Text 172, 97 rader
Skriven 2005-10-02 23:52:06 av Ardith Hinton (1:153/716.0)
     Kommentar till en text av James Bradley (1:134/77.0)
Ärende: Look Out...  1.
=======================
Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

JB>  I almost fell off my chair.

AH>  Because you saw my message just after your adventures
AH>  with sailing...?

JB>  Because I'm imbalanced. <L>


          That's okay... all my favourite people are weird.  :-))



AH>  One of the life guards tipped over a kayak with me in it,
AH>  then helped me figure out how to get back in.

JB>  Sounds like a page out of the lesson book to me.


          Yes, it probably is.  It's not quite the same as getting dumped into
the water when one least expects it.  Nora is a bit ahead of me there....  :-)



AH>  Nora was not the slightest bit reluctant to try canoeing
AH>  again.  She did that a few days after the sailing episode
AH>  ....  :-)

JB>  Ah... Nora's my kind!


          I figured... [chuckle].



JB>  The teacher, I'd have to scold, though. Did she figure
JB>  out quickly an upturned canoe makes a better flotation
JB>  device than a dead hero?


          I don't what happened next.  She's one of those people... trying not
to bore you with psychobabble... whose hearts rule their heads, who have loads
of empathy but don't seem to remember the basic laws of physics & whatnot when
the situation requires that they put such concepts to use.  While I appreciate
her ability to tune in to Nora's needs in many ways, I often have to spell out
practical details.  People generally resort to their preferred reasoning style
in an emergency... so I'm not sure she'd catch on quickly!  I heard many years
ago that a canoe makes an excellent flotation device & I haven't forgotten it.
Whether or not I'd catch on any more quickly in the same situation I can't say
because I've never been in a canoe.  I knew how to deal with my aunt's aphasia
some time after seeing an article about it in READER'S DIGEST, however.  I may
be unusual in that I notice such things before the need arises....  :-)



AH>  We all got interested in kayaking when Nora tried it.
AH>  For her it was a revelation

JB>  Independence?


          I'm sure that was part of it.  She had found a new mode of transport
*and* she could get around by herself, with the right adaptive equipment.  :-)



JB>  Tricycle, training wheels, bicycle, skateboard...
JB>  Cadillac, puddle jumper, cane, walker, 'Turbo'
JB>  walker (Age issues.), scooter...


          Persactly.  I'm reminded of an incident which occurred when Nora was
about 3 1/2.  She'd just been in hospital, where there are many wheelchairs...
and she was at the developmental stage in which kids point at various things &
name them.  One day when I took Nora to a local shopping area she pointed at a
bicycle, a bus, and a wheelchair.  As a teacher, I was thrilled.  I recognized
that she was categorizing & I'd had a student in grade six who couldn't do it!
The older woman in the wheelchair was miffed, however... I guess because she'd
grown up when it was considered impolite to look at a wheelchair.  IMHO people
who adhere to such "rules" often miss the point.  If others aren't expected to
waste energy pretending they didn't notice the wheelchair, they have much more
energy available to pay attention to the person who's in it.  This woman never
thought to ask herself why Nora was still using a stroller, when other kids of
the same age walk to the area, so she didn't see what they had in common.  She
may not have wanted to, though... sometimes people prefer to feel unique.

          To Nora, a wheelchair is another of many ways to get around.  I like
that... and so far none of the occupants has bitten my head off when I've said
something along the lines of "I see you have a Snazzy 850.  How do you find it
on rough ground (or on the bus)?" even if she wasn't with me at the time.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver BC, CANADA [604-266-5271] (1:153/716)