> everything is working in good order. There are times, though, when
 > it can take me two minutes to unbuckle and physically get out of the
 > car.
 BM> I wonder if we should shatter his complacency more by telling him what
 BM> an effort it is to get *into* the car?  It thecop who wants to
 > comandeer my car wants me top move any faster than that, he is going
 > to have to physically pull me from the car.
There are many times that high speed and all the stuff you see in the movies
is not necessary. Chances are, the police officer might even ask you to drive
and have you stop the car well out of danger. A portion of this discussion
seems to indicate that police officers have no compassion or understanding
for people with disabilities, and that would be incorrect. I might not even
be able to drive your car, depending on any special controls or devices that
may be installed in your vehicle. For the right reasons and the right cause,
your messages indicate you would do everything you could physically do to
help. I've never heard of a police officer who jerked a disabled person out
of their car and dumped them in the street to commandeer their vehicle. You
have to remember that commandeering a vehicle is a very rare situation to
begin with. Your chances are probably 1 in 10 million that this situation
would ever come up for you, like winning a lottery.
I've been very fortunate to only have several unpleasant experiences with
disabled people in my 21+ years of duty. The vast majority of my contacts
with disabled people have been very pleasant. I've had the advantage of
having several very close friends who are disabled, and I have different
thoughts about disabled people than the average person. I consider them to be
differently abled, not disabled. In my observations, God has given strengths
and positive traits that overshadow the disability, thus the term
"differently abled". I learned this from a young man who became angry when
people would call him disabled; yet he was partially paralyzed, in a
wheelchair, and almost blind. I can't speak for all police officers, but I
would bet that the vast majority of them do have compassion for differently
abled people. I will now probably be accused of being patronizing toward
differently abled people, but I really don't care.
Tom Rightmer - A Victims' Rights Advocate
... DOS ERROR: Please remove cat from drive A:
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
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