Hazards of the Walk

Some goddesses are puzzled by this...like me...you'd think when they put in access for handicapped people they'd have disabled people help design them.

The bumpy yellow strip used on these types of ramps for traction are slick under your feet in rain, ice and snow and painful to cross for me with arthritis in my back, knees and arms on a scooter or walker. I expect to be in pain going across a railroad track, and avoid as many as I can, these they've set up so I can't avoid!

This type of  ramp however, that is actually made as part of the sidewalk causes no pain when I go over it and yet still gives me traction. The cobblestones are nasty, but that's another story! LOL

 

And worst of all...in the Lloyd District where they are trying to be hip, trendy, cool, and who knows what else....

In this light, the depression is visible. But TWICE I have managed to walk straight off the curb because it wasn't a clearly marked ramp and they were in an unexpected place. Both times were in broad daylight. It doesn't help that I have macro degeneration and can't see well. But if I can do it and end up tearing my meniscus in my knee on my walker because I fell straight on it IN BROAD DAYLIGHT at 9 AM!!! then other people can as well. I then did it a few streets over a couple weeks later. sigh.... I now know to be extra careful to look out for the d@mn fricken ramps because their beautification is more important than safety. But it's definitely the pits to remember.  Don't get me started on sloped sidewalks because of driveways, or just because whoever put them in was an @ssh@t and cracked concrete and asphalt I'm expected to navigate over and sections of sidewalk that are raised that I'm somehow magically supposed to levitate to get up on, or better yet, streets that have none at all?
 Or the streetlights near my MAX stop that are always out and since they are the new directional lighting they darken the entire block and make me feel totally unsafe to come home in the winter after 6pm.

Yeah, that makes you feel really safe when you give up driving because of your disability and how unsafe you really are on the road and how bad your macular degeneration is? NOT. I'm really happy that transit is here and available and accessible, and I know that people who pay full price get kind of pissed of at the disabled because they have to wait for ramps and give up seats and get squished by walkers and move out of the way and wait on doors so the ramps will come down, but I CAN'T drive a car right now. I have NO CHOICE. Transit or walk. If I move I need my walker and it takes some room. Yes I paid my taxes and I'm sorry it slows you down but I can't bike it. I would if I could. I had a mobility chair and quite frankly, this is healthier for me and uses less room on transit. :D So the next time you get impatient, remember that you are probably very much ABLE to drive, the person in those seats may not, probably isn't able to.

 

From a frustrated goddess on a walker...