tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post7248985168074205178..comments2024-03-16T16:44:18.220-07:00Comments on Bad Cripple: What Does Accessible Mean? Not Muchwilliam Peacehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-45151210460396917392015-06-18T08:48:08.772-07:002015-06-18T08:48:08.772-07:00William,
Good morning. I confess myself befuddled...William,<br /><br />Good morning. I confess myself befuddled. How Could it Possibly have escaped his notice that his "wheelchair accessible unit" has 3 stairs??? I have to laugh (before I start crying). HAHAHA! In my travels around, it has also puzzled me that what passes for ADA compliant is many times lacking in actual day to day, rubber meets the road, accessibility. In my opinion , never have theory and practice been so divorced from one another, and yet we are expected to make do. Oy,vey.<br /><br />NessieNessie Silerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09490002851377536015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-78607138126487035822015-06-17T16:09:32.408-07:002015-06-17T16:09:32.408-07:00I believe our girls would have been pretty good pe...I believe our girls would have been pretty good people anyhow but they are different from their friends. I never felt that they felt deprived in any sense of the word...actually they tell me now that they were happiest when we would shut the outside out and just be together in the house or on a drive because we could really be ourselves...not that they weren;t...Don could be pretty outrageous with a really black humour which I enjoyed (sometimes) but which the girls picked up. Although they loved him deeply and he them each gave no quarter in many ways but should something go wrong they were quick to act...one time when Alison was only five and very small the manual wheelchair which they should never have sent Don home in got away from me when my shoes slipped in water - on an incline. She was in front and turned and put her whole body in front of the chair which luckily wasn't going fast - and I caught it... and things like this happened on occasion throughout the years. Another one I recall was when Don's electric chair malfunctioned and went round and round until he was pinned up against a wire fence she about 11 disengaged the power source, somehow got the chair out of the wire (with Don still in it) and pushed the whole thing and Don up the incline into our house...a real frightening event for them both but when I got back with the groceries they were both laughing about the whole event and that was the key really...when the dangers were over; when the black things that were said and done re my husband and the chair and all of that the four of us could always be found laughing about this or that pompous person or crazy event. He taught them both to swim just by telling them what to do and patiently being there all the time they learned - i was in the house and could be there in a flash; they learned pretty quickly never to say they were bored or he would offer to show them the back garden which needed weeding... the girls describe their childhood as being rich... of course for all would have been better had Don not been injured but that it happened our family for one took the best out of it if this makes sense...not to say there weren't a few bad times we all have them.Middle Childhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09962830669606760640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-28021972308530995472015-06-16T05:42:13.864-07:002015-06-16T05:42:13.864-07:00Middle, There are a few studies being done that fo...Middle, There are a few studies being done that focus on the experience of children who had a parent with a disability. I look forward to reading this research. I suspect we were among the first group of parents with a disability who raised children. A neutral way of saying we were pioneers. My son and I have talked about his experiences a lot. He thinks having a paralyzed father was in the long run a good experience. He thinks he learned much about social justice and civil rights. Like your kids he learned how to hold his ground in a polite but form manner. william Peacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00223601480542461802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1556371561007953336.post-10373186782681528822015-06-15T17:10:29.363-07:002015-06-15T17:10:29.363-07:00We were fortunate when Don had his accident as whe...We were fortunate when Don had his accident as when we went back to our country town home the Housing Commission people had a couple of fully accessible housing commission houses ready and they were pretty good re bathroom and access. But had Don been alone and able to use his hands the kitchen would not have been ideal as the sink was too high, but we were desparate. We were fortunate as his injury was at work and in those days he got a reasonable settlement so we were able to do the old house we found into being wheelchair accessible - still remember his fighting with the builder who didn't get it that a little ridge in floor of the sliding doorway was not acceptable. He fought it out but Don fought back as we were paying - for Don his neuropathic pain was such that jolts of pain would come from going over rougher areas and we did not need this in the most used door in the house. Lucky we had a friend who was a young and decent architect and he was right up to date on real issues of accessibility - he went into bat for us but we shouldn't have had to go through this. Life was tough enough at the time just getting things sorted and Don's keeping out of hospital - always a terror for us. Our girls most likely like your son grew up differently and better because Don did not take any crap - but he as well was the best dad they could ever have had. Not because of his disability. He just was and would have been any how but they learned all through their childhood how good life was no matter what...if that makes sense. I do recall once when a big four wheel drive Prada driver parked across the only access we had to the park meaning we had to go around a long way...and he saw us and still did it knowing - Don's pleasure in slowly driving alongside his car a bit too close, close enough for some part (metal) of the chair to ever so gently scratch the paintwork as he drove down the length... I can still see the wicked look on his face...a lesson well taught - needs must sometimesMiddle Childhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09962830669606760640noreply@blogger.com