-- Friends,
Greetings to one and all! For a week and a half now, I have been faced with a problem with two of my mobility canes in pieces. The last time the elastic of the cane gave way, a friend of mine was kind enough to buy me one when she visited NAB Worli. And I put away the broken one hoping to learn from someone how to fix it some day rather than find myself stranded without a mobility cane again. Unfortunately, before I had a chance to or was I careless in not noticing the passage of time, in a couple of months, the elastic of the new cane snapped out of the blue scattering the pipes in the air. Before my eye pressure increased, causing damage to the optic nerve due to Glaucoma, I had sight enough to move around without a cane. But, since I began using the mobility stick, it has very much become a part of my life. I felt sort of incomplete walking down to the rickshaw stand on my way to work each morning with my right hand holding a bunch of pipes fastened together rather than my mobility companion that keeps me secure with the knowledge that the next step I take will be on assured flat concrete. Having had no formal training in mobility as such, I use the cane with a few techniques that visually challenged friends have shared with me. Now, I find myself left with two canes, both in pieces and tied with the elastic to hold them together. A colleague at work was kind enough to fix three of the four pipes that go into making the entire mobility stick, with three white pipes. Although this temporary cane, without the lowermost red pipe, is too short for me, I must make do with it for a while till I reach Worli on a week day, after work, but before the workshop closes, to get both white canes fixed. Having had help from regular rickshaw drivers and BEST bus drivers the last ten days, as they park bang outside my Bank Branch to enable me avoid the heavy traffic and crowds which often characterise station roads, I have been lucky in getting past this cane crisis. What I wish you, friends to throw light on is the following queries: Does a cane get affected due to the way it is handled? Are there varieties in a simple metal/plastic red-white cane that I should be looking out for? Is there a technique that can be learnt to fix elastic so I shouldn't have to fret about travelling all the way to Worli to have my stick fixed? Is there a place on the Western suburbs of Mumbai where I could get help with a broken cane or is Worli NAB the only option? On a lighter note... Is it the way I handle my cane? Or does it wear away through winter sun or showers of rain! Regards, Payal Jethra Phone: 7303448295 Skype: payal.jethra We are blessed in life with friends who are both mirrors and shadows: Mirrors always reflect the truth and shadows are forever by our side! Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
