Immersion Opportunities

Today, in Dfab, we got to experience what doing everyday activities would be like with a physical disability. I chose to stimulate a broken leg by using crutches. I did a series of activities using the crutches, two of which I got photos of.

When I first put on the crutches, I found it pretty uncomfortable to walk, and I was very tempted to put my one leg down and walk normally as I always do. After walking for a while, I felt a lot of pain and pressure in my armpits and my wrists which held all my weight. It was very difficult to control how fast I was traveling in my crutches, because my crutches went forward twice as fast as my body was traveling.


The first everyday activity that I tried was getting some water at the water fountain. It was weird not being able to bend down and get it easily like I always do and it helped me realize what I took for granted. I was so much higher than where the water was coming out, so it was very difficult for me to adjust to the height of the fountain. Also, whenever I bent down, my hair would get in the way and it would take even more time to fix my hair to get out of my face.

The next everyday activity I did was walking up and down the stairs. Walking down the stairs, though easier than walking up was really difficult. I always felt like I was going to fall and I had to go slower than usual which made me frustrated.

Overall, this experience opened my eyes to the struggles that disabled people go through in everyday tasks.