Text 385, 82 rader
Skriven 2006-08-27 23:52:06 av Ardith Hinton (1:153/716.0)
    Kommentar till text 382 av George Pope (193.survivor)
Ärende: recreation
==================
Hi, George!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  I grab the handle with my good hand, pull enough to
AH>  hook my good foot in, then power backwards. . .

AH>  Sounds like quite a feat.  Worth trying, though....  :-)

GP>  Yeah, I was taught by a more experienced chair-user
GP>  (who also had a stroke)


          Great!  I enjoy receiving tips about such things from folks who have
actually made use of them under similar conditions... and passing them on.  In
many cases others suggest a technique which requires the use of two good hands
or which requires waiting until some helpful able-bodied person arrives on the
scene.  It's good to know Nora may be able to manage alone if she has to.  :-)



AH>  There's a lack of co-ordination, as there is in a store
AH>  washroom we saw with instructions for hand washing.
AH>  Use paper towel to turn off the tap.  Makes sense to me.
AH>  But where is this paper towel?  In my pocket, of course
AH>  ... (sigh).

GP>  *LOL* Exactly the problem(s)!

GP>  Well put!


          Thankyou....  :-)



AH>  I like the idea of a "family washroom" too.  Helper &
AH>  helpee are not always the same gender, and if enough
AH>  people need space for or three little kids plus a stroller
AH>  it's more likely to remain available for us....  :-)

GP>  Fair point!


          In my experience the majority of them are (more or less) equipped to
do double duty, and they may help in replacing some old stereotypes.  It's not
just females who change diapers & whatnot nowadays... and it's not just people
with visible handicaps who need things like a grab bar & a bit of extra space.
We still need those things even when Nora walks to the washroom, and my friend
could have used them years ago when she & her teenage brother did the same.  I
see that unisex washrooms would have made life easier for both of them.  I see
also that Nora doesn't feel she's "handicapped", and IMHO that's good....  :-)



GP>  I use those, too (I'll use anything I can smash my way
GP>  into when there's the need!


          Yes, a power chair often makes a fine bulldozer if you need one.  So
the aisles are too narrow & you want a table moved??  Maybe you can remedy the
problem yourself when you can't get anyone else to pay attention... [chuckle].



GP>  (thankfully I have the option of finding a nice copse
GP>  of trees, too, in a pinch! *LOL*)


          There are advantages to outdoor plumbing... especially for those who
have difficulty walking on rough ground or bending their knees!  It's probably
easier to find someplace to hide as well.  I have to wonder, though, about the
survival value of turning one's back to the world & peeing against a tree or a
fence post or a wall.  It seems so deeply ingrained that I imagine our distant
ancestors must have passed it on to us.  In a hunting/gathering society it may
have been more important for males than for females to be able to do that.  In
our society we wear shoes & I soon learned to direct the stream where it would
run downhill away from me... a new twist on the term "domestic science".  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)