I haven’t written a post on this blog since May, so I thought that I would start working my way back into writing more frequent posts again with a new entry to my picture series – which incidentally, I haven’t done since early 2013. Regardless, from a wheelchair-user’s perspective when I see a picture like this, where a path goes from completely accessible to not in an instant, I think “Ok, what next?” I’ve never experienced anything quite this extreme, but have come close. A few years ago I had to deal with both a sidewalk and road creating quite the dead end challenge on the way to a doctor appointment.
The most convoluted re-route I had to take was on the way back from a bachelor party in downtown Minneapolis about 5 years ago. We started out by the Target Center and on the way from one spot to another I had to roll over part of a sidewalk that had a board covering it due to construction. The board only covered about 3/4 of the of the sidewalk and it was the corner that was left exposed, leaving a gap that my chair’s wheels could get stuck in. On the way to the spot I had a group of guys to help me out, but on my way back I was alone and didn’t dare try rolling over the board without help in case I got stuck late at night. I tried to take a detour around the block but ran into stairs one way and no sidewalk curb cut out the other way. At a certain point I got so twisted around that I wasn’t sure where I was. And my chair’s battery power was running low to boot. Uh oh. Ultimately, I found door to a building that had and elevator that went up to the skyway system and instinctually started heading in the direction of the parking ramp my van was parked in. Thankfully, my instinct was correct, because at that time at night with minimal battery power there wasn’t a lot of room to not find my way on the first try. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to get home that night!
My husband got hurt with a spinal cord injury about a year and a half ago. It is websites like these and blogs like these that truly give you perspective into other individuals with spinal cord injuries. It's amazing to see how uniquely they work to get through life and be more independent.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is currently at a facility in S. Florida Named Ctr. for neurological recovery. He has been there for almost 8 months and is making some tremendous progress. He is already able to take steps again and is stronger by the day. The only reason he is able to do this is by keeping a positive mindset and trying to figure out few things on his own and learn from certified individuals. Please keep up the great work with this blog site, I know you have an updated it in a while but I have learned so much. You can learn a little bit about my husband here
http://www.centerforneurorecovery.com/testimonials/
Thank you for your comment and for reading. I'm always amazed how people find this blog. But I'm glad it provided value for you.
ReplyDeleteI stopped updating a few years back due to a combination of getting a full-time job that left me short on writing time and I kind of ran out of topics to write about. But I miss it, especially when I read encouraging comments like this. Best wishe for you and your husband.