⭐️④ Help Mark, my first [benefit] and what I realized

🏷Introduction

I have thought about the pros and cons of naming and distinguishing people, symptoms, and behaviors, but this time it's a little different.
I was treated kindly for the first time~🤗

🏷Current situation

I am currently suffering from a fractured right patella and right wrist.
Being right-handed, it's so inconvenient!!
Although there is pain and swelling in my knee, it's okay to put a little weight on it if it's vertical.
I can bend it a little now, so I can walk outside unsteadily if it's a short distance and I go slowly ⬅️ You're supposed to be resting, right!!
Of course, there is a Help Mark on my bag.
Rather than wanting consideration,it's more in the sense of 'I might be a nuisance to everyone, but please forgive me.'
I can't carry heavy luggage, and my orthopedic surgeon has strictly warned me, 'Even if you are careful, you might get hit, so don't ride your beloved bicycle until you can move quickly' 😅

🏷The supermarket I don't like

I feel that the veteran staff's manners are lacking.
They chat with each other at the registers even when customers are present, they have long personal conversations with regular customers, the way they handle campaigns and daily special prices varies depending on the staff member, and they continue stocking shelves without caring even when customers are trying to look at products...
It's the closest one to my house,but I'm not a point member, and honestly, I don't think I'll ever join.

🏷Shopping

The flyer showed rice and eggs at a great price.
I thought, 'I'm about to run out of rice.'
The fridge was almost empty, so it was the perfect timing.
Even though it was forecast to rain, the sun came out.
I don't have a shopping cart or a walker, but can't I just load it on my bike and walk?
I don't like the place, but in my current situation, being close is what matters most.
I can use barcode payment, too.

🏷Manual mama-chari

Considering the frame shape of my bike and the angle of my knee flexion, it's impossible to get on and off easily.
With my knee straight, I can't straddle the frame unless I tilt the bike significantly toward me.
After confirming that no cars, bikes, or people are passing by, I heave myself over it.
I use my healthy left foot to rotate the pedal backward and upward, then place my foot on it, push down hard, and sit on the saddle.
My right leg stays straight.
I didn't know it was slightly inclined, but I managed to reach the supermarket without pedaling.
It would have been impossible if I had been caught at two traffic lights, though.

🏷Benefits of the Help Mark

I use a cart inside the store, and it's flat, so I'd like to say there are no problems.
The staff prioritizes stocking over customers, so I'm the one who has to yield the path to the staff.
That's why I don't like this place.
Because of the great sale, there was a huge line at the register.
When the register next to me happened to open, I was nearby—perhaps because of my good deeds? ⬅️ Definitely not!!
I used the semi-self-checkout for barcode payment.
Just as I was wondering what to do with the heavy basket containing the rice,a male staff member carried it for me.
I managed to push the cart through the crowd to my bike, but when I turned around, I couldn't get the cart through because of the customers' bikes arriving one after another.
This time, another male staff member said,'It's okay, just leave it there,' and in no time at all, he went to return the cart and basket for me.
The return trip is a very, very gentle uphill, so I walked unsteadily using the bike for support.
Even though it's a short intersection, I couldn't make it across before the light turned red.
I walked unsteadily while bowing twice to the drivers of the waiting cars.
They started moving slowly only after I had completely crossed.
Usually, they would have been revving their engines at me.

🏷What I realized

I had never felt the benefits of the Help Mark, whether I was on a bus or a train,
but this time I was helped three times.
Each time, I was truly happy and grateful.
The Help Mark had been left in a bag for years, and it was brand new when I took it out just the other day.
Now, it has several scuff marks on it.
The path I took was a road shoulder.
Even though it is for pedestrians,there are utility poles, there are gutters, and the gutter covers vary in material and shape, making it bumpyand uneven.
Wheelchairs and strollers would not be able to pass through.
The concrete sectionsare far more uneven compared to the asphalt of the roadway.
It is just separated by a line, and of course, there is no curb between it and the roadway.
For drainage, the roadslopes down at both ends.In the end,
I realized that the only place easy to walk on is the roadway.

🏷 I am sorry until now

Every time I saw elderly people trudging along the roadway or wobbling on bicycles at a super slow speed, I used to think, 'You'll get hit by a car if you don't walk further to the side.'
When I passed them on my bicycle, I honestly felt, 'That looks dangerous, are you okay?'
I was wrong, I am sorry.
It was actually more dangerous to walk or ride a bicycle on the pedestrian road shoulder.
The roadway was easierto travel on.
If anything,they were people who could only pass through if they used the roadway.

🏷 Imagination

I have long believed that imagination is essential not just for 'labels,' but for communication in general.
I wonder about the use of labels like 'strong' and 'weak,' but I want to dare to say this:
Is it not the duty of the strong to imagine?Of course,
it is best if everyone exercises imagination toward others,but
a society where the weak must be reserved cannot be called very mature,can it?
Diversity,universal design,orinclusive,setting aside the big slogans, problems are lurking in very familiar places, aren't they?For now, since the end of the fiscal year is approaching, please stop digging up the roadways unnecessarily, and
please prioritize the maintenance of sidewalks, road shoulders, and bicycle lanes.

🏷 In closing

Once I can bend my knee a little more, I will probably take the Help Mark off my bag.
If asked whether I don't need consideration because I'm not wearing the mark, even if it's not to the point of needing rehabilitation, I will likely continue to experience inconvenience for a while.
Regardless of whether I have the mark or not, I want to keep in mind the perspective of the weak (though I don't like that term), and I want to always exercise my imagination.

#HopeForBookPublication #Depression #LeaveOfAbsence #Label #HelpMark #Benefit #Imagination #Diversity #UniversalDesign #Inclusive