A New Perspective: Riding in the Car with Katherine

If you’ve spent any time with me, you know that there are some basic activities I do very differently then most people. One of those is riding in the car. I lay on the floor (on a cushy mat) behind the driver’s seat any time I am in my van with my wheelchair loaded in the back. Laying down not only allows my back to rest, but it also lets me easily move and change positions at will if we are on long road trips.

When I tell people this, the typical response I get is “But you’re not buckled in! If you are in an accident, you’ll DIE!“

Well, let me explain something to you. If we are in an accident bad enough to be thrown against a seatbelt, I die regardless. I can’t tell you the number of bad injuries and broken bones I’ve had simply from the driver braking hard, causing me to get slammed up against a seatbelt or harness of some sort. Whatever bone comes in contact with the seatbelt breaks every time, no collision necessary. We tried every type of car seat and seatbelt imaginable, and either they were so uncomfortable that I couldn’t stand to be in them for more than ten minutes, or I got severely injured in them in regular traffic jams. Also, my back is jarred much less on bumps (and in New Orleans, pot holes) in the laying down position. Because my back is curved and my scoliosis is so severe, any type of vertical bumping generally ends badly. When I’m behind the driver’s seat on the floor, the worst that happens is that my entire body rolls into the seat, and since the pressure is distributed fairly evenly against my body, I (usually) don’t break. Sometimes I hit my head on the console if I’m not watching traffic and am not prepared for a quick stop, but as most of you know, my head is very hard, so no biggie there.

For anyone with OI that might be reading this and thinking about doing the same thing, be sure that you get an official letter from your doctor that says that you are not able to be restrained while riding in the car due to your disability. Keep a copy in the car with you at all times. That is SUPER important if you ever get pulled over by a cop, or if your car breaks down and you have to ride on your driver’s lap in a tow truck… Yeah, been there, done that!

As you can imagine, the frustrating part about riding on the floor of the car is that I can’t see out any of the windows. It gets boring quickly seeing nothing but sky, street lamps, and treetops. This problem was initially solved with webcams by the Bio-Mechnical Engineering Department at Tulane University while I was in college. Each year, the senior class in the program is split into groups, and as their final project, each group is assigned a disabled individual with a physical problem to solve. I was lucky enough to be this individual a few years in a row, and this particular year, I presented them with my car problem. Their assignment was to come up with a solution, build it (or at least a prototype within budget), and present it to their peers, professors, and clients at the end of the semester. They came up with a series of three cameras, one in each side window and front windshield, that hooked up to monitors that were with me on the floor of the car. This way, I could see three views outside of the car from the floor. Not only did this make my ride more enjoyable, but it did wonders for my already lacking sense of direction!

My original camera system was done on a very tight budget, and although it did the job, the equipment was not the best. Since then, I’ve a had a very good and electronically-inclined friend redo the entire system with better cameras, better mounts, and a single monitor. The wiring is greatly cleaned up and is no longer sticking out all over my car. I absolutely love my new system, but I wouldn’t have even had the concept if it wasn’t for those amazing students at Tulane.

Here’s a picture of my new monitor and my view in the car! Neat, huh?