Words said about a wheelchair user who was killed trying to cross the tracks on the very same day another wheelchair user was saved by a young man in a truck passing by.
So who was Darrell Allsup?
His days were spent with his friends at the offices of Yellow Cab Co. and his afternoons at the east side McDonald's enjoying iced tea.
Allsup will be missed, said Dianna High of Yellow Cab.
"He had no family and we fell in love with him; he was a family member down there (the cab stand). We all loved him," she said. "It's like losing the best cup of coffee you have every day. Nobody who ever met Darrell didn't love him. He was a kind and loving person."
Fernando Bonilla said he knew Allsup for about a decade; he described him as a generous man who gave Bonilla a place to stay when he needed it. via southernillinoisan.com
Allsup was a vet, a sharpshooter who was honorably discharged in 1969.
Yesterday I met my sister at a mall nearby since my power chair can't get into her car. As I was saying goodbye to head home, she looked around and asked "Where's a sidewalk? How can you be safe?"
Sometimes, no matter how careful we want to be, there is simply no place to go in our wheelchairs that is safe if we want to get out and be with those we care about and live our life.
I think as wheelchair users we all share a responsibility to practice safe wheelchair use, but the bottom line is that people will continue to find ways to get around until we make taxis accessible, our roads safer and accessible mass transportation more available and flexible enough to actually be usable. (These incidents are happening right under our nose although they get a lot more media coverage when the person survives and is rescued, I notice.)
h/t Media Dis n Dat
2 comments:
traveling is always hard, sidewalks and curb cuts should be standard but they never are.
Greg- There's a huge variation from block to block which makes it hard to get where you're going. So although one route can be safe for three blocks of it, then you have safety issues whereas another route has safety issues four blocks along that go on for longer. Hard choices sometimes.
When I hear people ask why folks take chances, I think to myself: desperate to get out is usually the answer.
Post a Comment