Little irritations that prohibits disabled people from being independent

 I tend to write when I get all fired up and today buses and cross walks got me all fired up. On buses they have securement devices on the ground where drivers can strap your chair down so it doesn’t move while the bus is moving. I hate these things for a couple of reasons. 1) is the time it takes for the driver to secure your chair. My power chair is way too heavy to be moved by the motion of the bus. Plus, I’m sure it annoys other riders to delay their trip so the bus driver can get out of the driver seat to secure a wheelchair. 2) is the fact that the securement devices almost always break my foot rests. Foot rests should lock in place but when they hit the securement device they no longer lock in place. Meaning I have to physically keep them in place or else they swing out to the side. As anyone who uses a power chair knows, getting one serviced is horrible. A simple repair always takes months and now supply chain issues adds more months to the process. The last time I got new foot rests they broke within a week thanks to the bus securement devices. Now I go around with broken foot rests, trying to keep them from flying off to the side.

Then too add to my irritation I must complain about crosswalks. In order to get the walk sign you must push the button. This button is on the pole for the light. In order to push the button to signal which way I want to cross, I have to maneuver my chair close enough to hit the button which is usually opposite of the way I need to go. It’s hard to explain but look at the button placement the next time you use a crosswalk. Imagine how much time it would take for you to maneuver a chair to push it and maneuver to where you actually cross. Which leads to another complaint. The walk signal never gives enough time to cross the street safely. It’s a race every time between maneuvering close enough to push the indicator button and maneuvering to safely cross the street. I typically move fast and seriously doubt most power chair users could manage this alone. Unfortunately, I know power chair users that would rather stay home than learn how to travel independently. 

Another issue is when the actual road is lower than the curb. Whenever I cross Arapahoe to go to the Boulder hospital, my foot rests scrape on the road as I leave the curb. This is a jarring experience but I can’t let it slow me down since the walk signal doesn’t last long enough.

It occurred to me that this is why we don’t see more wheelchair users traveling independently, they simply don’t feel that they can do it safely. With the shortage of direct care workers, consumers can’t waist precious caregiver time to get out of the house. They sacrifice want over necessity. They may want a caregiver to help them to travel but they need a caregiver to help get them out of bed and dressed. Insurance forces agencies to time how long activities like bathing take and will only pay for as little time as possible. The consumer must decide between wants and necessities because they aren’t given extra time from insurance companies.

How can we expect people with disabilities to be independent if we don’t provide them with the support needed to do so?