I suppose I am, as mum usedd to put it, ‘in the wars’. I was coming home yesterday from Woolich, zooming along, when I heard a noise behind me. I turned around, and realising it was just a gate banging in the wind, I turned back. It was then I felt a severe – and I mean severe – pain in my left foot. I’d trapped my foot against a metall box. At first I thought it would just ease, so I iggnored the pain, but it got worse over the evening.

This morning, it was slightly better, but it still hurt to walk on it. One of the advantages of beng a cripple is having a wheelchair at ones disposal, so I’ve been using it. When at home, I like to be ambulent – I prefer to walk about the house; yet it’s odd to reflect that I am, for the first time, descovering what life is like for those with no walking ability at all. This is my first day wholly in my chair. It isn’t that bad, actually: reading is probably better from my chair as I could park by the bedroom window and have a quiet, well-lit spot to read. Reaching stuff is more of a poblem, as is picking things up from the floor. On the other hand, I can zoom around the house without using very much energy.

I think, though, that once my foot is better, I’ll go back to walking. There are advantages to being ambulent, and, contentious as it may be to some in the Crip Comunity, I think walking should be encouraged. Of course, as I’m apreaciating today, it isn’t the be-all-and-end-all, and I still agree with a sticker on my friend Katie’s chair which reads ”walking is overrated”, but it is a useful skill to have.