Disability Travel - Traveling through crowds!

Hi all, just felt the need for a little vent and figure this was maybe an appropriate venue (having just got off yet another plane ... Oh but traveling is a glamorous life, not!)

You know how hard it is to move through a crowded airport in a wheelchair, where at least people attempt to get out of your way ... I've just come back from a trip using my cane only, and as an AKA it's almost impossible to side-step people who stop in front of you or walk straight at you - to top it off tonight I had the same man, TWICE, cut in front of me and knock my cane out from under me with the wheelie suitcase he was toting along behind him!

Second time I would've headed straight down the escalator if the nice man behind me hadnt caught the back of my jacket ... phew!

Thanks for listening to my rant!

The obliviousness of people is astonishing! Especially the texting hordes as they deplane.

You've highlighted another reason to go up one in mobility aids for travel.

yep I book a wheelchair partly for this reason. Some folk just aren't aware of their surroundings.

A wheelchair is definitely a bit better for not getting run into. Although I remember in the Memphis airport when my spouse parked me next to a kiosk while he ran to the bathroom. I was sitting in my wheelchair in full view and a businessman on his phone walked into me and my wheelchair. He cussed at me and kept walking. I guess it was the invisibility shield that my wheelchair appears to have when I am in it. :)

Jeklah, you showed admirable restraint. I would have thwacked the offender with my cane.

I know exactly what you're talking about. I hope the dude that knocked your cane didn't have a FT Tag on his bag.

A wheelchair is definitely a bit better for not getting run into. Although I remember in the Memphis airport when my spouse parked me next to a kiosk while he ran to the bathroom. I was sitting in my wheelchair in full view and a businessman on his phone walked into me and my wheelchair. He cussed at me and kept walking. I guess it was the invisibility shield that my wheelchair appears to have when I am in it. :)

You have the invisibility shield, too, huh? :D Isn't it just amazing how that works? I have had the exact same experience on the street: someone texting while walking on a crowded sidewalk walks right into me (after I have stopped and tried to get their attention, as it is too crowded for me to get out of the way), then cusses me out. I just don't get it.

In airports, I have literally been hit on the head with people's duffel bags. :( That has made my husband ask, "Excuse me, is my wife invisible?" But they just keep going. Arrgghh.

You have the invisibility shield, too, huh? :D Isn't it just amazing how that works? I have had the exact same experience on the street: someone texting while walking on a crowded sidewalk walks right into me (after I have stopped and tried to get their attention, as it is too crowded for me to get out of the way), then cusses me out. I just don't get it.

In airports, I have literally been hit on the head with people's duffel bags. :( That has made my husband ask, "Excuse me, is my wife invisible?" But they just keep going. Arrgghh.

A joke my spouse and I make when we are ready to head out for the day is I tell him that we should go and rob a bank. After all, no one would ever see us do it, since we are invisible when I am in my wheelchair. :)

I figure the Wheelchair Invisibility Shield is related to All Wheelchair Users Look Alike Syndrome, too.

I watch people carefully when out in public and if they've got their head buried in their phone screen I shout, "Hey - you!" to prevent them from running into people or things. I also have used my forearm and briefcase as barriers for those who are about to run into me.

People are so self-centered now with their phones and pay no attention to where they're walking. I would love to see a study on the increase in traffic incidents involving "distracted walkers." I'm careful to stay totally out of the flow of foot traffic in an airport.