james_davis_nicoll

From:

reynardo.livejournal.com

1) Escalators can be deceptively narrow. Narrow enough that there's barely enough room for you and your crutches. This also means that your crutches aren't splayed out, so you don't have the balance that you thought you did.

Therefore, also do your escalators one-crutched. (I wish I'd thought of that at the time).

2) Despite *every* public access building having (supposedly) a means for disabled access, if you don't know the place and it has more than just a ground floor, call them ahead of time to find out where it is. Otherwise, you may find that:

a) you have to go up a flight of stairs to the ticket office to get someone to come down and set up the disabled access lift for you

b) Although the main entrance is in X street, you are supposed to go to Y street, around the corner and halfway down the block, down the (slippery) ramp to the parking garage, along a skinny corridor and into the goods lift. (If I'd know it was supposed to be that far, I would have tried to go up the stairs instead)

3) When getting onto crowded buses and trains, when all the seats are taken, and if the occupant of the "please vacate for disabled etc." seat doesn't look as if they need the seat as much as you, ask *very* politely "Hi, would it be ok if I had that seat?" If they actually *do* need the seat, they'll usually say so because they understand the situation - and most of the time someone else will then stand up for you. If they *don't* need the seat, be prepared to be sworn at, but there's a good chance that a) someone else will give up their seat for you and b) that same someone else will then go and give the sitter a piece of their mind.

4) You're not as fast as you used to be, so make sure you use pedestrian crossings and those crossings at traffic lights. It'll be a pain, but you'll need the extra time to get across.

5) Expect probing questions about what you've done to yourself. Have a short answer ready - if you don't want to tell what really happened, make up something short and snappy. "Fell over a kitten. The kitten's fine."