It snowed and stuck.
My neighbor used to shovel for me, but since he
flipped on me and no longer mows for me
shoveling, too has stopped.
A distant friend sent me the name of someone
to replace the mowing, who also does snow removal.
I called this man and he wanted $30 to $40. I
told him, honestly, I used to pay $10. I'm on the corner,
but it's a small city lot. I asked him if he would
do it once for $15, no, he said, he'd come by in twenty minutes
and take a look but the best he *might* do is $20.
After twenty minutes the door bell rang.
It wasn't the guy.
Two lovely
young girls of color were at my door.
This is very unusual where I live.
Do you need help
with your snow? the the taller one at the door asked.
Yes thank you I do. I laughed. My heart so light and
happy. This was me, once, trudging around our neighborhood
in Queens, looking to make some money.
How much do you cost?
How much do you want to pay? the second
one, leaning on her shovel, asked
How about ten dollars? I said.
They both smiled and said" fine!"
I asked if they were sisters.
no they laughed.
O I said, then I better go find
two five dollar bills.
I gave them both $6
and they shoveled around my house
and both my ramps, and the access
areas.
About an hour later the guy called
and asked me my address.
I told him and said I expected him
awhile ago.
Well decided to grab a bite to eat.
(I had called him at 2 p.m.)
I drove by and it looked done.
Yes, I said it was.
Don't you think it
was a $10 job, I said
Well, maybe $20 to $25
I'll keep you in mind for next time I said.
I hope Latisha and Cheyenne stop by again.
I thank God for them.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
No Help from the Helpers
I don't know why those designated to help are often the worst humans. It has been so for me. Today I spoke to the owner of the medical supply place, telling her how I had put in an order
two months ago for wheelchair wheels.
She began the twenty questions, so in disbelief she was that
her employees in this city had neglected me.
When I began to remember names and even described
how one employee browbeat me about my equipment-- there's no such thing as solid tires-- well I'm sitting with a wheelchair with solid tires, I had said
and how yes, someone had come to my house to measure and CONFIRM what i had
named and described--- then the owner said 'o so and so is very outspoken'
at which another me would have sucked her teeth. If you KNOW THE WITCH CAN'T COMPORT BUSINESS WITH CIVILITY WHY LET ANSWER THE PHONES?!!!
and there's no record of your
order in our computer system she said and i told her how sadly I was used to impolite behavior, but I found it unfathomable that it was two months later and my new tires and new armrest were not yet here and installed.
Fortunately Everything Medical has a website, which is how I got the message through. That's just today's story of abuse and denial solely because I can't walk.
two months ago for wheelchair wheels.
She began the twenty questions, so in disbelief she was that
her employees in this city had neglected me.
When I began to remember names and even described
how one employee browbeat me about my equipment-- there's no such thing as solid tires-- well I'm sitting with a wheelchair with solid tires, I had said
and how yes, someone had come to my house to measure and CONFIRM what i had
named and described--- then the owner said 'o so and so is very outspoken'
at which another me would have sucked her teeth. If you KNOW THE WITCH CAN'T COMPORT BUSINESS WITH CIVILITY WHY LET ANSWER THE PHONES?!!!
and there's no record of your
order in our computer system she said and i told her how sadly I was used to impolite behavior, but I found it unfathomable that it was two months later and my new tires and new armrest were not yet here and installed.
Fortunately Everything Medical has a website, which is how I got the message through. That's just today's story of abuse and denial solely because I can't walk.
Friday, September 11, 2009
HELP: followup
I never heard from the man who browbeat me about my car.
I held my tongue and ire for nothing because I never received the assistance.
I held my tongue and ire for nothing because I never received the assistance.
Letter to Philips Lifeline
After spending 3.5 years and thousands of dollars with you, you lost me as a customer for $5.
I found a local service in my area for $20. I was paying Lifeline $35 and asked for a reduction and was persuaded to remain with Lifeline for the comparatively high $30.
I was told that my billing would be reduced $5
It wasn’t.
I called on July 17.
My recent Amex statement that showed me being billed on July 20 with a date of July 17 for $35.
I spoke to Wade on July 17
On August 17 I called and was told that my billing date was the 16th--- though my Amex bills have shown the 17---
No apology was offered, nor was a reimbursement offered. I spoke with two areas—billing and customer service.
I think your behavior is unconscionably wrong and rude.
I am therefore discontinuing my relationship with Lifeline
I don’t understand why my years of regular,automatic payment counted for NOTHING. I will be sure to tell others who are disabled to go elsewhere for service.
I found a local service in my area for $20. I was paying Lifeline $35 and asked for a reduction and was persuaded to remain with Lifeline for the comparatively high $30.
I was told that my billing would be reduced $5
It wasn’t.
I called on July 17.
My recent Amex statement that showed me being billed on July 20 with a date of July 17 for $35.
I spoke to Wade on July 17
On August 17 I called and was told that my billing date was the 16th--- though my Amex bills have shown the 17---
No apology was offered, nor was a reimbursement offered. I spoke with two areas—billing and customer service.
I think your behavior is unconscionably wrong and rude.
I am therefore discontinuing my relationship with Lifeline
I don’t understand why my years of regular,automatic payment counted for NOTHING. I will be sure to tell others who are disabled to go elsewhere for service.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
गेत्तिंग Help
A man calls to help me. And calls again and again. I can never get
to phone by the time his perfunctory messages have ended.Today he
wakes me at
10--- I had been up until 6 a.m. and says he will come by at 11.I
calculate the amount of time it will take me to get in and out the
chair, on and off the commode, washed and dressed, cover my eyes and
snuggle deeper. The door bell rings at 11. This wakes me
again. He never left a return phone number because, since he is the helper
and I the helpee- I am not allowed to know his phone number. The
Faith in Action coordinator calls and of course we talk because 1.
I am now awake and 2. He left a phone number.
I make an appointment to talk to the man at 3. We speak. He complains about how
hard it is to get a hold of me. I tell him, it isn't hard, you have
to speak long
enough for me to get to the phone-- I am paralyzed and in a
wheelchair. He wonders if the door bells
work. They do I tell him, but I nearly NEVER answer the door unless I
am expecting someone.
He quizzes me-- how do i handle all the folks I must be in touch
with? I should roll around with a cellphone on my lap. I have a cell
I tell him in my wheelchair bag. He asks for my cell phone. I do a
quick calculus of what i need and the road to get it and give him my
cell phone number.
10 minutes after we are finished talking he calls me on my cell to
tell me something I told him was so, was so ( car inspection before
registration).
When he calls it says RESTRICTED. I usually don't answer RESTRICTED
because it costs me money. But I answered because I knew it was him.
I tell him this. He admits that his daughter feels
the same way. And that next time he will call from his cell phone. Thing is
this will now reveal his number to me. However, his secret is safe with me.
I'm the paralyzed woman in the wheelchair in need of help. This is hell.
to phone by the time his perfunctory messages have ended.Today he
wakes me at
10--- I had been up until 6 a.m. and says he will come by at 11.I
calculate the amount of time it will take me to get in and out the
chair, on and off the commode, washed and dressed, cover my eyes and
snuggle deeper. The door bell rings at 11. This wakes me
again. He never left a return phone number because, since he is the helper
and I the helpee- I am not allowed to know his phone number. The
Faith in Action coordinator calls and of course we talk because 1.
I am now awake and 2. He left a phone number.
I make an appointment to talk to the man at 3. We speak. He complains about how
hard it is to get a hold of me. I tell him, it isn't hard, you have
to speak long
enough for me to get to the phone-- I am paralyzed and in a
wheelchair. He wonders if the door bells
work. They do I tell him, but I nearly NEVER answer the door unless I
am expecting someone.
He quizzes me-- how do i handle all the folks I must be in touch
with? I should roll around with a cellphone on my lap. I have a cell
I tell him in my wheelchair bag. He asks for my cell phone. I do a
quick calculus of what i need and the road to get it and give him my
cell phone number.
10 minutes after we are finished talking he calls me on my cell to
tell me something I told him was so, was so ( car inspection before
registration).
When he calls it says RESTRICTED. I usually don't answer RESTRICTED
because it costs me money. But I answered because I knew it was him.
I tell him this. He admits that his daughter feels
the same way. And that next time he will call from his cell phone. Thing is
this will now reveal his number to me. However, his secret is safe with me.
I'm the paralyzed woman in the wheelchair in need of help. This is hell.
Monday, June 22, 2009
June 16
4 people here to tell me there will be no handicapped parking sign in front of my house. allowing the louse who blocks my concrete landing pad to continue. But I gave a piece of milkweed fluff paper to the City Manager, as he was from papermaking Maine. After talking about our wealth of wondrous weeds, I showed him my Cherub, vat, M&D, press, process. This made a bitter moment sweet. He deemed the paper "really nice" 2 bus companies and
a cold cop . sigh
Later my neighbor told me there was a handicapped parking sign just down the block.
a cold cop . sigh
Later my neighbor told me there was a handicapped parking sign just down the block.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
More Denial
The physical l therapist told me she is closing my case out as there is nothing she can do for me. What she proposed was that i spend a couple hundred dollars to get my (unused) motorized wheelchair adjusted so that i might possibly be able to transfer to it without help. I said i couldn't gamble away money... if had some assurance or preview or trial then i would do it. What about standing, leg manipulation, etc? No answer. Case closed.
I want to stand. I want a stander
I want to stand. I want a stander
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
SET BACKS & STUPIDITIES
So after hustling, calling getting annoyed, rehearsing, writing and rewriting a new work, practicing, rehearsing it, creating a "set", getting a friend to bring my drummer back and forth to me --30 mile drives; the drummer himself, borrowing drums, arranging for sound and photography, shopping for clothes for the gig; researching and calling and finally finding very expensive transportation ($75), crafting and sending bios and pix; creating materials to hand out; printing brochures ----
We can't perform, because the Community Arts Center, removed its ramp and did not replace it. How could a Community Arts Center be considered a COMMUNITY anything and remain inaccessible?!!!
ARGHHHHHHH!
After a year of countless phone calls, numerous letters and battling REFUSAL, the City Manager and someone from the police is coming to meet with me to RE-ASSESS why i want a handicapped parking sign in front of my house so that I might possibly have access to the front of my house. I was refused because "there's plenty of parking" in my neighborhood. Exactly I said, so why does some idiot park right in front of my house, blocking the one bit of concrete that breaks the untraversable grassy median, the one bit directly in front of my house and RAMP, when there is plenty of parking everywhere else, when every house has a driveway or alley access. I don't need to park, I need ACCESS.
ARGHHHHHHH!
After a year and half of battling to get my ramps made accessible, to meet ADA standards, after one agency after another said they couldn't do anything. And then finding an agency to help. And then having the bad ramp company refuse to sell their contractor another ramp section to make at least one of my ramps easy to use..... last week, I looked outside my door and there was a hunk of ramp in my driveway. I tried to reach the contractor and the agency. A long 24 hours later i reached the agency person ( my own counselor having retired and his replacement having fallen ill), my third person in 18 months, said o! i didn't expect it so soon. So you knew it was coming ? I just found out about it yesterday. Sigh. Had i known it was coming, I would have asked that it be left in a more protected place, a less visible place.... why is it that the least skilled at communication or kindness are these folks in Social and Human Services?
I got a letter saying that my turn had come up for weatherization and giving me a very tight deadline ---two weeks-- to get it done. I called immediately. They want me to come in to their office in the county's seat--- about 35 miles away. I can't I said, I'm paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Can't someone bring me? I know no one with a lift in their car and there is no transportation. They want bank records and all sorts of personal information. Can't someone bring it in for you? Well why can't I do it over the phone? Because someone has to come in. But if that person isn't me, why can't i do it over the phone and send you all the information. You exist to help me, or people like me... I mean if I could get up and walk, I wouldn't need your help,I would weatherize my home myself, ( as I had in the past!!!)
but I'm paralyzed and in wheelchair in a Corning, NY which has no paratransit and you know there is no paratransit here......
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
We can't perform, because the Community Arts Center, removed its ramp and did not replace it. How could a Community Arts Center be considered a COMMUNITY anything and remain inaccessible?!!!
ARGHHHHHHH!
After a year of countless phone calls, numerous letters and battling REFUSAL, the City Manager and someone from the police is coming to meet with me to RE-ASSESS why i want a handicapped parking sign in front of my house so that I might possibly have access to the front of my house. I was refused because "there's plenty of parking" in my neighborhood. Exactly I said, so why does some idiot park right in front of my house, blocking the one bit of concrete that breaks the untraversable grassy median, the one bit directly in front of my house and RAMP, when there is plenty of parking everywhere else, when every house has a driveway or alley access. I don't need to park, I need ACCESS.
ARGHHHHHHH!
After a year and half of battling to get my ramps made accessible, to meet ADA standards, after one agency after another said they couldn't do anything. And then finding an agency to help. And then having the bad ramp company refuse to sell their contractor another ramp section to make at least one of my ramps easy to use..... last week, I looked outside my door and there was a hunk of ramp in my driveway. I tried to reach the contractor and the agency. A long 24 hours later i reached the agency person ( my own counselor having retired and his replacement having fallen ill), my third person in 18 months, said o! i didn't expect it so soon. So you knew it was coming ? I just found out about it yesterday. Sigh. Had i known it was coming, I would have asked that it be left in a more protected place, a less visible place.... why is it that the least skilled at communication or kindness are these folks in Social and Human Services?
I got a letter saying that my turn had come up for weatherization and giving me a very tight deadline ---two weeks-- to get it done. I called immediately. They want me to come in to their office in the county's seat--- about 35 miles away. I can't I said, I'm paralyzed and in a wheelchair. Can't someone bring me? I know no one with a lift in their car and there is no transportation. They want bank records and all sorts of personal information. Can't someone bring it in for you? Well why can't I do it over the phone? Because someone has to come in. But if that person isn't me, why can't i do it over the phone and send you all the information. You exist to help me, or people like me... I mean if I could get up and walk, I wouldn't need your help,I would weatherize my home myself, ( as I had in the past!!!)
but I'm paralyzed and in wheelchair in a Corning, NY which has no paratransit and you know there is no paratransit here......
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
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