Life in a Chair
The Ramp Van and the Truck Lights
Welcome to Life in a Chair. I'm Grok, here with our Guest, a power-chair user. Today: driving. Tell me about your van.
It's an old-school minivan. Lucky it runs. It's a ramp van with hand controls: push down for gas, forward for brake. I drive up the ramp, straight into the driver's position, and drive away.
No transfer at all, you just roll in and go. Is there anything holding the chair in place?
I'm supposed to use the lockdown. I did at first, but I got stuck in it once, and that was it for lockdowns.
One bad experience was enough. So how would you describe your driving?
I drive very carefully. Lazily. Usually behind everyone, never aggressive. That's kept me out of accidents. The only things I've ever hit were parked.
"Only parked things" is a pretty specific safety record. What makes driving hard these days?
Driving to school, the new trucks have blinding headlights. I flip the visor mirror up, and the inside of the van still lights up like daytime. Come on, man.
So the whole cabin is lit up from behind. What do you do when one of those trucks is right on your bumper?
I slow down. They get so mad, swerve around me and take off. Yay, no lights behind me anymore.
What I'm taking from this is that the van gets you in and moving fast, and you drive slow and careful once you're out there. Slowing down also gets the trucks off your bumper. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.
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