Pet Peeve- Wheelchair Walkers
A few years ago I started a list of pet peeves. I was saving them to publish a book, perhaps coffee table book like the ones sold at Urban Outfitters. You know something really classy. But in the mean-in-between, I’ll start a series here.
First up is a request from my friend Max- Fred Flintstone wheelchair walkers.
These are individuals that are seated in wheelchairs but use their legs to propel themselves. The motion may be either kicking backwards or digging feet into ground to pull them forward. Last week a patient was kicking himself backwards down the hospital hall steady looking at his phone.
Growing up, there were wheelchairs in the lobby of my church. While our moms were in choir practice, my friend and I would roll around in the chairs, maybe race each other, you know silly kids’ stuff Then one day a lady told us it was bad luck to sit in a wheelchair when you didn’t need one. From then on, I have steered my fanny clear and have thankfully not needed one.
I have been under the impression that the people in wheelchairs are those that either incapable of walking or those that have difficulty walking. But if you are kicking and pedaling like Fred and Barney racing to a plate of fried pterodactyl wings, it would seem you may be more capable than most. Why not, heaven forbid, use your hands to roll yourself as intended in the design of the wheelchair?
This is meant as no disrespect to those that are wheelchair-bound. I work in the healthcare field with a population where a number of individuals are in wheelchairs. I think that is why wheelchair walkers bother me even more. Like the old saying goes- If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. So if you can, get up, move around because there are plenty of folks that wish they could.
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1) Yay for your blog!
2) I once asked a wheelchair walker why he was in a wheelchair when his legs seemed to work. He’d roll-walked over to me to block me in my seat on the Metro so that he could ask me for my number so I assumed that our relationship was beyond niceties. He said he got tired quickly. I asked if he had the energy to move out of my way and… End scene.
3) You’re all kinds of wrong for fried pterodactyl wings.
1) Thanks! 2) I guess his arms get tired quickly since he’s pedaling everywhere 3) You know in the credits, at the drive-in that put that plate of ‘ribs’ on the side of the car… that was my inspiration.
Whit,
Thank you for this. I CANNOT for the life of me find the photo/clip I have of WCW (wheelchair walking) in action! When I do I am definitely posting to this thread.
Also, why at the end do you sound so “No, disrespect, I mean, even my best friends are _______ (insert opposite cultural/racial/social/gender/ideological/etc. descriptor)?” LOL.
You really make it seem really easy with your presentation however I to find this topic to be really one thing that I think I’d by no means understand. It kind of feels too complicated and extremely wide for me. I’m looking forward in your next put up, I’ll try to get the hold of it!
Sometime I tend to ramble or go off on tangents, so that is reflected in my posts. As time goes along, I may find a narrower topic/niche. But for now, thanks for stopping by!
I like it and I agree, “that if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it”.