THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607250032
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K3 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: The Imperfect Navigator
SOURCE: BY ALEXANDRIA BERGER
LENGTH: 74 lines
YEARS AGO, while wearing a minidress, I fell head first into the deep freezer at the supermarket. My 3-year-old daughter sang repetitively, ``Mommy, I can see your tushy'' as people walked by.
I remember trying desperately to spring myself up, flailing my arms out like a bird. Finally, the loud speaker belched, ``Stock to aisle three. There's a lady stuck in the freezer. Lady in the freezer.''
It took two stock boys to pull me out. For months I shopped in another city.
Somehow, I survived this experience, my self-worth and minidress intact. However, sometimes humiliating and degrading experiences leave us shredded inside, like a hunk of cabbage ripped in neat strips by a grater.
For the disabled and elderly who are ripe targets for robbery, scam artists or violent crime, this is especially true.
There is no escaping the exposure. Workmen, door-to-door canvassers, home health, cleaning and delivery personnel, telemarketers...can be innocent conduits of information. Worse, out in public we're seen as a group with the inability to defend ourselves.
On Saturday, I visisted the home of an elderly couple. ``Please don't use our names in your story,'' the wife begged. ``We've been robbed, and I wasn't home to protect my husband. I know it sounds paranoid. But, I'm scared.''
Mrs. Doe's husband is wheelchair bound. Suffering from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease), he is unable to move or speak clearly. Casing the neighborhood, a burglar had seen Mr. Doe sitting outside in his wheelchair. Watching their home, the burglar waited for Mrs. Doe to leave.
Then he struck.
Ripping out the phone lines, the burglar entered the house, stuffed paper in Mr. Doe's mouth, then wheeled him into a closet. Totally helpless, the force threw Mr. Doe out of his chair, leaving him a crumpled heap on the floor.
While the robber escaped, Mr. Doe lay silently weeping in the locked closet until Mrs. Doe returned home to find him.
Lessen your exposure by taking some of these precautions:
Never stay home alone without having a neighbor or relative check on you hourly. Never travel alone.
Have an emergency responder service installed and wear a ``push button'' bracelet or necklace. Push the button for help. A voice will answer from a responder box connected to the phone, effective throughout the entire house, as in ``I've fallen and I can't get up!'' AT&T, among others, offers this service.
Hang a fake blinking television security monitor outside your front and back doors.
Install Caller I.D.
Get a dog . . . that barks. Studies show this is one of the best deterents.
Install motion detector triggering lights, both inside and outside your home.
Install a security system. If you can't afford this, buy fake security stickers for doors and windows.
Never hang bags, pocketbooks or clothing on the back of wheelchairs. Keep all wheelchair pockets closed. Put cash, credit cards and checkbooks in a money belt, waist pack, neck pouch or a travel shoulder purse worn under clothing.
Buy a contract cellular phone service. Wear the cellular phone for emergency use, if the phone line is cut or temporarily down in a storm.
Hide expensive jewelry from view when in public.
Never give out your phone number to telemarketers, or persons asking if this is the ``right number.'' Never tell strange callers you are handicapped or elderly.
Never allow workmen or any service personnel to know you are home alone. If they should discover this, mention expecting company at any moment.
Don't carry or use pepper gas or any harmful spray. It can be used against you.
KEYWORDS: HANDICAPPED DISABLED HOME ALONE by CNB