I want to walk over to the bright side!
Not being able to use my legs for walking (even though it's only for half a year) was a dark moment in my life. I'm an active person who loves moving around a lot. Being stuck at home for days and weeks is no fun.
I wish the city planners would travel around on a wheelchair, put themselves in the shoes of the persons with mobility difficulties and try to understand what problems they face. Then they can design structures accessible for these people. The incremental cost involved in making the structure handicapped-accessible is just a fraction of the cost of the structure itself.
Any valid person can become handicapped (God forbid) because of an accident or serious sickness.
PhotoHunt
photohuntFirst Commenter -
Well...I cannot imagine myself not walking. :(
ReplyDeletePowerful teaching!
ReplyDeleteAloha from Waikiki
Comfort Spiral
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Half a year wheelchair bound is a long time ECL!o.O
ReplyDeletethis is a great take on the theme and one with social concerns too.
ReplyDeleteBack in college, I tore my knee ligaments and had to have my knee in a metal brace for six months. Even though I could walk with the help of crutches, it was really painful. Hope you didn't suffer too much pain and inconvenience in the half year when you couldn't walk -- and congrats on being able to do so again... and am sure you now no longer take being able to do so for granted.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it helps a lot if city planners design and plan with the vision of making the city accessible for everyone. Not just the people who are physically challenged need accessible structures, people with children on prams, people who face temporary physically injury would welcome accesible structures too.
ReplyDeleteGreat take on the theme and such an important post. Didn't know you were in a wheelchair for a time. Hope all is well now!!
ReplyDeleteIt is a sad experience, especially if it is permanent and if you have been active all of your life. on a positive note, glad you're only temporarily wheel-chair bound.
ReplyDeleteIt is an important issue, Although I have never been wheelchair bound I have discovered how unpleasant it can be to get around when you have mobility problems (as I did after rupturing a tendon and doing damage inside my knee).
ReplyDeleteEven minor holes in the pavement.sidewalk could make movement difficult. Had I been in a wheelchair it would have been so much worse.
hear hear. may we all strive to make the playing field level, literally and figuratively, for everyone =]
ReplyDeletehave a great weekend!
Somehow I missed your wheelchair time (so sorry about that!), glad it is over, glad you point out the troubles a handicapped person has to overcome in everyday life. I often think of that too, now that my father has to use one for more mobility (he can only walk very slowly, my dear old one.)
ReplyDeleteCheers!!
I can relate to the aggravation. I was on bed rest for 5 months about 15 years ago now, and it was torture. :(
ReplyDeleteThat must be very difficult. I hope you have a happy weekend.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you're out of your wheelchair now. :)
ReplyDeleteFor a person who loves to move, I'm sure it was very difficult for you. Glad you're out of it. :)
ReplyDeleteHave a fabulous weekend!
Self Portrait.
Six months is a really long time. There are a lot of places where it must be hard to use a wheelchair.
ReplyDeleteI, too, think that anyone planning a building or streets ought to be forced to spend time in a wheelchair just to see how hard it is to negotiate what they think is "accessible".
ReplyDeleteMy mother walks with a cane and needs help with doors, etc. Even as someone who has to assist someone less mobile I find it difficult to get doors open, get my Mom through it AND me without the door swinging back on us. Doors are too heavy and not wide enough to accommodate both of us and handles are often difficult to use or even trap your hand while trying to pull open at the angle necessary....
In the UK, I found that there were many modern buildings with tiny double doors, sort of like glass saloon doors, which you have to pull open at the same time and since I was pregnant I had to struggle through. At the Courtauld Gallery, in London, I was struggling through the these silly doors and two of the people at the counter was LAUGHING at me! I should have made a complaint, not just about them laughing at me but for the fact that someone who was using a cane crutches or in a wheelchair would have found it impossible to get in the doors.
Hugs to you ECL. It is very tough indeed. Vancouver is a very good city for people in a wheelchair on the whole. After all Rick Hansen, the Man in Motion who did the wheelchair marathon around the world is from here. But Canada in general is too.
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend to you.
Often why in the USA there was the American Disabilities Act, until i had my difficulty. It is amazing what people take for granted if they do not have any difficulties.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are up and about now
Awesome post and so true!
ReplyDeleteI sometimes have to use a wheelchair when my arthritis kicks in full gear and it is not fun trying to get around. Hopefully I will never be confined to the chair full time . . . I'm afraid I would just stay home.
Glad to hear you are out of the chair!
Gina
Must be tough and hard on you during those times... glad it is over.
ReplyDeleteI think I would go crazy if I can't leave the house for a few days. You must have lots of patience. I think California has fairly good handicap-accessible structures, but I never think about it until you really need it.
ReplyDeletei have heard of stories from people who became handicapped but there are two things of which they can choose to go:
ReplyDeleteeither they would let themselves feel unimportant or they would do something and excel in it.. it's so glad to know that you are able to excel in blogging. Maybe God has allowed you to experience one tragic event to know that He is the One who can provide much even greater things for your life:)
one thing about US, it's friendly with handicapped people as I see them from time to time just doing their own things and moving around on their own here
ReplyDeleteI know somehow your feelings because as an architect we have to consider handicapped within our designs