The View From Down Here

The View From Down Here

When your body... works

A surprising turn of events

Nov 16, 2022
∙ Paid

Hello, hello!

How is everybody? I’m back from Japan and feeling a bit disorientated by the return to reality. It’s taken me a little while to remember how to use words but I think we’ve got there now!

There’s so much to say about accessibility in Japan - the highs and lows - which I’ll be exploring in an exciting project. Watch this space.

So today I thought I’d talk about a more personal experience I had as a disabled traveller on a three-week trip: my surprise that my body just… handled it.

Let me back up a minute and explain.

I was worried about how my body would handle this trip for a number of reasons. The flight was so long - would I be in pain before I even got there? We planned to be out morning to evening each day - would exhaustion stop me enjoying myself? Would I cope with the many trains and cars and who knows what other modes of transport we’d be getting? Would adjusting to multiple beds and bathroom set ups just be too much? Would I attempt some superhuman feat I used to be able to do like walking up a few steps and twist my hip joints beyond repair?

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