Welcome to the very first note in my very first stream on Notd. This is another way for me to try and monetize my blog that I have been trying to get monetized for a couple of years or so now. I just muse about the things that happen in my day to day life and how I feel about them. It's very much a day in the life type of blog. This very first Note in the Stream is about my recent experiences. I have had a rough couple of weeks. I had a bad fall and missed work and my paycheck was very small because of that. The fall caused me a very nasty flare-up for my chronic illnesses, fibromyalgia in particular, I had to replace my rollator walker, and everything has been very difficult. And my job hasn't made it easier really. I hope to leave soon, it's not the best job for me. I am truly hoping that I can make some money with this blog on Notd.

I am trying a lot of things so I can have a decent income and not work in a place that is terrible for me and that I hate. And this is all because I fell going to my rideshare ride home from work, and the driver didn't even attempt to help me with my rollator or park close enough to the curb that I would be able to get to his vehicle safely or anything. I have no idea why rideshare drivers seem to think it is ok to just sit in the car and not help a rider with a mobility aid when their company's rules say they are required to which is something I have been told multiple times by both companies I use where I live about it, that it's in their rules/policies/guidelines that they have to and yet many of these drivers still won't, and act as if they don't have to and it's not a requirement.

I don't understand the way people are so out for themselves with driving, parking, walking, and using public spaces in general. It's not just one person's street, sidewalk, curb, store, whatever the heck, so why do they act like it is? It's never made sense. And the way most everybody seems to be in such a hurry all the time lately is just crazy. It's not worth your life to get there 2 minutes sooner or anything, people. And most of the time all that rush, speeding, overtaking, road hogging and the like doesn't even actually get them there any earlier because they end up having to stop doing it a few blocks later anyway when the end up at the light behind someone who isn't going to violate traffic laws for them and run lights or speed or anything. I can't tell you how many times I have seen some car in a ripping hurry go speeding down the street past the car I am in just to get 2 blocks up and get stuck at the red light, the LONG read light that always has you sitting there for what seems like 5 minutes or more waiting for it to change, so all that extra couple of minutes they thought they were saving by flying past us they lost at the long light. Or they get stuck behind a train, or one of the many bridges around here because the downtown is built around the river in addition to being on the lakefront, because of course they get there just as it starts raising up to let a tall boat go past.

I think, however, that the worst is the ones like my rideshare driver the day I fell, who care more about their vehicle, their time, their convenience, and their decision that they don't feel like getting out of their vehicle to help the disabled rider with her walker in the cold who bother me the most and make the least sense. Because those things they deem more important than a rider getting to their vehicle and getting their mobility aid safely stowed in the vehicle's trunk or back seat, another driver's safety when they are flying down the road 10 MPH or more over the speed limit because their being in a rush is more important to them than that person's safety and their vehicle is the most important one out there and all of that and being safe isn't a big concern or a big deal or anything. It is horrible because they will let or cause bad things to happen because of these assumptions and it's most often not them who suffers for it.

I just hope they will change before the worst inevitably happens but they often don't until it does, as with that driver the day I fell and my fall. And I just hope this word gets more accessible for those who are disabled because right now it's very much still not. That's part of why I fell, the ride I was getting home wasn't very accessible to me in the bad weather we had the day it happened and the driver did nothing to make it more accessible. Sidewalks, curbs, entrances, aisles, doorways and so many other things are not designed in a way that works for people with disabilities or with us in mind at all really. That's another reason people with disabilities can fall and get injured, if the curb is very high and it has snowed and the snowplows have gone by and thrown all the snow that the person who owns the business you're leaving just got done getting shoveled out of the way of the curb it's easy to fall because you can't tell where the sidewalk stops and the street starts and may step right off the curb without knowing you're about to step off of it at all and it can be hard to get a walker, cane, wheelchair, or crutches down from those higher curbs, there's seriously no reason for them to be high enough from the street to be the same as walking down a stair in a building or on a porch or something.

There are many of these things that don't need to be as hard as they are but nobody would even think them that hard if they're not thinking of them in terms of someone with a disability trying to use them and that doesn't often happen and there are a lot of times where the business owner or management does not consult with someone who is an expert in accessibility issues and their job is to keep the disabled in mind when designing the building and since they don't know about these things like accessibility expert does, they design a place that is not very accessible. I just really hope it changes in the future. See you in the next musing!