Wouldn’t Want to be Passed by a Wheelchair

Apr 102013
 

Sailors perform pull upsI go to the gym to lift weights twice a week. My gym is not a fancy expensive health club with espresso machines and Jacuzzis and lots of Spandex; it’s also not a black iron gym filled with big men, lots of weights, and chalk dust. It’s a city recreation center, so it caters to a diverse population.

Every couple of months, on Tuesday mornings, a new group of young men (and the occasional young woman) turn up. I don’t know if they’re in the Navy, or trying to get into the Navy, but they have something to do with the Navy, and they’re trying to meet some sort of fitness standards. They have some sort of instructor or trainer who has a clipboard. They do pull ups. My trainer and I watch them, count their pull ups, and make quiet comments about how many of their pull ups should count and how many should not. We try to guess how many pull ups the tall muscular guy in the red shoes is going to do.

The other morning a new crop arrived. After they did their pull ups (the guy in the red shoes did 18, one less than the maximum, but we only thought 15 of them counted), they all bunched up in the stretching area, which is where I happened to be with my trainer, doing ab work. Apparently since it was snowing outside their minder decided they wouldn’t go outside to do whatever it was they normally did next, but they should stay inside and run around the track in pairs. He decided on pairs because he didn’t want them to overwhelm the ordinary citizens who were walking/running/lunging around the 1/11th mile track. He instructed them on civilian track etiquette:

  • Stay on the outside
  • Don’t run anybody over
  • Announce your lap as you pass me
  • If two people are running/walking abreast and you can’t get by, slow down until you can pass them safely

And the pièce de résistance,

  • If I see someone get out there in a wheelchair or something, I’m gonna pull you in, so stay alert

My trainer and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Note that these guys were standing so close to me and my wheelchair that I was afraid one of them was going to step on me, so it’s not like it would have been easy for them to miss me. I said, sotto voce, “I have a sudden urge to get back in the wheelchair and get out there on the track.”

Katja

Disability Blogs—My Feed List

Mar 302013
 
Disability Blogs—My Feed List

Once upon a time, blogs had blogrolls. If you had a blog, you would include a list of blogs you thought would be interesting to your readers in a sidebar on her page. After a while, if you had a lot of blogs to keep track of, you learned about feed readers. Back then, there [...]

My New Favorite Airline: Southwest

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My New Favorite Airline: Southwest

In the frequent travel game, one of the things you hear all the time is that you need to pick an airline and stick with it. Only by consistently traveling with the same carrier will you be able to achieve wonderful things like 4 extra inches of legroom and the occasional upgrade to Business Class. [...]

Overpacking and Repentance

Feb 262013
 
Overpacking and Repentance

Last summer and fall I was traveling regularly to Phoenix for a week at time. Phoenix had its special packing challenges, most notably outside temperatures well into the 100s, and inside temps as low as 65, but I eventually figured out what to pack (layers, thick wool socks and riding boots). Now I am traveling [...]

Progress?

Jan 032013
 
Progress?

The elevator at our rec center, where I lift weights, has been out of order for the past week. Of course the weights are upstairs. Last week I contemplated the problem for a few minutes (assisted by a sign that said “Out of Order. Estimated Repair Date: _________”), then flagged down a young woman coming [...]

Sometimes You Have to Check a Bag

Dec 102012
 
Sometimes You Have to Check a Bag

You all know I’m pretty obsessive about traveling with only a carry on bag. But there are exceptions… This weekend, along with other family members, I attended my step-father’s memorial service. He was a veteran, and the American Legion turned out to provide military honors, which included a flag detail, the playing of Taps and [...]

Shouldering the Load

Nov 262012
 
Shouldering the Load

My shoulders are killing me. There, I’ve admitted it. Shoulder injuries are the bane of manual wheelchair users. Two-thirds of wheelchair users report suffering shoulder pain. According to Gellman H, Sie I, Waters RL. Late complications of the weight-bearing upper extremity in the paraplegic patient, by “20 years postinjury, all patients had complaints of shoulder [...]

Musical Instrument Museum, Phoenix

Nov 042012
 
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I had a lovely time Friday at the Musical Instrument Museum (“the MIM”) in Phoenix. I had a free evening, and stumbled on a piano concert that was being given at the MIM. I’m not sure what I was expecting from a musical instrument museum, but it certainly wasn’t what I found. The MIM was [...]

Accessibility at Taliesin West

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I went out to Taliesin West for a tour today. Taliesin West was Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home from 1937 until 1939. It currently houses the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and is one of two campuses of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture. Until just recently it also housed the Frank Lloyd Wright archives, [...]

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