Five-Star Disability

Hey everyone!

Yesterday I mentioned about John who is fully deaf, with moderate vision loss. And I talked about walking across the street and being hit by a car because John did not see the light clearly.

My DeafBlind friend was quick to point out a few things::

• It is not automatically the drivers fault for not seeing a blind person, with a white cane tapping across the street.
• Authorities usually see it as the blind person is at fault. Or a double whammy if the person is Deaf-Blind.
• The Driver is, usually, not charged.

This friend went on to point out that; chillingly, it doesn’t really matter who is at fault; if a car hits a blind or Deaf-Blind person because she couldn’t see the light was Red and couldn’t hear the car horn or the sound of a rapid advancing Porsche Cayenne, the Deaf-Blind person is hit!

To gorify the outcome: John misread the walk signal, thinking it was white, when in fact it was orange/red, but he started to walk anyways, he saw the bus that he needed to catch… He did not hear the car, nor the horn, and was rammed at high speed in the pelvis, did a cartwheel over the Cayenne, landed on the roof before falling to the pavement hard, blood gushing from multiple places, legs are obviously broken. His white cane spins in the air and impales the, thankfully, empty passenger window of the Volvo behind, which was able swerve to the left at the last second to avoid crushing John’s head. The Volvo slams broadside into a Aerostar minivan, which zooms into oncoming traffic smacking into a bus disembarking passengers, one of which is sent stumbling into the window of the Starbucks, going headfirst through the plate glass window… she does not pick up her pre-ordered latte……

Whoops!

Sorry, got carried away!

This is total fiction and, was fun to write!

I’d like to CLOSE this by saying: While my blogs are about situations or events that are important to me, by no means am I speaking for everyone, nor am I versed in LAW… So, in short, don’t take my word for it! Instead, enjoy my blogs, comment if you want, as a different Deaf-Blind person did, mentioning that touch is also very important for Deaf-Blind community!

Thank you!

Have a great day!

PS, I am probably banned from going out alone now! Thanks to this vivid description, and my ever-present ataxia!