I'm just curious - I've had A LOT of awkward/hilarious/strange encounters with people over the past few years, but there's some that are just too funny. For example, I had my first day of school on Tuesday, and I was sitting in my English class waiting for the teacher to get there. Our summer assignment had been to prepare a poem to read to the class. So my teacher gets there, and when she starts class, she has me go first. What we were supposed to do was just stand up where we were sitting and read the poem. I start to read my poem, but then she cuts me off. Teacher: "Excuse me, can you stand up while you read your poem. Me: "Um, no...?" Apparently, she was not aware that I'm a para. And couldn't see my wheelchair. *facepalm*

Anyone else have funny/awkward stories?

I was on a trolley on the way home & was speaking with a guy in an electric wheelchair........after a little while of talking another passenger came over "Um......I don't mean to barge in or interrupt your conversation.......but you're parked ON HER FOOT!", & sure enough he had rolled right up on top of my foot. Didn't notice a thing. I did end up having a couple broken bones in that foot & when we got the discharge papers papers from the ER nurse I got another chuckle "don't bare too much weight on your foot". Well aside from someone parking their chair on my foot not a problem.

Last time I had an eye appointment the receptionist tells me "have a seat in the waiting room". How good is this guy? I couldn't help but tell her that maybe she should book and appointment for herself

She got pissy, but not my problem

Aaaand all of 2 minutes ago I was in the kitchen and smacked my brother with a bottle of BBQ sauce. The corked lid came loose and I got BBQ sauce all over my legs/chair, but on the plus side I now have a rich tangy smell and flavour!

mmmm BBQ'd Ratti

I remember like 4 months post, I had just mastered the bed transfer and was trying to find the fastest way possible. So I thought I'd just take my brakes off, jump over and push off the chair I could land it and just pull myself in the bed without having to worry about my legs getting scratched, tangled, or trapped with the chair. Needless to say, I was wrong.. I wasnt strong or fast enough for all that and I landed my ass right where the chair had been. I sat there a good 5 minutes giggling and thinking "good job genius"

Thats disgusting...................... too overdone, what a waste.

lol, good job Ches

Reminds me of what I did a few weeks ago, the day before I left the hospital. Was gettin back in bed, and just as I lifted my arse in the air the brakes came loose and the chair went one way and I went the other. I caught myself on the bedrail and tried to pull myself up, but my but was too far down and I didn't have a good grip. My ostomy bag came off and made a mess, I was hung up on the bedrail, and somehow tore the fresh (5 day old) stitches in my stoma. I was just kinda hanging there, so then I reached over and rang the bell. 10 minutes later the nurse shows up and tells me I shouldn't have tried to get in bed myself. Huh? Transfered millions of times before. I would've been better off just going right to the ground on my ass, but meh, I lived. While hanging there was just like "well that was smooth"

hahaha

While still in rehab I had transferred onto the bed after a shower, before I managed to get any clothes on I somehow tipped sideways and off the bed.
managed to arrest my fall with my arms, so I was sort of doing a hand stand on the floor while my bare arse was stuck up in the air just managing to stay on the bed. Of course the trainee nurse who was with me freaked outr and hit the big red panic button, within seconds I saw about twenty pairs of feet rush in with trolleys, hoists, defibrulators and variuous other machines that go 'ping', the curtains were dashed aside revealing my skinny white arse pointed at the sky and shaking as I cracked up laughing. After they pulled me up I apologized to the sizeable crowd and explained that I was merely mooning God for making me a paraplegic.
In my haste to master the art of being a para I got a bit of a reputation for falling out of and off things. The poor old ward administrator shook her fist at me everytime she saw me for all the paper work I caused her.

Ha, falling out of bed is nothing compared to falling out of your truck onto hard concrete. As many of you know (haha), I have no brakes on my chair. And an SUV. Somehow, getting into my chair from my truck a while ago, I managed to miss my chair and landed on my ass onto the concrete. People ran over to me, freaking out and I was completely mortified. It also bruised my ass so badly that it caused a pressure sore. Bad scene. I've also had my chair roll away on me a couple times in parking lots. Once when that happened, there were no other people around to run and grab it for me and no way was I going to scoot across the parking lot on my ass so I drove over to it.

Most recent bizarre experience happened last Monday. My friend and I were going to the beach for our scuba dive. He's just started hanging out with me and has never hung out with someone in a chair before. I warned him about the weirdo comments/stares/reactions/etc that I get on a typical day but I think he thought I was exaggerating. We had all this dive gear in my truck so my chair was in the back. We stopped at a rest stop and I was already in the driver's seat and he was putting my chair into the back. This lady comes up to him, looking at me, and goes "What's wrong with her? What happened to her?" And his jaw dropped hahahaha. She keeps going "What happened? Poor girl! Poor thing!" and making those "awww" noises. He goes "ummmm, she had a car accident" and keeps looking at me, trying not to laugh. And she keeps going on, asking "Is it permanent?" He goes "Yes.", very matter of factly, I guess he was hoping she'd go away! She kept on going "ohhh so sad, poor girl" and he's like "No, not poor girl! She's fine! She's happy!" Hahhahah. I sat there, not saying a word and just laughing at him because it was his first experience with the bullshit reactions we get and I wanted to "de-virginize" him to it. He gets in the car once she leaves and we both just started laughing. Then, on the beach later on, I was sitting on the tarp with all our gear and he and the other two divers who were with us were a few feet away from me fiddling with the video camera. My chair was in the truck so no one would steal it while we dove and I guess this strange dude who came up to me must have seen me in my chair before it was put away and I was sitting on the tarp, or maybe he'd seen my friend carrying me into the water, I dunno. I'm sitting there enjoying the sunshine between dives and this strange dude comes up to me and starts to tell me what an inspiration I am and how amazing I am My friend starts looking at me, I guess making sure I was okay, and heard what the guy was saying. We both just looked at each other when the dude left and, again, started laughing. Ah, a day in the life. I was talking to the guys on my rugby team about the comments I constantly get and they don't get them nearly as often as I do. I dunno what the deal is but I seem to attract that sort of thing.

Edited to add that that BBQ rat is totally creepy!

Cement is not my friend either. All of 1 year (nearly to the day) after I got gimped I was in rehab (finally) in Edmonton and getting out a lot with my sister. She was having a birthday party at her place on the weekend (her birthday is Augest 6 and my Gimpaversary is the 7th) so I was there. She had about an 8'x8' cement pad outside the door, and I was just on the edge of it. I wheelied, which I do quite often wjen I'm just sitting around shooting the breeze or sparrows or whatever. Then I went to lean back on the wheelie bars. Slight problem with that, I forgot I had taken them off earlier that day. Well, over I went, head hit the cement and the chair went right over and my knees hit the ground behind me. I was laughing like hell as the people I was just talking to helped me back up.

I know every nurse at the hospital here by name (small town) and most of them have at least part of my excesive paperwork memorized. Last time I went in the nurse went "aww shit, it's you. I better get another pen"

Why do I have so many stories about falling on my ass? I think gravity is the commen enemy!

It looks like we have two topics in the Cafe about humor/disability...the other is...Finding Humor With A Disability. I posted there so here goes here.

1998, 20 years post injury, I'm parked in our driveway, after shopping sprees at Sam's Club and Albertson's market. Linda helping me unload, I'm up in my van handing her bags and boxes. The last bag of groceries in my lap. Linda near the back of our garage, I move to my van's side lift.

Forgetting the lift is half way down, easy step for Linda, not for me and my powerchair. I'm superquad now, not flying, but falling onto our concrete/brick driveway. Wheelchair drops to my left. I flop/bounce to the right. It's about a two foot fall. Help. Linda and neighbors to the rescue. No broken anything...well my ego...what a dumb ass move...small bruise on my elbow and hip, small cut on my right knee...some trauma from concrete/brick poisoning

Okay if you're not already laughing. please do, we were...well, after we figured out I wasn't hurt.

Another Quadjitzu lesson completed

Over three decades in a chair now, I've got a few more funny moments to share, and prob a few left in me...do you ever forget you are in a chair, I still do at times. 31 years post SCI, still kinda crazy...a good thing...I think

Got caught with my pants down in the washroom at work once. I was standing up with my bare backside to the door before sitting down to cath when someone who didn't know I was in there opened the door (which I thought was locked) and I yelled cause who ever it was just got an accidental flash of my atrophied butt. "Oh I am SO sorry!!" I heard my boss exclaim as the door quickly closed....

Talk about making an ass out of yourself at work.

Well my most awkward moment was back when i was in the spinal unit about 3 weeks after i was injured. It was the ward round when the nurses come round to cath you, it was just before the night shift starts, This nurse was new and she does the job and after cathing she was trying to put on the condom cath (sheath) and i was laying there thinking damn this is taking a while so i looked at her and said what's up? she said " im having problems putting this on" So she tried for a few more minutes and ended up having to call over another nurse to help.....same thing both had no joy and both were laughing because of the amount of time trying, i ended up having a boner and there's me with a red face thinking oh great why now.
Before i knew it two more nurses were helping until one of them said i think you got the wrong size there, and shouted to the nurse across the room (which everyone could hear, even visitors!) "Anna go see if next door (the rehab ward) has large clear advantage, we have a big one!" Well they did and she did come back with the right size and was put on thank God.

It was a bit of an ordeal but shouldn't complain with four nurses around my bed playing with my boner
Thing was i never heard the end of it, all the nurses on the night shift came into see me and have a laugh and a joke, from then on i was nicknamed "Bigboy"
A few weeks later it was dinner time and my ex's mum was visiting and a nurse put my dinner on the bed table and said there you go "Bigboy" and my ex's mum smiled, i just laughed, about 5 mins later three nurses were going out for their break and all said catch ya later Bigboy giggling. Little did i know when they came back and my ex's mum had left they said "Oh by the way we told your mother in law the story when she came in before" I was like...you are joking right??
Next time she visited me she called me Bigboy! OMFG!!

LMAO, well at least you didn't earn the nickname "WeeMan"

This is more embarrassing than hilarious, but when I used to inject with papaverine to get an erection I sometimes got a prolonged erection. I know you should seek medical assistance if this happens but I always let it go two days to see if it would go on its own. Anyway, the second time it happened I went to casualty (quicker than seeing a doctor and being referred), quietly explained my problem, had to repeat it, only to have the receptionist repeat what I'd said loud enough for everyone in the waiting room to hear. I then had to wait 20 minutes being stared at by everyone in the waiting room before being called in to see a doctor...and you can imagine where their stares were aimed!
Anyway, after extracting blood and giving me a shot of adrenaline I was admitted to a ward for an overnight stay. I didn't particularly want the other patients to know what I was in for but every hour a nurse or doctor would come, ask how things were, pull the blankets back and take a look...as though they couldn't take my word for it that it was still hard. I couldn't wait to get out the next day! The next time I had a prolonged erection I left it four days, hoping it would go away on its own but sadly it didn't and I had to go through it all again but with a doctor draining blood every two hours through the night. I'd left it too long that time, damaged the erectile tissue and it hasn't worked since.

In the early days of my injury I used to get reflex erections and it would be guaranteed to happen when I was having urodynamics etc. The specialist I used to see in those days used to find it hilarious and would always pass comment, trying to put me at ease I suppose, but what was worse was the fact that I had normal touch sensation so knew when the erection was starting and could feel every touch.

One funny experience I had happened a few years ago when I was at college. I never use my brakes for transferring so got in the car, went to grab my chair to lift in in but before I could grab it it rolled out of my reach, turned behind the car and rolled away down a steep hill for about 50 yards, gathering speed all the time, before turning to follow the bend nicely and disappeared out of sight. It was quite a busy campus road so i was just waiting for the crashing sound. I just had to sit there waiting for someone to come by and sheepishly ask if they'd happened to have passed a runaway wheelchair along the way. Fortunately it was fine other than some damaged paintwork.

The other week I was coming back from the shops, I was in my electric chair which has a kerb climber. The way I was going didn't have a dropped kerb so I lined myself up and went straight up the kerb feeling very smug. Not for long though, for some reason only 1 wheel went up the kerb and the other one didn't, so it tipped right over into the road.!!!
I had the belt on so I was sort of hanging there. I was completely mortified.
Loads of people came running over asking if I was ok, and helped me back up. I was so embarrased I just wanted to go home. I had a massive bruise on my hip and my arm hurt.

I've taken the kerb climber off now!!

Do I even want to know what that USED TO BE?!?!?!?

Lots of awkward things have happen to me since using a wheelchair, but every time I try to think of something funny one situation always comes up.

Whilst at an Indian casino close to my house (Morongo) I had to end up going to the bathroom. I generally hate using a wheelchair in a crowded bathroom, but at the time I had no other choice. The bathroom was shaped like an L with stalls and urinals to one side, and wash basins to the other. The stalls were behind the urinals, and the first urinal was unprotected from view to everyone.

ANYWAY, due to the handicapped stall being at the very corner of the L I had to flip the chair around and back in because of room constraints. The guy at the first urinal freaks out (because obviously all of his business is in plain view and being in a wheelchair put it all at the perfect height for accidental viewing) and swerves left, pissing all over his hands and the guy next to him's right shoe and yells. At that time I finally got in the stall and bust up laughing.

This one is ironic, not embarrassing. I live in New York State. I am told that I have to take another driving test to use hand controls. So I call the closest shop that does hand contros, which is 80 miles away.

"you have to have the permit on your license before we can install the hand controls."

"how do I go for the test if I don't have hand controls?"

"Sorry, its just the rule."

LOL

More awkward than hilarious...

First outing with my chair, I thought, "well, I'm gonna have to do this sooner or later" and attempted to go down 2 steps. Scraped up one hand and opposite knee.

Arrived at law school, during orientation while we're all trying to impress each other (and I'm the only wheelchair user in the entire place), hit a bump on a sidewalk because 2 guys on bicycles wouldn't move out of my way. On my hands sort of hanging there...

A few weeks later (a few weeks ago), needed to get to CVS to get some cold medicine. Friend with power chair offered to tow me since it's miles away and I needed to go myself to talk to the pharmacist. Keep in mind, I need my feet strapped down and my knees strapped down because of hyperreactive reflexes every time I hit a bump. Hit a bump on the sidewalk, power chair was fine, me upside down on my back with my chair strapped in the air over me. Cars stopped, people jumped out to help, my friend was panicking he had killed me, I am so embarrassed I keep telling people, "I'm fine, I don't need help!" But, they insist on staying with me while I awkwardly unstrap my legs, sit on the sidewalk, flip chair back on its wheels, and get back in.

Last week, the hill and the rain. Ever seen a wheelchair user tread pavement?! Yeah, almost didn't make it to class... and at law school, they mark you absent even if you're just 30 seconds late (and mobility impaired and a klutz and in a rainstorm going up a hill...)

What's next?!

I went to a podiatrist whilst in rehab. It was on the second floor of the building but the elevator was broken. I had a carer with me and we went and spoke to to receptionist there. We told her the situation (that being i'm in a wheelchair) and asked her if there was any other way up besides using the stairs. Her reply was, "why dont you just walk up the stairs and we can carry your chair up behind you?". The expression on her face was priceless when I asked her, "Why do you think I'm in a wheelchair?" lol

Another funny moment was when I went to McDonalds with mates a few months back. The girl at the counter called out to us, "how can I help you?". Without even thinking and in a serious tone I replied, "can you help me walk?". My mates pissed themselves laughing. The poor girl was speachless. I couldn't believe what I had just said. Luckily she saw that I was joking after seeing my mates reaction.

I could go on for hours writing funny and embarrassing moments but haven't got that much time. lol

Hikkakaru THAT just made me bust out loud laughing!!!

I had the same situation in Texas. My wife drove me to the DMV and they downgraded my license to a learners permit with restrictions for hand controls. I found a driving school with a vehicle with hand controls and I was able to take the driving test.

Yet another fallling story. My university has notoriously unreliable elevators and one day the elevator I was riding stopped at the floor I wanted, only two feet above my floor to be exact. Looking at this drop, I decided that I could take it (I have no idea why or what my reasoning was besides pure stupidity). Shockingly, I was wrong. Instead of jumping off this elevator-created curb in a leap of glory and landing in a perfect ten formation, I just sort of tipped over the edge and fell right out of my chair. The worst thing was, after I fell, the elevator leveled up with the floor and my wheelchair rolled back into the elevator, ready to move up to the next floor without me. Luckily, I grabbed my chair (pratically throwing myself across the floor in the process) and hauled it back out before it took a ride. Next floor, lingerie! Then I was sort of stuck as no one had been on the elevator with me and the hallway was completely empty and spookily silent. I've never mastered the floor to chair transfer (although I did try valiently in this situation) and I felt sort of silly yelling for help. I kept saying to myself, "is this really a 'help' situation? I'm not bleeding or in mortal danger, so it feels a bit silly to yell for help." Instead I settled for a dignified, "excuse me, is anyone around?" Finally, the elevator opened again containg two fine young gentlemen who I guess were a bit shocked to find a girl sprawled in front of the elevator door looking at them with a mixture of hope and awkwardness. A few seconds later, I was back in my chair thanks to the two strapping lads. Thanks boys!

The excuses some people come up with.
Why didn't you just ask him out?????????

haha "Is this really a 'help' situation" made me laugh

Eleanorigby - that story made me laugh right out loud and I could visualize everything you said!! I even interrupted my husband to read it to him!
My most awkward/funny moment was one day I went to K-Mart with my kids and a friend. She is younger and I had bought a shelf for my bathroom that you had to put together yourself. There was not much room in my trunk for my wheelchair and this bog box and I was confident that my friend would not be capable of doing it without my supervision. There was no room in the car because it was loaded with my children. So, I decided to transfer into one of those stupid shopping wheelchairs with the big basket in the front. The basket will lay all the way over to the right side so it was not a big deal to transfer over into that chair. That way, I could supervise and help get my chair in the trunk (without me being stuck in the driver's seat). It was all going well... (actually, just getting it all in the trunk and having to finally buy some rope to tie it all in is a story all in itself)...it was all going well, wheelchair and big box safely in the trunk, and it was time for me to get in the car. What I had not taken into account was the big footrests that don't allow you to get very close to your car and the big basket. If the basket was where it belonged, I was trapped in the chair and could not get out. If the basket was out of my way, it was swung way over on the right side and I could not get the chair close at all!! I was beginning to think that I was going to have to slide out onto the ground, and then climb up into the car. But instead, my car has a handrail installed in the hood on the driver's side. So, I turned the cheap chair nose first into the seat, grabbed the rail, and with a Tarzan-likish swing, managed to land on the door frame of the car. I was aiming for the frame because I knew there was no way I would make it to the seat. My friend and children screamed thinking I had missed the seat and was hitting the dirt. I was laughing my head off and praying no one was watching how stupid I looked!! Hindsight told me that I should have just gotten in on the passenger side and slid over. That would have been to simple!!

I was going around the Mall of America with a (now) friend last week, and I was getting tired (after a huge, huge day). I stopped him after going through about half of the mall, and said, "Come here, turn around." He looked at me like I was nuts, and then I grabbed onto the back of his shirttails, and said, "MUSH!" He walked for a bit, and then stopped - he said, "We can't do that anymore - it makes me look fat."

So, I made him self-conscious while being too lazy to push myself around anymore. Bleh.

This is FUNNY.
When Hubby and I go to the grocery I hang on to his cart and he pulls me around. Thank God for the Ultralight. Elderly people invariably smile and cheer us on, like they know they are next.

I recently got discharged this june. Was bored indoors so i decide to take my Kelpie x Border Collie for a walk. It went well, next day did same thing. Boom dog saw cat and pull me out my chair Well had to get back in my chair with no experience of dodging cars too.

Went out for supper with a friend from school that I havn't seen in like 5 years yesterday. Nothing as funny or as frustrating as watching some1 try to disassemble a chair

I had a lady approach me in WalMart a few months back and she told me that I shouldn't be playing around in one of the stores wheelchairs because it offended those who really needed them. My Quickie doesn't even look like the generic chairs they have for customers. I laughed and thanked her for telling me I didn't look like I needed one. My dad was with me at the time and was ready to pop a fuze. He thought it was extremely rude and he's the first to be offended by anything.

I was also almost run over in the parking lot that day too. Ever bang on someones trunk yelling "STOP! STOP!"? Even in small cars, it's hard to see over the trunk of a car, let alone them-see-you. I park as far away as possible out of spite for those people who wait 10 minutes in their car waiting for a close spot to free up.

I was donating blood once and when the lady asked how I felt, I told her I couldn't feel my legs. She was a little panicked for a minute then she realized I was teasing...