David Gillon

Quick Note: Scalzi's Head On

2018-07-17T22:24:01Z

I just re-read Unlocked, Lock In and then the new Scalzi, Head On. It's not quite as disability focused as Lock In, but it's a return to his world where Hadens, locked in by Haden's Syndrome, participate in society via remoted operated robotic 'threeps'. It's very good.

Full review to follow, but one line really caught my attention: "But one thing you get used to when you walk around in a threep is navigating through crowds and busy sidewalks , since non-Hadens will literally walk into threeps because they don't see them as quite human. It's not intentional. It's one of those unconscious biases that people don't even know they have."

You can switch wheelchair for threep, and it remains true. And Scalzi has nailed something I knew, but had never really articulated.

The following line is true too: "Well, most of the time it's unintentional. Some people are just assholes".

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Meh!

2018-07-12T16:26:21Z

I've been feeling a bit <i>meh!</i> all week, which I'd put down to how poorly I'd been sleeping, but a sneezing fit just revealed I've got some sort of sinus-bug as well. Normal service will resume when I feel up to dealing with more than 240 characters at a time. {*Goes to hunt for Lemsips *}

And in other news, if you park needlessly* close to a car with a wheelchair symbol in the back window, don't be surprised if I sit on your bonnet to get the chair into the boot.

* And by needlessly close I mean under 2 feet, with enough space clear behind that someone parked a large cargo van in it at first attempt while I was humping the chair in.

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Louis, no!!!

2018-02-10T19:53:07Z

At Homebase, rolling slowly up the aisle, trying to find the nails I want, young couple on the other side with a 3-4yo. Suddenly "Louis, no!"

I turned round in the chair, rather than with the chair, which was just as well. At first I thought he'd grabbed the spreader bar across the back of the chair, and he probably did have one hand on it. But the other was wrapped around tyre and pushrim. If I'd spun in place there would have been tears (and probably blood).

Normally I'm quite relaxed about kids being curious about the chair, better to get them thinking of it as normal when they're young, but this was dangerous, so I let his mortified mum force him to say sorry. (She did a good job, telling him "those are his legs" and so on).

And off he ran down the aisle while we both turned back to what we were doing. I spotted the ones I wanted, but had to stand up to get them, at which point there's a shriek of 'Louis, no!!!!"

The little sod had come tearing up the aisle and dived into the chair from the back and across the wheel - just as well I'd been too lazy to slot the clothes guard on, he'd very likely have wrecked that. And just as well I hadn't flumped back into the chair as usual. Mum, now even more mortified, grabs him by the hand, yanks him round the corner "When I tell you don't touch..."

Drags him back around, makes him apologise to me again. Dad is all "And those treats, you needn't think you're getting those", while I'm trying to keep a straight face, because it was so utterly beyond the bounds of what you expect, but they genuinely needed to teach him not to do that for both his safety and any chair user's.

Mentioned this on FB a little while ago and have already had several wheelchair using friends report similar instances. Seriously, people?

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Headdesk Pedestrians....

2017-12-12T23:38:14Z

Bloody pedestrians....
Pedestrian 1, elderly gentleman with a stick, managing to entirely block a pavement wide enough for three abreast.
Me, approaching from behind: Excuse me.
P1: Oh, I didn't hear you.
P1: You should have a horn. (Not 'Ha, ha, you should have a horn', more 'Why are you allowed out without a horn?')
So my polite request to be past was somehow turned into me being at fault.

Two minutes later. I'm halfway up a dropped kerb when I'm grabbed from behind. I slam my brakes on:
P2: Gave you a helping hand there mate {Claps me on back, which hurts}
Me: Please don't touch anyone's wheelchair without asking, it's very easy to break one, or hurt them.
P2: {Claps me on back again}
Me: And don't touch someone in a wheelchair on the back
P2: Fuck you! {Storms off}

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Helpful People, Grrrr...

2017-07-15T22:04:01Z

Had the classic huffy "I was only trying to help!" in town earlier.

The entrance to the George Vaults has the door a step up, with another step inside, so the only way to do it is to get out of the chair, push the door open, cant the chair back and bump it up a step at a time, which I'm quite capable of doing.

First off someone sitting outside smoking offered to help, which set up the rest of it as fending her off (holding the door open from outside makes the doorway too narrow) made me forget to fold up the anti-tips and blocked me from my normal angle. Which led to the chair jamming half way in as I couldn't cant it far enough back and I'd hit the door frame.

As I'm figuring out what's gone wrong two people from inside decide to intervene. The woman pulled the door out of the way, which actually was helpful, the guy decides he needs to be manly and pick the chair up by the footplate. Which would, of course, have thrown the weight of the chair onto me and my dodgy shoulders, rather than leaving the weight on the step. So I said "Don't!" and started to explain why he shouldn't do it that way. (Amongst other issues it'll often leave you holding a footplate and not a lot more.) Which provoked the huffy "I was only trying to help!" Clearly more interested in being seen to help than actually helping!

And of course when I went to leave, which is easier than coming in, someone came rushing to hold the door (and get in the way).

"My boy's like you," he says. I wonder if he rolls his eyes as much as I did.

On the brighter side I was serenaded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as I wheeled back to the car as they did their soundcheck for the Castle Garden concert this evening - Scherezade, I think.

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Mild Sense of Accomplishment....

2015-12-12T22:36:23Z

In Rochester for lunch with friends and the disabled car park was open - even though it was due to be shut because the Christmas Market was on in the Castle. The carpark isn't in the Castle, it's on the road to the Castle, yet Medway council shut it every time there's an event, no matter that removes half the disabled parking in town. It's bad enough when they use it for their on-site office - there's a non-disabled carpark immediately opposite they could use, but this time they aren't even doing that. But today the fence they'd used to block it off was pushed to the side and at least one car was parked (not to mention I could use it to get to where I was parked).

Don't know if it was down to me whinging on twitter about it a fortnight ago, and a few local wheelies joining in, but I like to think it was.

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Wheelchair 1 : Toes Nil

2015-05-26T19:42:37Z

This afternoon in Rochester, there was a queue for the ATM stretching right across the pavement, with a gap just about big enough for the chair between the guy at the machine and the guy next in line (with earphones in).

'Excuse me!'

No reaction.

'Excuse me!!'

No reaction.

Bugger this, I go for the gap.

I'm genuinely not sure whether I mis-judged it or he moved his foot, but there was a decided crunching feeling.

I cast "I did say excuse me, twice!!" over my shoulder as I rolled away, but it's not really possible to look behind you and push at the same time, so I can't say what the reaction looked like, but there was definitely some muttering going on that probably wasn't pro-wheelchair user - tough!

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David Gillon

Quick Note: Scalzi's Head On

Meh!

Louis, no!!!

*Headdesk* Pedestrians....

Helpful People, Grrrr...

Mild Sense of Accomplishment....

Wheelchair 1 : Toes Nil

Headdesk Pedestrians....