I Am Not A Rock!

There was a comment made at yesterdays question and answer session of my presentation which has been intriguing me ever since the guy made his remark. We were discussing the ebb and flow of people in groups and how this affected egress. Remember? Egress, the movement out of whatever. People in groups, when moving seem to move in “streams” They move at a constant speed which everyone seems to unconsciously mimic. Add to this flow one or more people in wheelchairs and suddenly the “stream” begins to back up and even dam.

Walking folks slow down when they encounter the wheelchair user in the hall. The guys are the only one who sees the wheelchair folk. The people behind the first start pushing feeling the guy up front slowed down just to be a jerk, and the people be hind then push even harder. This happens until a major congestion occurs. The guy said “Wheelchair chairs in crowds are like boulders in rivers. The people have to work their way round the wheelchair like water round rocks. In fact the crowd does not have to be moving. One of my pet peeves is being one of the first to a meeting, conference session or what ever and the person in charge forces me to sit up front. I can resist but then I look like a complete asshole, you know one of those crips who have not coped well with their disability. You cave in and sit up front and sure enough the people who come after fill up all paths of egress. If you have to go to the bathroom or leave the room for any reason you literally have to “part the Red sea” to get out of the room. This same issue can actually be dangerous if you or on the floor at a concert, sports event and you are then dealing with dangerous options from people being dropped on your head as they are carried over head to the mosh pit to being wiped out by an athlete being hurled threw pace for one reason or another.

I don’t know yet how to resolve this issue. I even considered at one point “wheelchair” paths like even “wheelchair: paths could be a reality. Would this not be the first step to segregation? Is this an example where sergeration might be OK? I just don’t think so. The answer would be to teach our culture patience and consideration of everyone—regardless of ability. Did I really just right that? Gag!
I sound like a tag line for a public service announcement. Maybe feng shui. Maybe Feng Shui masters could lay out egress plans for major events.
When the conference participant made this comment something , deep inside, crystallized, deep in side me. I have always felt like the rock in the stream; even though there was humanity all round me, bumping me, pushing me out of the way and sometimes even falling over me I was always alone, way alone for almost 50 years now… “I am a rock, I am an islandAnd a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.” Simon and Garfunkel…..”I Am A Rock”