For all of you out there whom I have seen praying to God for rain, would you please stop?
Rain is a blessing only after a dry spell and when I don’t have to leave my apartment.
Furthermore, as a result of near-record flooding, nine people in the South have died, dozens were stranded waiting for rescuers and thousands went without electricity, mainly in Georgia.
The Washington Times reports the rain “closed hundreds of roads and schools, brought down trees, submerged homes, whisked away cars and caused millions of dollars worth of damage to a large sewage treatment plant that serves metropolitan Atlanta.”
Also, Mississippi farmers have been having tough times due to September’s rainfall, according to a recent Clarion-Ledger article. Especially in danger are the state’s 2.15 million acres of soybean crops nearing harvest.
However, if all that isn’t enough for you people in the safe confines of this collegiate institution, I would like to let you know that each time you pray for rain, you put another disabled person’s life in danger. Congratulations.
As a person who uses a wheelchair, I often try to think of ways to keep dry in the rain, but I have had no good ideas yet. Staying dry while sitting down is more difficult than it might seem, especially when trying to get from one class to the next. Try riding a bicycle with an umbrella or a poncho, and maybe you’ll get my drift.
These days, I usually don’t try anything and accept the fact I’m going to get drenched.
But that’s not to say I haven’t tried. I’ve even conversed with many of my friends in wheelchairs on ways to keep dry but have found no solutions. Often, my friends and I have to skip class because of the rain.
Umbrellas don’t work when you’re sitting down, and most of the people I’ve talked to can’t hold an umbrella anyway.
Educational psychology student Jade Cummins, who has a traumatic brain injury and uses a wheelchair, told me the wind usually swoops the umbrella out of her hands in heavy rain. To fight the rain, Cummins wears a raincoat and rain boots, carries a towel and wraps her wheelchair controller in Saran Wrap to prevent damage to the electronics.
The only real alternative to the umbrella our society has come up with so far is the poncho. At first thought, a poncho may seem like the proper solution for wheelchair users. And for a select few of my friends in wheelchairs, ponchos work great.
However, the problem is ponchos can easily get tangled in the wheels of the chair while riding across campus. I have confirmed three near-death experiences of people in wheelchairs using ponchos. Well, “near-death” might be an exaggerating adjective, but only slightly.
The first confirmed case is my own. One of my front tires ran over the end of the poncho and pulled me down by the neck. Furthermore, the poncho pulled the joystick of my controller in one direction, causing me to spin in circles screaming for help and nearing the precipice of a sidewalk curb with every 360 degree rotation. I looked pretty ridiculous; but alas, I made it out of there with no injuries.
The same thing happened not only to Cummins but also to a friend of mine who went to school here last year. The latter choked and even blacked out because of it. So, yes, ponchos are dangerous.
Whether you pray for rain to the God of the Abrahamic religions or perform some sort of African tribal rain dance every night before you go to bed, please give it a break for a while.
Matt Watson is a graduate student majoring in Spanish. He can be contacted at [email protected].