I had a temporary wheelchair experience that every able bodied person should have to go through. Right at the beginning of a vacation a few years ago I tripped and severely sprained my ankle. I was in a cast and could not put any weight on my foot at all. Very quickly, I discovered just how exhausting it was to get about on crutches to say nothing of the pain caused by not elevating my foot as instructed. This happened thousands of miles from home and in the US while I live in Canada.
I'd made arrangements to pick up a loom 10 days later and had no phone contact with the person so shortening the vacation was not an option. My solution to the mobility problem was to go to a medical equipment store and purchase a used wheelchair to make the best of the situation. While making it possible to get about more easily, it was also a whole lot more educational than I could ever have imagined. Just as others have stated, many people spoke only to my husband when I went shopping or to restaurants. I also learned just how many physical barriers there are to people in wheelchairs. Doorways, steps, hotel rooms, steps and, of course, those scary hills everywhere. Try going to see Alcatraz Island in a wheelchair. Since we were in San Francisco we decided to get about mainly by using cabs as parking was such a problem. Every tried to get a cab when you are in a wheelchair? Even when we phoned a cab I had to hide around the corner in my chair until it was stopped and the door was open or the drive just sped away when he saw me. It seems they weren't willing to wait the couple of minutes it took to get my chair into the trunk. This experience certainly made me understand the issues facing those confined to a wheelchair a whole lot more clearly. Darlene Mulholland www.darlenem.com --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.538 / Virus Database: 333 - Release Date: 10/11/2003 To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
