What I learned on my Summer Vacation
Well, I'm back from a week at the beach. It was a great time to unwind and enjoy the sunshine and seafood of the Carolina coast.
On our vacations, my wife and I usually spend a lot of time golfing, playing tennis, bicycling and being generally pretty active. But not this year, at least not for me.
On Monday, two days into our trip, I stepped on a tennis ball and badly sprained my ankle. It was the most excruciating pain I've felt in a long time. It hurt so bad, I almost passed out. An emergency room doctor said I was lucky I didn't break any bones.
The ankle and my foot looked like a giant grapefruit for several days. The swelling is down some now, but I'll be on crutches for several more days.
I've always had a great admiration for the disabled. They face challenges in everyday life that we take for granted.
The past week has given me a greater appreciation of the obstacles they face. Simple acts like going to the bathroom become major endeavors when you're disabled. I made coffee early one morning before anyone else was awake, I realized I had no way to move my cup filled with coffee to the dining room table because both my hands were tied up using my crutches.
Going to restaurants or retail stores with heavy doors may not seem a big deal, but try opening them on crutches. Or steps, you better be able to run a 5-K if you have to climb steps.
Many of the people I encountered last week during my early days on crutches were very kind and often helpful. But not everyone. Some people seemed annoyed at my slowness, almost shoving me aside just to get around me.
In a week or two I'll be back on two feet and those obstacles won't seem so difficult for me. But I hope I won't soon forget the challenges I faced while disabled. And when I look at the world around me, I hope I remember what I learned on my summer vacation.
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Comments
Welcome back Gene! Sorry to
Welcome back Gene!
Sorry to hear about your ankle. Get well soon!
GENE, I am sure you were
GENE, I am sure you were just not thinking when you tried to give a twisted ankle the same cred as someone who is actually handicapppped?? Come ON! Ride IN a wheelchair through major airports (cause you CAN'T WALK) and see what it is really like, the LOOKS and what kills me is the ugly words from jerks rushing to the gates! Also push a father after surgery in a chair around his home, out to the car, into a store man the list goes on and on...but the thing to remember is YOU can't even get close to knowing what it is like until you really are placed in that situation. Putting a foot on a T.Ball just doesn't really qualify, doing it while on vacation is even more sad, OK if you did it while you were saving the life of a puppy caught in a burning net or even worse a pile of flaming Wilson rackets would be one thing but just not watching where you were walking kinda makes it a touch stupid don't you think?
Glad you had a great trip, now that you are back see if you guys can come up with the answer of how to beat WVLT at 5 pm?
Dwight, where's all this
Dwight, where's all this anger coming from?
I never said my minor injury was akin to someone with a serious and life-long disability. I simply pointed out that the injury made me more appreciate the difficulties of living in the world with a disability.
Also - my father died of emphysema and used a wheelchair toward the end of his life. You don't have to lecture me about that.
On Monday, two days into our
On Monday, two days into our trip, I stepped on a tennis ball and badly sprained my ankle. It was the most excruciating pain I’ve felt in a long time. It hurt so bad, I almost passed out. An emergency room doctor said I was lucky I didn’t break any bones."
Anger, none at all here..just kept thinking of that great Dan and Eddie movie (Trading Places) when the boys are singing to Ophelia just after she told the protracted story ending with "and I STEPPED right on the ping pong BALL!"
Great movie from 1983!
I am sorry you were on a trip and tripped over or stepped on the ball, just couldn't tie that with folks who were and are really handicapped?
Now I was on a visit to Silver Springs Florida in the 12th grade and saw a girl way down deep try to suck air out of a hose and just about turn blue when an end of it she couldn't see got twisted around this fake treasure chest. No kidding, my entire Sunday School class thought it was fake but it made the Atlanta paper that Sunday!
You know, Gene, I just
You know, Gene, I just recently had the same kind of experience.
In April, I had double knee replacement surgery and I was in a wheel chair for several days, and crutches for several more days after that. I began to get the same appreciation as you described. I too noticed how some disability construction is not functional or well thought-out and basically deters the disabled. I often saw how people tended to react to my perceived disability. And later on when I had no perceived or apparent disability, being without crutches or even a cane, people tolerated my slowness poorly. It was interesting for me to walk in other people's shoes for a few months. I am nearly recovered today, but I shall not forget the disability lesson for a while. I also realized how a very little disability can really change my life.