Where to begin...

[Suellen]

so in August I feel and broke my leg....like a lot.

5 fractures in my ankle...some broken bones in my foot...broken tibia...fractured heel AND tore the ligament from the bone.

1 steel rod, 13 screws, some heavy stitching and 12 weeks of recovery and I am OUT of my wheelchair and allowed 50% weight bearing on my broken leg (which is technically not healed but held together nicely).

So I am ready to start venturing out to some parks. Since I am able (and being encouraged) to walk by the doctors I am on my feet.... I move slow...real slow and need to rest a lot.

My major problem (and this was a problem when in the wheelchair too) is that people are pushy, inconsiderate and rude and I'm always terrified of the leg getting re-injured.


I was in my wheelchair with it in a 1/2 soft 1/2 hard cast and some little kid kept kicking it even though I asked them like 5 times to stop and the mom just sat there....??? I don't get it.

When we walk we try to keep to the side and walk single file... yet people still elbow by.

Short of putting a sign on it that says "Injured Leg" any suggestions for protection?

 

[KPeveler]

My family walks around me a bit if they can, since I injure extremely easily. Yes, we are a bit "wider" as a group, but they provide a buffer.

I am also not afraid to get CMs involved if I need to for my safety. It is never fun to do that, but they will help.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

Do you currently have any visual clue to other people about the fact that you aren't completely mobile? If not you might want to consider something like a rollator (rolling walker with a seat). That way you can do the walking, but it does give that visual clue plus should give you a little protection from the front and possibly the sides. A rollator specifically would also have a seat so you'd have a place to sit if you needed to rest and there were no benches around.

Also, rather than walking single file, I'd actually see if you can arrange your family around you as a protective group. They could buffer in some space so that if someone does push by the pusher isn't directly touching you. Honestly even the people pushing by usually don't really need to be rushing the way they are. Wherever they're going will still be there in a few minutes and people rushing for an actual emergency are not nearly as common (and IME tend to be as polite as they can about it, not to mention loud enough that you'd know why they were doing it). I'd worry less about giving the people who are just pushy a way to get by and more about building in your buffer space so that they aren't pushing you from the side. If you have enough people to completely surround you that should also protect some from experiences like the kid kicking you.

In a case like the kid kicking you that you described above, I'd get a CM involved. You asked the kid to stop. The kid didn't stop and the parent was unhelpful. At that point the parent at the very least (and the kid) needs to learn there's a consequence to anti-social behaviour, especially of the sort that could be causing injury to someone else. Even if you had no problems with your legs you don't kick other people. I'm assuming the kid didn't have a disability that meant they didn't understand not to kick because my experience has been that in those cases the parent apologizes and does try to keep their kid away.