lucidly and compellingly about living with rheumatoid arthritis.

Reading “Pain, Friends and Validation” and “Justify Yourself” is like hearing a top-notch sermon - the priest (or priestess in this case) - is speaking to everyone but you feel like the sermon uniquely addresses you.

If you ever feel anxious before visits to a doctor, or you live in chronic pain, or you feel misunderstood by the medical system, read Muffy Jorn, who says:

“If you have a friend or acquaintance that has any kind of pain, let them know it is legitimate. Human beings need validation. I hear you, I see you, and I care about you and your pain. It is the least we can do for each other.”

Sung by Joan Baez and Dar Williams (who wrote the song)

Many thanks for this to Nancy Vala Michaels and The Sister Project, who are on a roll. Their site is fabulous.

“If necessity is the mother of invention, laziness is the mother of efficiency.”

(Via Linda Eskin’s Twitter.)

New research shows that getting older does not mean that older people are worse drivers or that they are far more likely to crash, Tara Parker-Pope reports in this story in The New York Times.

Drivers over 70 are keeping their licenses longer and driving more than earlier generations, a trend that led to dire predictions about car accident risks for aging baby boomers.

But the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says fatal car accidents involving older drivers have actually declined markedly in the past decade.

“It’s not what people had expected to see,” said Anne T. McCartt, senior vice president for research at the insurance institute.

We couldn’t get through this video without choking up. What a sweet story. It’s about Dale, a Scottish boy with Autism, and Henry, the dog who chose him.

We thought it was important to post a video like this after reading this story of a housing board in New York City that is denying an Autistic boy his dog.

Medical researchers at the University of Illinois say the 1977 disco hit “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees has the perfect beat to perform CPR.

At 103 beats per minutes, the song is the perfect CPR metronome, said Dr. David Matlock of the university’s Peoria campus.

Matlock’s research confirms the work of Dr. Alson Inaba, an emergency room doctor in Honolulu, reported the Chicago Tribune.

Research conducted by Matlock and Inaba show the song and its beat stuck with test subjects performing CPR, yielding heart compression rates within the 100-per-minute range recommended by the American Heart Association, the Tribune reported.

CPR can triple a heart-attack victim’s chances of survival, but the proper rhythm is essential, said Matlock, who is to present his findings at an American College of Emergency Physicians meeting.

We like to take beautiful or unusual buttons and swap them in place of the cheesy and cheap buttons that often come on a blouse or coat.

Here’s a couple of tips to safeguard precious buttons during cleaning:

1) If dry cleaning, ask your cleaner to put your garment in a net bag. That way, if a button falls off it won’t get lost and you can later reattach it.

2) Use Velcro to pad the buttons so they don’t break or chip:

Cut both pieces of Velcro to a size slightly larger than the button. Cut one of the pieces up the center to the middle and slip it over the button so the button is resting on the Velcro, as seen here.

Take the other piece and press it on the piece with the button and you then have the padded button protector, seen right.

Cait watched the TeleStik in action at the Abilities Expo in Minneapolis and came back sold on it as a Gimpliment for every household and office.

Billed as “The smallest most portable reaching aid,” the TeleStik’s magnet, hook and adhesive let you retrieve items from high kitchen cabinets or from under a heavy sofa or behind the washing machine, where you dropped the sock.

Cait says she watched a woman with limited strength and hand mobility delight in being able to pick up with ease a wallet, a fallen magazine and car keys.

After watching the video on the TeleStik Web site, Marty got one and uses it to pick up dropped pens in the office and retrieve pins while sewing — you know, the ones that don’t get found until you step on them.

TeleStik comes in several models, is lightweight and can fit in your purse.

Leatherman makes clever tools and one of the handiest is the 1.75 ounce Micra, which folds to just 2.5 inches.

Marty has owned two of these and lost both to airport security checks when she forgot to remove them from her key ring. (She swears the security guards had a covetous gleam in their eyes when they confiscated them.)

The stainless steel Micra has 10 tools, including strong spring-action scissors, and is so small you hardly notice it until you need it.

The other tools include a clip-point knife, tweezers, nail file, bottle opener, three screwdrivers, a standard-metric ruler and a lanyard attachment.

The Leatherman Micra is about $20 plus shipping. For about $27 and just slightly bigger, try the Leatherman Squirt.

Either makes a great gift for a man or woman.

The New York Times has two stories today that speak to our Gimpy Girl hearts. The first requires little money and is not for the squeamish. The second requires big bucks and has something for everyone.

Urban Worm Composting talks with New Yorkers about the ups and downs of keeping worms in the city.

The story is fine, but the graphic is not — too much food in too small a bin. Worms are not going to be happy and neither are the apartment dwellers when flies arrive and the bedding begins to smell. Read our post for more information on successful worm composting.

This second story is akin to Architectural Digest for the Gimpy. It showcases homes in Colorado and Paris featuring the latest in Universal Design to make life easier. The homes are fabulous and so are the designers. Here’s a quote from one:

‘I want people to know no matter whether they have mental or physical disabilities’ — change that word to differences — ‘they are only disabled if they can’t do what they want to do. Architecture can eliminate disability by design.’ You see my point. If you are in a house where you can do what you want to do, you’re not disabled anymore.’