transabled.org

It sure is interesting just how much we are willing to give up. The list is endless.

I drive a stick shift. I drive my Jeep on nasty dirt roads deep into the mountains. It requires careful attention to what is coming up and making quick gear shifts that an automatic would not be able to anticipate.

It scares me to drive my car while wearing leg braces. I ask to borrow my partner’s automatic if I am going out in leg braces. The wheelchair works a lot better in my car though. I never tell anybody that I have paralysis below the knees, so my driving seems plausible. However, my next car will have hand controls. I will give up the stick shift.

About household chores: My partner does almost all of them. I used to do the dishes and all of the gardening and yard work. Now she does that too; yet more things for me to feel guilty about. Or maybe I’m just a lazy bugger and I made up all this stuff about BIID as a convenient excuse ;)

Didn’t FDR drive a stick? I’ve seen pictures of him driving a convertible in Georgia, around Warm Springs, in the late 30s. I don’t think automatic shift had been developed yet. (Of course neither had TV but Joe Biden says FDR reassured the nation by appearing on it.)

I think that FDR was driving cars in the early 1930s; therefore, they had manual transmissions. Must have kept his hands busy pulling on levers, etc. He could afford someone to drive him places, however.
Experimental TV broadcasts began in the US in about 1939 and regular TV broadcasts in 1941 or so. FDR DID appear on US TV (I think when he opened the NY World\\\’s Fair it was broadcast). Of course, hardly anyone had a TV set so the audience was rather small. Mostly, FDR reassured the US via radio (\\\”Fireside Chats\\\”).

Humm, this brings up an issue I\’ve been struggling with recently. I don\’t know that I have BIID, maybe just a pretender or maybe just like the cat, curiosity\’s got the best of me. Whatever the reason, I\’m feeling a strong desire to embark on a wheeling adventure if you will. Trying it full time for a spell.

The manual transmission thing was an issue that I\’d struggled with before, as I too love the feel of a manual. However, I\’ve found a workable solution there; there are a few cars on the market that have transmissions which offer the manual feel without the stick. F1 racers don\’t have clutch pedals or sticks ;-) but they\’re standard gearboxes with mechanical clutches, rather than automatic trannies with torque-converters (power and fuel economy suckers). So explore this if you\’re so inclined.

My current struggle is with housing. Here in the US apartment complexes offer \”accessible\” housing (to varying degrees of actual accessability). Usually this means that 1) they\’re on the first floor and 2) they have wide doorways 3) a slightly larger bathroom if you\’re extremely lucky.

So, while not superb, certainly workable. However, most buildings are 2 and 3 stories.

I\’ve always lived on the second floor. Partly I feel safer, maybe it\’s an instinctual thing. But also, the upper level apartments often have the premium features, better view, fireplace, higher or even vaulted ceilings etc.

But these 2 and 3 story suburban residential buildings don\’t have elevators, so the\’re pretty much non-starters for the disabled, and often the complexes were renovated to provide the modicum of accessability listed above and they didn\’t bother doing the doorway widening (to say the least) on the upper floors, figuring… well, the wheelchair won\’t get up the stairs anyway, so why bother with the expense. Also, many people, if they notice, complain about the wider doors and the extra space they take up, especially in smaller floorplan apartments. Another reason not to make the more \”premium\” units accesible. Anyway, I digress…

I guess the point is I\’ll be moving soon and will have the possibility of spending a few months wheeling full time but, I have to choose an apartment and I\’m torn, I really want the upper floor but, then the wheeling thing is kinda thrown for a loop.

Sean, I totally understand your thing about choosing to do certain tasks AB style. But, I\’m a little obsessed with the \”purity\” of the experience. And don\’t want the break of continuity that would come with carrying the chair up and down the stairs. However, it\’s also very important, especially when embarking on something such as your first full time wheeling experience, to feel very comfortable and happy where you live, if possible, I believe.

Also, typically the staircases are shared, and it would be quite a thing to explain to the curious neighbors lol.

There is the possibility for an apartment with a private internal staircase, and I suppose, fingers crossed, a second floor unit with a private staircase and wide enough doors exists somewhere out there but well what are the odds.

There are also a few more modern 5 or 6 story buidings mimicing urban living. The benifit to these is that they would have an elevator. The downside is that they\’re easily twice as expensive because they\’re \”hip\”.

Anyway, I think someone else here asked before, how has wheeling affected your domestic situations? have you had to move or make alterations? would you, or would you adapt your wheeling? other thoughts?

p.s. sorry, I mean not to exclude those with other disabilities, which raise other accesibility issues, feel free to chime in but, as it\’s my particular interest, these comments mostly focus on disabilities requiring a wheelchair.

p.s.s sorry this is so long, sean maybe you want to re-post as it\’s own topic? Thanks all.