Fair warning… I’m irritated and hurt…
Mobility scooters… ecvs… rollators… wheelchairs… assistive devices… you see people using them even if you pretend you don’t see them… you look through them as if they don’t exist. You judge people who use them. Don’t say you don’t unless you can do so without that niggly little voice in the back of your mind ratting you out to yourself.
And I get it. I do. Too many people talk about renting them so they don’t have to walk… so they can cut lines… so they can take turns being assisted at places where walking all day might feel less than wildly fabulous. You might sit on the seat and let you kid(s) ride at your feet because it’s fun… you might rent a scooter and a wheelchair because that is cheaper and you take turns towing each other around all day. You spend the money because it is so much more convenient for you to have the luxury of being able to just sit when the spirit takes you.
But the people who need the assistance devices to physically get through their day don’t have that luxury. There are people in this world who need the help not because they are lazy or because they want to work the system. They need the help to function… to just get through the day.
Pretend you aren’t a selfish lout and show some flipping consideration to your fellow beings. I get it’s sanctioned today to disrespect people who aren’t perfect… to make fun of them… (hell all the amazingly popular politicians are doing it these days and didn’t we all spend high school trying to be just like the popular kids?) and I get that it could never ever ever ever ever happen to someone like you (you know finding yourself in the position of HAVING to rely on help for other than convenience sake)… but grow the hell up.
Yesterday we went to the Ark Encounter. It’s an amazing experience that I would recommend to just about anyone.
Bear relies on oxygen. He also usually uses either a scooter or a rollator to help him get around. He hates feeling like a freak and would gladly trade you places and not have to rely on them…. to not know that he is terminal and will cough himself sick for the rest of his life…. to be able to CHOOSE to use the damn things or not.
But he can’t.
Yesterday he had to take his scooter on a bus. He had to wait for the bus to O’Neal and the ramp to come down so he could drive up on.
The extra five minutes was an incredible inconvenience to a family or two that shoved their way in and got pissed that he was taking up room. They were apparently important and should not have been made to wait.
People shoved past him all day stopping right in front of him meaning he had to fight to make sure he didn’t run people over… because they were obviously more important. Because we were at freaking Noah’s ark and not being an ass would have been too much to ask.
Don’t get me wrong… there are butts that he doesn’t mind having RIGHT in front of him. There are people he doesn’t mind to have bent way over so everything is hanging out there to see.
But what really hurts is to have an able bodied couple get on the bus and try to shove his scooter out of the way so they could unlock the handicapped accessible seats so they could sit down and not have to STAND for FIVE WHOLE EXTRA MINUTES!!!!! They stopped when I snarked at them. But they were not happy.
Bear would like to actually have the choice to be able to stand on the ride.
I will run interference for him all I can as long as I can… as long as I need to…
I will thank the rare person who tries to clear a path through rude and snarky people so bear can get to the door or the bathroom.
When someone actually cares to go out of their way to help someone they don’t HAVE to help gives me faith that there is hope for humanity…
/rant
Love and light
April
11/24/2018
A Figment Of Fitness 