It’s a scary world out there on crutches!
We have been venturing out into the world a bit more (10 days post surgery) — it makes me so nervous to watch him navigate with crutches (he’s 6′2″ and those crutches seem huge). We went into a restaurant yesterday and a few steps into the entry way, one of his crutches slipped on the wet tile floor of the restaurant. Scared him, me and the hostess senseless. He regained his balance and took one more step and slipped again.
Today we went to a local university coliseum for an athletic event (a friend was being honored). The whole navigation process with thousands of jostling and careless people made me crazy nervous. I’m ready to mount a bicycle horn and a strobe light on him so folks will give him space. I wanted to yell and start shoving “STEP AWAY FROM THE MAN ON CRUTCHES!”
The whole ADA access sure comes to the forefront — what a nuisance getting into the building with a long snaking ramp that popped us out nowhere near the entrance. It was pouring rain and I poked my head into the closest entrance and asked if we could go in that door. A surly, self-important employee barked “no…players only.” I mentioned the crutches and said “please…this crowd and rain is murder.” He just turned his back on us. Pah.
I called in advance to the sporting event and asked about seating — she said handicapped seating is reserved for folks in wheelchairs, but, the seating would be fine and easy for someone with crutches. The “easiest” seating was one step off the floor, but the step wasn’t a garden variety code-compliant step — it was really tall and the seat was set back some distance. He made it just fine, but, I could tell by his “oh sh*t” expression that it wasn’t easy.
Sigh. And so it goes!
