tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post8640389637630761772..comments2024-03-19T07:36:33.915-04:00Comments on Of Battered Aspect: Tourists!Dave Hingsburgerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11918601687946534172noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-76985452291653468192016-01-25T10:09:58.132-05:002016-01-25T10:09:58.132-05:00How do wheelchair sports fit into this important c...How do wheelchair sports fit into this important conversation?Heather Carleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-79972762449502018602016-01-18T07:23:22.069-05:002016-01-18T07:23:22.069-05:00Pulp, 'common people' track, a song about ...Pulp, 'common people' track, a song about this kind of tourism.<br />In the middle of it, deadpan, 'no body likes a tourist'.<br />When I started work at a PD school I did a training where new staff took it in turns to sit in a manual wheelchair and push each other around the site and local streets. It was a fantastic was to learn some of the issues not only for pushing manual chairs but also when accompanying kids in power chairs- where's good to cross the road, thinking about pot holes and visibility as well as kerb cuts.<br />I don't think it helps understand the experience of people with disabilities in their entirity, especially perjorification and social issues. Tourists don't get it.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-77515618628948169702016-01-18T03:20:20.060-05:002016-01-18T03:20:20.060-05:00I've been following this blog long enough to h...I've been following this blog long enough to have commented on this before, but as much as the "hour in the chair" exercises fall way short of actual experience, it does make a small impact. Maybe not in the "20's", where the world is there to be conquered, but it is there. It does open dialogue . It is not just a tour, hopefully it is an education. I wouldn't wish for it to be a destination for others. I personally am not comfortable with my disability, for all the negatives as listed in your post. We may not always understand, but we can empathize. Just as I may be fully aware of the limits of my mobility, but don't experience the limits of one operating a chair with my mouth as others do. I can still have some understanding. We hope people have a grasp without actually having the situation, like our doctors and surgeons. We want them to be educated, have understanding and empathy. I was in a wheelchair for a year as a youth. It impacted me for the rest of my life. I have advocated at every turn for accessibility. I have way more patience for others trying to negotiate or get to their "stuff" in or back of their chair. As my life has come full circle to where I am once again dependant on wheels, nothing has been forgotten. I think we must be careful not to color all those short time users with the same brush. I don't think any of us like to be lumped together. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-27057233298679435362016-01-17T13:57:09.621-05:002016-01-17T13:57:09.621-05:00Idk. I can accept the ever-so-broad umbrella of di...Idk. I can accept the ever-so-broad umbrella of disability to encompass both temporary and permanent disability. True, those two were certainly taking the wrong tack and so were likely making their lives and those of others more difficult than necessary, but there does exist the occasional permanently disabled person who consistently revels in self-pity. And I'm told the mourning of ability lost and world changed is very common, but those of us with gained or increased permanent disability have the time to get past that.<br /><br />And some people with temporary disabilities take them better than others. When my mother broke her foot, she ended up renting a manual chair, it being safer for her than the other offered devices. I showed her a few basic tricks: tight turning and how to get over their high threshold. Couple days and off she went, no longer in the "poor pitiful me" that sudden isolation had brought. By the end of her time in a wheelchair, her only complaints were ones of society's design. Hers in order:<br />1) It's ridiculous that standard doorways for home bathrooms and closets are slightly too small for standard wheelchairs.<br />2) Waaaay too many places have "just one step". (Makes it harder for strollers, package carts, and dollies, too, so it's ridiculous when the builders already did landscaping so flooding's not an issue.)<br />3) Lots of things are too high up for no good reason and more things at stores keep moving this way.<br />It's all true, but I found it hard to keep my composure as she complained to me about these things, as I'd been using a wheelchair at times for years by that point, and it wasn't as if I'd never mentioned them. But it's good that her response wasn't "I'm glad I'll be out of this wheelchair soon" but rather, "They should change those things."<br /><br />Myself, before hitting on a good treatment, my particular experience of MS was like rolling a loaded dice. Some days would be almost symptomless (though I'd generally pay for over-exertion the next day). Might even have a long stretch of such days. But since the big stuff at diagnosis, I quickly considered myself disabled, if only because I knew that even at good times, the odds were against me, so all "plans" are extremely contingent on my state that day. And that state wasn't the least bit predictable, as in, there wasn't even a list of possibilities, being that my most prominent symptoms were rarer ones that didn't make many lists. Idk, maybe I considered myself disabled partially because I knew that, for me, extended nearly symptom-free times were the aberration, not the norm.<br /><br />I think whether or not one wants to (re)gain function is an interesting question. All my symptoms, it depends. Through treatment, I was more than happy to leave the great uncertainty behind, to all but eliminate the nerve pain and life-endangering parasomnia, and to somewhat reduce fatigue. I'd be more than happy for those and all the brainstem trouble to disappear -- ooo, and the occasional abulia, because being unable to make decisions affects everything. Other things, *shrug*. It's not that I'd say no to good ambulation, but I'd much rather my cat allergy disappear (or lessen to the point drugs can nearly resolve it). Heck, I'd even have to think about whether I'd rather walk or be able to eat kiwi fruit again. In fact, there's now one (and only one) drug that's FDA-approved to treat an MS symptom. It improves walking speed by as much as 25%. I still wonder who, exactly, wants to take something to have a chance of walking just a little bit faster. Weird.AnyBethnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-47455018590524221692016-01-17T00:52:56.645-05:002016-01-17T00:52:56.645-05:00Good one, Dave. Kind of sad those two passengers h...Good one, Dave. Kind of sad those two passengers haven't gotten more from their 'visit'. When accessible public transportation started and I registered, my mum once said words to the effect "... of course, you're not like those people...". It was said mildly. She prepared me to recognize being treated as different is considered a fairly normal thing by normal people. I've been fortunate because I have a kind of dual citizenship in both places 'normal land' and the 'disabled land'. Bnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-71485122352720626552016-01-16T14:45:10.913-05:002016-01-16T14:45:10.913-05:00At 68 years old I had a spinal correction operatio...At 68 years old I had a spinal correction operation in June, was told if I did not have it I would end up in a wheelchair, came round from the operation paralysed from waist down what the consultants refer to as T10 T12 COMPLETE. I have to admit that during my hospital rehabilitation I was jealous of those with a very similar injury but not COMPLETE because they would/were learning to walk again. I guess I have to stop feeling sorry for myself and like you just get on with life because after all life itself is the best gift anyone can have.<br />Lawrence Waller UKAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07958647665174120395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-54610983807337823742016-01-16T10:18:16.155-05:002016-01-16T10:18:16.155-05:00The problem is that a quick 'vacation' to ...The problem is that a quick 'vacation' to the land of disability only shows people they don't want to live there.<br /><br />They don't get that we were not asked if we wanted to live there!<br /><br />I get similar all the time when someone who has a cold or something minor tells me how exhausted she is. I live with excruciating fatigue ALL the time, and I'm supposed to feel sympathy for HER.<br /><br />She never says, "I understand how life is for you a little bit better now that I've been extra tired for a week." And she is a family member who's been aware in some way of my disability the whole time I've been this way.<br /><br />NO empathy. The fear of disability is so large, they can't take on a little bit of it.<br /><br />Well, you know, I'm afraid of it, too - and I don't get a choice.<br /><br />The worst part? I was probably just like her, you know, BEFORE...<br /><br />Sigh.<br /><br />Great answer - even though you and I BOTH know that if magic wands were possible and we could suddenly be made 'normal,' we'd take it. If there were no cost. Even though we know there would be a whole lot of adjusting to do.ABEhrhardthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17211038591900883672noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35743239.post-72142106225400609862016-01-16T09:03:45.807-05:002016-01-16T09:03:45.807-05:00Dave, I love your response!
The prejudice runs d...Dave, I love your response!<br /> The prejudice runs deep and often people are not conscious of their prejudices. Colleennoreply@blogger.com