Lap bars + folding white cane = pain

[Aerorea]

I post this as a head's up warning for anybody else who uses a folding white cane.

I'm legally blind and use a white cane and had an unfortunate experience with HM this past May. I board with everybody else with my DH's aid. I'm a little slow to enter a buggy, but I'm usually ok.

I was in the process of collapsing my cane when the bars automatically moved down. The bar hit the unfolded segment of my cane suddenly and the ends of folded segments hit me in the face. My cane is graphite with metal end pieces and it was 3 of those end pieces folded together that hit me. I knew it was bad when it happened. Of course, DH couldn't see anything until we got off the ride. I had a huge swollen bruise on my cheek. I went to first aid and got an ice pack for it and kept it on there until it melted. Luckily, the ice did the trick and the bruise wasn't so bad that I couldn't cover it up with a little makeup.

DH took a pic of me in the first aid office with the ice pack. I posted it to FB and captioned it "I got punched by a ghost" haha (I know it's not funny, but sometimes you have to have a sense of humor).

Now I will always remember to make sure my cane is collapsed and ready upon boarding these rides. That means I'll have to rely upon DH to help me, but it's better than trying to rush to get it folded. Now I know that I would have to seek alternate boarding if I were alone.

So... all that just to say beware of automatic lap bars with folding canes!

 

[Random Ninja]

Sorry this happened to you. I guess, technically, a ghost did get you as the narrator is the one putting those things down. Hopefully he'll be a little nicer to you next time.

I can't remember but are there any other rides that have automatic restraints? This warning would probably apply to them too. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[ttintagel]

Oh, no! I hope you're feeling better now!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Ouch!!

Maybe in the future, just so you don't feel rushed and can completely safely (I don't think that's grammatically correct but oh well!) you can ask to have the walk way stopped completely. Then you can fold up the cane and board without feeling like you need to get it all done quickly.

 

[ttintagel]

I had a mishap with those bars and my crutches last summer. I couldn't get them out of the way in time, and the bar couldn't get down. The ride just stopped, though - nobody got hit in the face!

 

[cm8]

OP, I hope that you are doing well as I type this. Thank goodness you have a great sense of humor

 

[Aerorea]

Thanks everyone. The incident happened in May and I'm fine. Thanks to the ice pack, the bruising wasn't as bad as it could have been. Two days later, you could barely see the bruise and there was only a hint of swelling. It was still sore though.

I just wanted to give a little warning to anybody else using a cane (or crutches, or any other mobility device for that matter) to watch out for those automatic lap bars. They're brutal!

 

[sharadoc]

Thanks so much for posting this. I've used a folding cane for arthritis issues which makes it slower for me to get on a ride vehicle. I can see how that could happen so I really appreciate the info.

Glad it worked out okay for you.

BTW - the narrator is "Your Ghost Host" so technically your statement of being hit by a ghost is correct I think.