“NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T!”
This is an extract from my Summer Term 2015/16 'SEN Update' entitled:
“Now You See Me, Now You Don't!”
that was released on 15 April 2016.
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“Now You See Me, Now You Don't!”
that was released on 15 April 2016.
(Don’t forget, to ensure that you never miss out on one, you can get my SEN updates personally by completing your email details below, or by following me on one of the
Social Media platforms that I use, at the bottom of this page.
You can also easily share this update with others (please only do this if it may be relevant to them), by using one of the icons to the right of this page (if on a computer) or at the top of this page (if on a mobile device).
“NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T!”
Unfortunately, over recent years, I have found that people invariably miss seeing me when I am in my wheelchair, probably because I am not at their eye level.
This can result in, at best, people sometimes knocking into me accidentally in crowded situations or, at worst, people failing to see me when I am rolling down the pavement in front of them (usually because their eyes are focused on their mobile phones as they are walking), or sometimes, more dangerously, when I am crossing roads.
This became very noticeable to me at the end of last year when I found that, especially in the dark, cars would not see me waiting at zebra crossings ready to cross and so just go through them at speed, or even when I was already starting to cross them.
(Frighteningly, on one occasion, a car came skidding to a halt just before it would have hit me, when I was already on the crossing - I cannot be sure whether the driver just didn’t see me because he/she was looking too far ahead, or if he/she had their eyes/mind elsewhere, perhaps also on a mobile phone!)
As you are probably aware if you have read my Updates before, I always like to be quite proactive about things so, reluctantly, I invested last year in a bright luminous yellow jacket, which I made myself wear during the Winter/early Spring, to give me the best chance of being seen.
Since then, I have had to put up with a lot of teasing from those around me, saying things to me, like I now look like a security guard (to which I like to reply “And don’t you feel safe now?”), or making other comments, such as “Couldn’t you find anything brighter?” (to which I like to reply “Do you think that I really like having to wear this?”). But I am sure that it has helped people to see me more.
So I guess it’s a case of: “Now you see me, now you don’t!”
“NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON’T!”
Unfortunately, over recent years, I have found that people invariably miss seeing me when I am in my wheelchair, probably because I am not at their eye level.
This can result in, at best, people sometimes knocking into me accidentally in crowded situations or, at worst, people failing to see me when I am rolling down the pavement in front of them (usually because their eyes are focused on their mobile phones as they are walking), or sometimes, more dangerously, when I am crossing roads.
This became very noticeable to me at the end of last year when I found that, especially in the dark, cars would not see me waiting at zebra crossings ready to cross and so just go through them at speed, or even when I was already starting to cross them.
(Frighteningly, on one occasion, a car came skidding to a halt just before it would have hit me, when I was already on the crossing - I cannot be sure whether the driver just didn’t see me because he/she was looking too far ahead, or if he/she had their eyes/mind elsewhere, perhaps also on a mobile phone!)
As you are probably aware if you have read my Updates before, I always like to be quite proactive about things so, reluctantly, I invested last year in a bright luminous yellow jacket, which I made myself wear during the Winter/early Spring, to give me the best chance of being seen.
Since then, I have had to put up with a lot of teasing from those around me, saying things to me, like I now look like a security guard (to which I like to reply “And don’t you feel safe now?”), or making other comments, such as “Couldn’t you find anything brighter?” (to which I like to reply “Do you think that I really like having to wear this?”). But I am sure that it has helped people to see me more.
So I guess it’s a case of: “Now you see me, now you don’t!”
With best wishes
Douglas
Douglas
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