1P

Just want to echo all the complimentary comments that have been made so far. This TR is magnificent, and your style is great! Keep it coming!

One of the things I had to do as part of my work was go on a disability awareness course sometime back. As well as learning how to assist those in wheelchairs, you get to be in one yourself for a significant period of time (i.e. an hour or more). Quite apart from learning how to maneouvre the thing up and down kerbs and other skills, even opening and closing doors and using the restroom is pretty challenging — and that's for someone with a normally-muscled body. What it must be like with no movement below bust level is hard to imagine. The amount of mental strength required, let alone physical strength in your shoulders, arms and hands, is immense.

I am full of admiration for you.

wingspan

Wow! This is such a great read. Thank you for sharing your experiences with us, jenpdx. I am learning a lot from reading your posts. I've read god-knows-how-many flyertalk threads before but this will be the first one I subscribe to.

Glad you were showered with the chocolates - I do enjoy those CX goodies!

drron

What an inspiring story and so well told.Unfortunately what you descibe as happening in Oregon also occurs here in Australia.many is the time you see young able bodied people using disabled car parking spots.The crul irony is that many people who would benefit from the use of such spots are barred from them.As in the USA the law is that you must use a walking aid to get a disabled sticker.many who use a walking aid can go a great distance without discomfort al be it slowly.many of my patients with end stage cardiac disease cant walk far at all but because they dont need a walking aid are denied the disability sticker.
It is the same on aircraft.Just yesterday 3 elderly woman pre boarded using wheelchairs.Only 1 remained on board to be helped off.One was in the second row of coach-you should have seen her elbow a couple of beefy fellows out of the way to be the first coach passenger off the plane!
I continually am amazed at the lengths some people go to to acheive small gains.I have a problem knee and am booked to have a knee replacement plus severe spinal canal stenosis with sciatica at times-also grey haired-but could never claim I am disabled.Yet last year returning from the USA to Australia was pushed out of the way by a young Australian women and her 2 fit male companions as she was claiming she had a bad back-yeh sure.

I am awaiting your further reports.It is such an inspiring one-should be compulsory reading for anyone applying for a disabled permit.

Tizzette

I have observed the handicapped-for-parking-purposes phenomena all too often. And have you noticed that the cars they get out of are disproportionately expensive cars, and they are disproportiately fat?

onefasteuro

Thoroughly enjoying your write up.
I command you for your approach on life.

FlyIgglesFly

"I know this is a touchy subject, so I should clarify what I mean when I use terms like “truly disabled” and “faker.” There are a surprisingly large number of Americans who are deeply convinced that their ingrown toenails limit their ability to perform activities of daily living to the point of rendering them disabled, and who might take issue with someone like me doubting their status. I already talked about the enormous fraud involving handicap parking placards -9% of Oregon drivers assert being unable to walk 200 feet-, but the imaginary disabilities don’t stop there. In a 2004 survey, almost 25% of respondents self-identified as disabled, and in one of my volunteer jobs I recently encountered a guy who attended a rock concert, dove off a stage, bit off a piece of his tongue, and wanted help filing a disability claim. Call me crazy, but from where I sit, all this looks a little bit ridiculous."

From 2009-2011 I adjudicated claims for Social Security Disability. Trust me when I say that tongue biter doesn't register as a top 50 ludicrous attempt at claiming benefits in my time there.

"With a little practice, this could turn into one of the great pickup strategies. I hear wedding bells already. Wait, you're a guy, nevermind. Don't freak out! No wedding bells. A squeaky mattress in a cheap hotel."

Please. I consider myself a smooth operator with enough points to shack up for the night in a 5 star property using my secondary Irish passport to avoid disclosing my true US identity and being roped into any wedding bells. However, given my propensity for overindulgence in airport lounges, it's more likely that a tragic case of beer goggles would lead to an attempt to carry a women far larger than my knees could support. Hopefully I can get a placard and a decent Quickie until my knees are put back together again.

docjames

Great TR - well written, and hopefully enlightening for many readers too. ^

Looking forward to remaining installments.

Flubber2012

jenpdx,

Thanks for sharing and I admire you for your courage. In my brief medical career, I saw some devastating neurological sequelae and it was the small minority of patients who came out of them with your attitude. You ROCK.

Your trip report is fascinating too...it's interesting to hear what kind of experiences you have and it get angry when I see people trying to scam the system. Parking, use of "handicap" stall, etc.

lili

Nah. At my mother's bank the cars in the disabled spots usually were old to average and had a couple of surfboards strapped to the roof. I'm not kidding.

lsumegan

Jen, this really is an informative and entertaining trip report, and I recommend that you look into writing a magazine article or perhaps recurring piece. It has definitely opened my eyes to a lot of things. I am ashamed to admit that I have been one of those people that uses the handicap stalls in airports when they are vacant because I can easily roll my suitcase in. But not anymore. Thank you for your insight.

nolan222

Great TR so far. Thank you so much for posting this. I have been curious for a while now as my soon to be sister in law is a paraplegic and we intend to take her with us in our travels. This gives a great introduction in what to possibly anticipate.

QF WP

You know you've found a good thread when it's referenced on another FF website.

I've had the delight to meet Karen, a wheelchair bound FT'er (it's been a while I can't remember her new FT handle), so I see some similarities with the stories I heard from her.

Looking forward to the ongoing TR. If you make it to Australia (should I say when), I can see an FT meet to organise!

AKDan

A great start to your TR! Thank you for sharing your experience of travel in a different way than most of us see it. Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Crampedin13A

Thanks for this TR. A great insight into a world of flying that few people would know.^

The handicap parking permit scammers make my blood boil. Having twice in the last 6 years broken ankles very badly I only used the permit the second time and only until I could use 2 canes to walk on. Anyone who has known someone confined to a wheelchair for the last 25 years like I do realizes what jerks these people who abuse the permit system truly are. My observations are on par with a previous poster about how the cars tend to be expensive German brands and even more shocking cars like Ferrari's and Maserati's which if you need a handicapped permit I'm surprised the person can get in or out of.

Tizzette

Love it.