A 20 year old man saved a woman's life when her wheelchair became stuck on railroad tracks in Lodi, California.
[Her] frightening ordeal began as she was on her way home from a gathering on the other side of town about 10 p.m. She was heading west on Locust street in her motorized wheelchair and approached the Union Pacific tracks, a route she typically takes.
She could hear the train coming from the south, but Jones said she thought she was still a block away from the tracks, so she kept going, expecting to have to stop and wait until the train passed.
Instead, her wheels buckled underneath her as she crossed, ejecting her from the chair, she said. She looked up as she lay on the tracks.
"I saw the flashing lights of the train, and I just knew I was going to die," Jones said. via recordnet.com
Seeing this in the rearview mirror of his truck after passing her, he ran back, pulled her out of chair and then jumped out of the way of the flying debris as the train struck the wheelchair. This video demonstrates what happened.
So what does he have to say about it? That he was glad to have an opportunity to save someone's life because we don't get a chance to do it that often.
The woman simply called him her angel.
***
That's the story covered on CNN and mainstream media. Here's the other side of the story:
Because of a lack of accessible transportation, more people using wheelchairs are using them as cars. This creates safety issues, especially when used on busy roads, at railroad crossings and other surfaces that may be designed safely for vehicles, but not wheelchairs.
And it goes back to the politics of mobility.
And why should all of us care about this "other" story?
Because, as my friend Greg writes, disability doesn't discriminate.
No comments:
Post a Comment