Wheelchairs, bit of a rant was Re: [Sca-cooks] sedan chairs

[Susan Fox-Davis]

I apologise to Muiredach if I have spoken in any way to cause him or others pain.

Gorgeous Muiredach wrote:

> At 02:11 AM 11/16/2002, you wrote:
> >Daniel Raoul commented:

Well, I said the first part.

> >>>To choose an example familiar to this list:  if Duke Cariadoc is ever
> >>>confined to a wheelchair [may Allah forbid such calamity!], will he quit
> >>>participating in the SCA?  I dearly hope not, for he has much to contribute
> >>>besides his purely authentic presentation.
>
> Forgive me for picking up on this, but I must comment.
>
> A)  We're not *confined* to a wheelchair.  Confined conveys the image of
> limitation, whereas the wheelchair is a tool of freedom.  It's without the
> chair that I'm confined.

Good point, well taken.  My apologies again.

> B)  Duke Cariadoc or anyone might not stop participating in the SCA, but
> they will discover that a lot of the fun gets out of the SCA when you have
> to deal with pervasive attitudes towards folks in chairs.  Don't get me
> wrong, mostly, individually people in the SCA are great folks...  Get them
> together as a group, and all common sense seems to flee.

Been there, done that.  Many of the out-kingdom heralds met me for the first time
at the Heraldic Symposium in 1989, the week after I had sprained my foot badly and
was ordered to do the weekend in a wheelchair.  It was an illuminating experience
in the area of mobility and restrictions. I can say that nobody treated me like a
mental cripple, merely like a relatively new cornet herald. But my old college was
pretty tough to get around, much worse than I ever knew while I was attending
class there.

His Grace chooses to do everything in an historical manner, even to his own
discomfort sometimes.  David wears glasses, but Cariadoc does not, and sees the
world in a soft blur.  He says in one of his essays that Cariadoc has never seen
the stars.   If David or someone like him loses the ability to walk, will he bite
the authenticity bullet and employ a wheelchair?   Or will he feel that he can no
longer attend SCA functions at all if he cannot do so with the authenticity he
previously enjoyed?  That, indeed, would be the true calamity, for himself and for
the rest of us who have profited from his company and wisdom.

I hereby volunteer for palanquin duty any time His Grace =or= His Gorgeousness
cares to visit Caid, an it be necessary. <smile>

> and finally, perhaps most importantly:
>
> C)  Why would it be such a calamity that Cariadoc, or anyone for that
> matter, would have to use a wheelchair?  It is NOT the end of the world,
> life goes on.  And quite honestly, my quality of life has MUCH improved
> since I've had this bit of hardware to sit on.  I'm not the only "gimp" to
> think that.

I just would not want anything bad to happen to Cariadoc, such as illness or
injury which would necessitate a change in his health or mobility.  Only kindness
and wish for continued good health is meant here.

Muiredach, I honor your choices and am constantly impressed by your tenacity and
willingness to go the extra mile, and how anything that gets in your way is going
to get wheel tracks on.  I was merely speculating about the potential for paradox
when life choices conflict with each other.

Yours in friendship,
Selene Colfox