Safety                                                                     

When I first saw the iBOT on TV, I thought
it looked unsafe and that it would be difficult
to get it on the market for that reason.  I
wasn't alone.  There was a lot of talk in the
disability community about safety concerns.
Now that it has been proven to be safe, these
concerns are no longer much of an issue to
people who are familiar with the iBOT.  The
general public is still at the, "Oh my God, that
looks dangerous!" stage.  Okay, okay, I admit
that doing the stairs at the recent test drive
was a little scary, but I definitely wasn't as
scared as my friends who were watching were.
I could tell by the looks on their faces that
they were concerned.   Actually, Jeni and
Lise were.  Ron wasn't, but he's my ex-
husband, so, well...  you know.  :D

I was thinking today about the injuries I have
had resulting from using a manual wheelchair.
There are only a few, and nothing all that
serious.  Well, okay, one of them included
stitches and cracked teeth and an emergency
room doctor's fingers in my head, but that'll
be tomorrow's story.  

Before I tell today's story, I'd like you to know
that I am not a risk taker.  I avoid hopping curbs.  
I don't enjoy spinning around while doing  a wheelie.  
You'll never find me balancing on my back wheels
just for the hell of it.  The possibility of falling out of
my chair and breaking my wrist in the fall, or landing
on my face and breaking my nose, or tipping over 
backward and cracking my head open doesn't appeal 
to me in any way, shape, or form.

On to today's story.  I'll start with my first mishap.  
I must have been about 9 years old.  My sister was 
pushing me in the yard when the front wheels
met a piece of concrete.  The chair came to an
abrupt stop, tipped forward, and dumped me
face first onto the concrete.  Luckily I caught myself
before my face got a close up view of cement,
and I ended up with only skinned up knees and hands.
More than anything, it scared me.  If it happened  
to me now, I'd laugh about it, but as a 9 year old kid 
adjusting to this new life, it was frightening.  

Tomorrow's story is slightly more interesting.  It 
involves blood and a little something that will probably
turn your stomach.   After that, there are a couple
other stories I will share and then I will write about
the safety of the iBOT.

As always, thanks for reading.  Please feel free to
leave comments.  I like comments.  I welcome
comments from anyone at all, not just wheelchair
users.  Don't forget that you can leave comments
anonomously.  There's no way for me to know
who left the comment, unless you leave your name.  
I do have the ability to delete comments though.