[Blind-rollers] seatbelts

[qubit]

I tend to be scared to death without my chair seat belt on when I am not at 
home.  Even when the people around me tell me they thing the landscape is 
relatively flat, I have been dumped and even had major fractures on flat 
terraine.  It depends on who is pushing and how fast and how the load is 
distributed in the chair.  I even make people angry at me, but hey, they're 
not the ones spending weeks in the hospital.
But here's a situation with a twist: when I was at a ham radio activity 
involving transmitting from a boat in the middle of a lake, the people 
helping me onto the boat removed my seatbelt as soon as I got onto the dock. 
They said it was required that I take it off, since in case of accident in 
which I am thrown into the water, they didn't want the chair to weigh me 
down.  So that time I had to abide by their rule.
I have a travel question that I am wondering about.
Especially since I lost the bulk of my vision 10 years ago, I have been more 
nervous than ever about traveling because of the OI and fear of getting into 
an accident.  Some of you on the list have OI and blindness as well and seem 
to travel. Question: Do you always take a sighted person with you to help 
you get around? Do you travel a lot? How much vision do you have that is 
usable in getting around? (I still have light and color vision, but I can't 
really distinguish shapes any more, so it's hard to know where I am from 
visual cues.)
Just wondering.
I don't like staying home. I miss getting out every day to work or whatever. 
but such it goes. I feel I am destined to live with my mother till we're 
both stuck in a nursing home (shudder).
She is 86 and still active.
Some of you are married -- congrats at finding your significant other. I 
never had such luck.
Anyway, I just want to compare notes.
I have a lot to do at home, but boy would I love to get out more.
Take care -- happy rolling...
--le




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jennifer Aberdeen" <freespirit328 at gmail.com>
To: "Blind wheelchair users list" <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 5:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Blind-rollers] seatbelts


This sounds all too familiar. I can't tell you how many times I've tipped
over in my chair because the driver didn't secure my chair correctly, or how
many times I was thrown from my chair on to the floor when the bus came to a
sudden hault...and sometimes I was wearing a seat belt when this happened!

I only use the paratransit service if I absolutely have to. Otherwise, I
prefer to travel in a car, in a regular seat. It's safer.

Jen


_______________________________________________
Blind-rollers mailing list
Blind-rollers at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-rollers_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
Blind-rollers:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blind-rollers_nfbnet.org/lauraeaves%40yahoo.com