I walk fast. That’s good, because I don’t run.  I might run if a jaguar was chasing me, but it would take at least that.  But I make good time since my natural gate is apparently just below competitive power walking speed.  I don’t think about it alot, but how blessed I am to have good healthy bones and no injuries or illness that would prevent me from hopping up and taking off at a brisk pace under my own power.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who would trade with me in a minute, those who are mobility challenged and living their lives in a wheelchair.  I’ve never had to be in a wheelchair but I can’t imagine how frustrating, inconvenient, and downright frightening it must be.  People in a wheelchair spend their lives at naval level with the rest of us, they aren’t able to get things off high shelves, some can’t drive.  One of the most frustrating things I would think would be having to go about my day to day activities trapped in the chair.  Yes, it provides some sense of freedom and mobility, but it’s limited.  Not only is it limited by its design and the physical ability of the person operating it, it’s limited by the design of the person’s house, neighborhhood, local governments willingness to put in sidewalks and cross walks, and the public’s willingness to acknowledge the handicapped person’s right to travel in the only mode available to them, their wheelchair (or mobility scooter).

We’ve had several people injured and killed trying to cross Middle Tennessee roads in their wheelchairs and it always seems to be publicly stated that it was the person’s fault in the wheelchair. It’s never the fault of the person in the car because they NEVER see them. I think perhaps we should change that mode of thinking.  These people have to get to the store, school, work, the park, in the wheelchair – it’s their legs.  We watch for pedestrians, for children playing close to the road, for animals who might dart out in front of us.  Why are wheelchairs invisible? Do we think they automatically have to wait until everyone who can walk is finished with the road? Do we just not see them as potential dangers?

Robert Conner is dead. He lived in a housing complex that catered to people in wheelchairs or who needed mobility scooters, so there are a large number of people just like him around the Gallatin Road/Berkley area in Madison.  Robert was a vocal supporter of safety measures for wheelchair bound residents, especially after a man in a wheelchair was hit and killed in the area last year.  Even though the police have been quick to say Robert failed to yield to traffic, family members point out that people in wheelchairs don’t have enough time to cross the street even when they have the light.  You see, they can’t speed walk like I can.  They are at the mercy of how fast they can wheel the chair or how fast its electric motor will go.  Robert was almost out of the crosswalk when he was hit and dragged by a van and killed. Surely we could have spared him a few more feet and a few more seconds.