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This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.


I’ve been using a cane consistently for about a decade now and I love this particular telescoping model. It takes some weight off my injury and greatly improves my travel and conference experiences, but also having a cane that I feel is a delight to use rather than a chore has really changed the way I think and feel about my disability. I recommend this model to everyone who asks about it!





What is it?





A collapsible, telescoping cane, intended for hiking.





This exact cane was discontinued some years ago, but REI sells an updated version of my cane here: https://www.rei.com/product/184729/rei-co-op-walker-power-lock-staff-single





A collapsible hiking cane with cork handle attached to a green backpack with a strap intended for an ice axe.
Caption: A collapsible hiking cane with cork handle attached to a green backpack with a strap intended for an ice axe.




What problem did I need it to solve?





I have a pinched nerve in my left hip. If I stand on a hard surface for long enough, it causes first numbness and then pain. The pain typically doesn’t start until hours after the standing, and it can take days before I go back to normal, or even months if I do something like chase my kid around the zoo without rest or stand around talking at a conference for a few days in a row.





How did it work out for me?





The cane basically does three things for me. First, it takes some pressure off my leg, greatly increasing the amount of time I can stand. Second, it serves as a reminder to me that I need to be careful, since I won’t get that feedback from my body until it’s too late. And third, it makes my “invisible” disability very visible to others. That helps a lot in places like airports where people can be impatient about how slowly I move, conferences where people are more willing to sit on the floor with me, and I’m still working on my kid remembering that I can’t chase him when I need the cane.





But those are all things *any* cane would do. What makes this one special?





It’s incredibly adjustable. Many canes use holes and locking mechanisms that allow you to adjust in fairly large increments — maybe an inch or 2cm between holes. But a 1cm difference makes a big difference to my arms, elbows and wrists. Obviously some people must get lucky and the notch is in the right place for them, and I believe the best practice involves cutting the bottom off the cane so that it’s customized for you. So it’s not an insurmountable obstacle but it’s a destructive kind of customization that requires actual tools.





When I was using a less adjustable cane, I felt often like having a mobility device was more hassle than it was worth because I was trading leg pain for back/shoulder/arm issues. But this cane allowed me to experiment and fine-tune until I found exactly what I needed, and it let me continually adapt as my needs changed rather than involving a one-off cut. This was particularly important to me when I was pregnant and my body was changing for quite some time both during and after. But some days you’re just wearing thicker-soled shoes, so it’s not like this is a pregnant-person-only kind of issue. Feeling like I could always in-the-moment make it work for me was huge: It felt like an awesome tool that I loved instead of a hassle that reminded me of my limitations.





It’s also light. Carrying any kind of extra weight can put extra pressure on my nerve, and I don’t know if you’ve ever used an el-cheapo cane from the drug store, but the ones I tried were designed to feel sturdy and solid. This may be comforting for many cane users (especially for seniors concerned about falls) but the weight was working at cross-purposes for my needs. Despite the lightness and the seemingly less-solid clips on this sporty cane model, I haven’t had it slip closed on me during and I’ve been using this particular cane for 10 years. That said, I’m not the heaviest human, so your mileage may vary if you need to put more weight on it.





As well as being light, it shrinks to be small — I have a beloved Synik Guide’s Edition from Tom Bihn that has the “ice axe” holder that fits it *perfectly* so I can strap it to my bag. (Note: The bag was only available in a limited run and I jumped on it immediately. They use to offer guide’s editions somewhat regularly but they warned us that some parts were getting hard to come by so it might be a while before they do them again.) As well as being easy to strap to a bag, this cane also fits in the seat pocket on airplanes or on my lap on a bus/car/train. These are important for me because it tends to get moved out of sight/reach in moving vehicles and it can be easy to forget it. I don’t use the cane 100% of the time so sometimes I forget that I have it with me if it’s not immediately obvious. You can see the picture of the cane strapped to the bag up above.





Beyond “not losing it” I like the ability strap to the bag when I don’t need it (e.g. I’m hiking on softer dirt trails that are unlikely to pinch my nerve) or when I need both hands free (those few minutes where we’re towing all our luggage in/out of an airport so I’ve got two rollerbags).





I also particularly like that this has a real cane head that’s been designed with comfort in mind: the cork gives a bit of impact cushioning that makes a significant difference over longer periods of time, the head is comfortable in my hand and feels more ergonomic than a stereotypical round hook or worse, a hiking pole.





Things that could be better





I use a rubber end on my cane to avoid slipping on polished floors and to reduce impacts against my hand. The cane itself has a sharp point on the end, though, intended for hiking in dirt/snow/ice. This sharp point absolutely destroys those rubber cane tips pretty quickly. My workaround is to fold up a piece of paper inside the rubber cane tip so the metal point doesn’t push directly into the rubber, and that helps a lot. Before that I used to go through multiple cane tips per year, sometimes per conference.





Also, not the cane’s fault, but I wish the American medical system was better. I had rounds of misdiagnosis, bad advice, and getting shuffled from doctor to doctor, all at great personal expense. This cane has had significantly better results than an entire care team and I’m a bit salty about the whole experience.





Overall





I love this cane so much that I bought a special “cane user” puppy sticker not just because it’s cute but also because being a cane user is part of my own identity now.





When I was first using the cane and feeling super self-conscious about looking “too young” to need it, a lot of other cane users took time to make eye contact, smile and give me “the nod” — instead of feeling uncomfortable I felt *seen* by others. If you think a cane might help you, I highly recommend just giving it a shot.





You know the genre of kids books about a child being upset about needing glasses and feeling uncool until they finally find a pair that suits them and then it’s like magic to have an accessibility aid? I hope everyone gets that kind of magic with a mobility device the way I’ve felt with this cane.

terriko: (Default)
This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.


My kid is in that awkward age where he’s too big for a stroller but walking across some of the larger airports can be a lot. I’d originally wanted to get scooter luggage, but after some research I decided we’d get a lot more use out of a folding scooter that would be useful for jaunts to the park and dog walks too.





What is it?





A folding 3-wheeled scooter for kids (max weight 110 pounds). It’s even got light up wheels!









Product link: https://microkickboard.com/collections/children-ages-5-12-maxi-scooters/products/maxi-foldable-led-scooter





What problem did I need it to solve?





My kid’s too big for a stroller but still short enough that walking all over larger airports is a chore. He can walk for 3 hours at the zoo without problem, so I think it’s more of a mental exhaustion than a physical limitation.





I’d seen some kids with scooter luggage in Chicago on a previous trip and totally coveted it. After a bunch of research, though, it seemed like the quality of scooter luggage was mixed, and for around the same price we’d likely get a lot more long-term use out of a regular scooter. My kid was on the edge of outgrowing his toddler scooter and doesn’t yet love his bike, so this was something he wanted anyhow and would use multiple times a week and not just on trips.





How did it work out for me?





It was great!





Kiddo loved the scooter from the moment it arrived and it got a lot of use on dog walks even before our trips. Hatch was a little less excited about this as he’s afraid of people on wheels, but he’s mostly used to it now and it helped him with exposure.





I was a little worried that we’d have trouble with checking in at the airports or on the train (which has new luggage restrictions), but most gate agents didn’t even question us about it and neither did anyone on the train. Note that we were traveling first class on all flights and the train trip, so they might have been less inclined to give us trouble as a result, and there was typically ample overhead space when we boarded.





We did have to gate check it like a stroller on one of the smaller turboprop planes, and we did have to demonstrate that it folded once. No one gave us a hard time about him using it in the airport (I guess it’s just another accessibility device), we had some fun conversations with other parents, and one of the Canadian customs agents jokingly offered to set up an obstacle course so he could scoot through the line lanes since we were the only family going through at the time.





With the scooter, kiddo moves significantly faster than I do with the cane (probably close to my husband’s walking speed) so we did have to make him slow down or give him a point where he should wait for us. When there was traffic or lots of people, it could be a bit nerve-wracking and we had to get him to hop off and walk, but it was pretty good in safer streets and the emptier parts of airports.





When he got tired, he stood on the scooter and had one of us push him as if he were another piece of wheeled luggage. This worked even better than I expected and it’s pretty stable with the 3 wheels. He also just didn’t get tired as much. Scooting was more fun, I think, and took less energy for him to go at fast adult speeds.





As well as in the airports and train station, the scooter got a lot of use for jaunts to the local community swimming pool, parks, open houses, and “look at the fireflies” walks around my mom’s house. We didn’t use it in Iowa because my inlaws live in a significantly less walkable area.





Things that could be better









The method for locking/unlocking the folding is a big plastic sleeve that you pull up and down to release a clip inside. It tended to get a bit stuck and needed jiggling and two hands to operate most of the time. Not a deal breaker, but I do wish it was less finicky. We’re pretty fast at getting off the plane through experience and it felt bad to get hung up on a piece of recalcitrant plastic when you’ve got a grumpy travel kid and passengers streaming by you.





This scooter is technically a bit over our airline carry on limits in the longest dimension, but so much smaller in the other two that I don’t think anyone even noticed. If we’d been forced to put it in a luggage sizer that might have been an issue, but we flew first class so they weren’t really examining our luggage closely. We treated this as kid’s larger carry on and we only had one other small carry-on suitcase between the three of us, which may have contributed to it feeling like we weren’t carrying “too much” in the eyes of the gate staff. It would have been nice if the manufacturer had made the scooter just a little shorter, but I don’t think they designed it with carry-on in mind. (Their ad copy mentions putting it in the trunk or school locker. Plus they actually sell scooter-luggage for carry-on.)





My kid is very safety conscious but it was still nerve wracking to let him use it in Toronto street traffic or some of the busier parts of the airport so we had him hop off and walk in some places even though he really didn’t want to. This could have been more dangerous with a younger or less careful kid.





Overall





Kid loves it, I love it, and it made out travel easier!





I was surprised by how infrequently anyone challenged it. Some of that may be privilege, but it drew so little attention that privilege may not have played a big role. We did see some other kids with scooter luggage and similar so it’s obviously something airlines have seen before.





Even if it hadn’t been a travel win, it’s been a win at home in similar situations: it’s great for going to the park where kiddo might otherwise get tired on the walk home after playing, especially since he can stand on it and get a push from an adult.

terriko: (Default)
This is crossposted from Curiousity.ca, my personal maker blog. If you want to link to this post, please use the original link since the formatting there is usually better.


How I travel has changed a lot in the past few years especially since I started using a cane and my growing kid means it’s different every time now. So I’m trying to note a few things that worked (or could be better) from my last couple of trips.





I have resisted the urge to call this “lame luggage reviews” on account of my literal lameness, but if you’re also a cane user you might find my experience useful!





What is it?









This is a spinner-style “underseat” carry-on suitcase. I’m not sure if it’ll actually fit underseat in too many planes, as the 9 inch depth is a bit large and the frame doesn’t have any give to it, but I really just wanted something smaller and intended to leave it in the overhead so that wasn’t a concern for me.





Product link: https://www.calpaktravel.com/products/luka-mini-carry-on-luggage/sage,16





What problem did I need it to solve?





I prefer to have a suitcase over just doing a backpack because I have a pinched nerve in my left hip and extra weight tends to leave me in a lot of pain for weeks or months. This helps some by letting me put heavier stuff in the suitcase, but mostly it helps by letting me slip my favourite backpack over the handle so it’s not putting weight on my nerve at all. I also use a cane to help manage the same problem (this also makes my “invisible” disability visible when needed).





My previous small suitcase was a two-wheeled affair and it was hard to maneuver while using my cane, especially if I had a backpack slipped overtop of the luggage handle. The weight of the backpack then went on my arm, which was less painful but still tiring. It got even worse in our trip to visit the American grandparents because I was often moving not only my own backpack but also my kid’s backpack while my husband handled the more awkward luggage.





How did it work out for me?





This was *considerably* easier for me to move with the cane, and the 4 wheels supported the full weight of whatever backpack was on it. Absolute win in terms of improved accessibility for me! This was the most important goal and it solved the problem perfectly.





It fit a *lot* of spare toys, games and chargers and stuff that we used in long layovers and on the train, as well as spare clothes for me and kiddo (which we didn’t use this trip but we’ve needed in several past occasions), and spare crafts for me (embroidery, spinning, knitting) where I was too nervous to leave them in checked bags. It was probably a bit bigger than we needed for this trip, but it was awfully convenient to stuff things like my kid’s neck pillow in there so he could get other stuff in and out of his bag more easily, so maybe it was just the right size? I imagine it’ll be big enough for weekend jaunts in future.





I liked the layout and the large straps for holding stuff in when it’s opened, as well as the design where you can velcro/snap the front panel so it opens only partway when unzipped. This was great in the airport so you can pull out a laptop in security without making a mess. I briefly wished the side pocket was big enough to hold my noise cancelling headphones, but in practice I had those in their case in my backpack anyhow, so I mostly used it to hold a heavier spare battery. It would have been big enough to tuck my phone in there with the battery to charge.





I didn’t try it under the seat but it fit ok in the overhead bins on all 4 planes (including the shortest flight) and the VIA rail train. No questions from airport staff so I didn’t go around shoving it into the luggage sizer things. That said, we were flying first class and boarding first so it wasn’t like I was competing much for overhead space when I got on, and the airlines were no doubt inclined to give me a lot more leeway than they might with other passengers.





My kid also had a good time moving it when he wasn’t using his scooter, though he was most excited about pulling it on 2 wheels for some reason.





Things that could be better





I didn’t love the available colours, and my kid still insists that it “could be more green.” It’s definitely light coloured enough to pick up some dirt from being in the overhead bins, but I don’t like black so this is the colour I chose.





It was honestly a bit deeper than I’d like: it would be nice if the depth was maybe half an inch less so I didn’t have to worry about overhead bins. I realized it had paper stuffed in the padded outer pocket to make it stick out, so it fit better on our return flights than the ones on the way there. Still, the rigid frame is pushing the limits of airplane spaces and won’t compress, so I expect occasional problems with it in the future (particularly if we wind up flying on smaller jets).





My travel laptop (a lenovo A275) only *barely* fit in the laptop sleeve built in to the side panel. It’s a 12.5″ but fairly thick: maybe this could handle a 13″ ultrabook but I wouldn’t want to carry a 14″ this way. This is ok for me since I love tiny laptops and can’t carry heavier ones any more with my leg injury, but it might be an issue for other people.





Overall





This absolutely made it easier for me to get around the airport with my cane, and even made it easier to manage with multiple suitcases when struggling in and out of the airport. It carried a bit more than I needed, and it fit in all the places I needed it to fit. I’m thrilled with how it worked out and excited to use it on my next trip.





Is it the best possible luggage for me? Who knows. I’m not a review company so I’m not spending $$$ to try more suitcases. But if you want me to start up “lame luggage reviews” for real and want to send me a free suitcase to try on a future trip, let me know!

Home!

Feb. 22nd, 2017 09:50 am
terriko: (Default)
Made it home from India without incident, by which I mean my green card was accepted at the border and no one asked me to unlock my phone. It's weird how I just went on a trip to a country where I couldn't drink the water and the front page of the newspaper had multiple rape cases and an acid attack against women and yet, crossing the US border was *still* the most scary part with the constantly changing rules.

The trip was great. I saw so many things I never expected to see, ate so much delicious food, and met so many people that I'm not sure I'm ever going to get everyone's names straight. The PyCon Pune conference was *amazing*. I keynoted to a room of over 500 people, and I've never had such an engaged audience! I did code sprints with people who were awesome, too -- we discovered that Mailman had something like 9 different dev setup guides, many of which were out of date, and yet somehow everyone got things up and running *and* folk helped patch up the docs to be consistent. If you ever get a chance, seriously, go.
terriko: (Default)
I was in France last week for work, but I've been home for a few days now.

I am pleased to report that my French was adequate for basic stuff like getting directions and translating menus into English for my Polish colleagues. My French colleagues were highly amused that I spoke the language at all, since I guess no one warned them that I was moderately fluent. No one was offended by my weird accent, or even seemed to have much trouble understanding me. I couldn't handle full on eavesdropping on the train, but I could get the gist of a lot of conversations when I had some idea of the subject.

I didn't try to carry too much stuff because my ankle is still sore from hurting it after my trip to Poland, but I was able to walk quite a bit even if I had to do it carefully and a bit slowly. 100k steps! It's especially impressive given that my leg still hurts all the time. Walking, as always, is much easier than standing still, so the 30 minute walk to the office was easier than standing in line at the airport. I am sore, but it seems to be mostly the usual chronic constant thing plus some bonus knots from sleeping on planes and trains and strange beds.

They stole my knife-free Leatherman at the Charles de Gaulle airport. It was especially frustrating because several of the agents pointed out to the guy who took it that it was absolutely fine under their rules, but he decided it wasn't despite their best efforts. The thing's under $20 and I sort of assumed I'd lose it eventually, but I was still upset because it was just so unnecessary and wasteful. Have ordered a new one. I may give up on traveling with it outside north america, though, as I expect I'm going to have to fly through France again. (Amsterdam, mind, had no problem with it.)

Jetlag is hitting me hard this time, with the headaches and all. I miss when this wasn't a guaranteed thing, but at least I have Serious Painkillers and coworkers who are pretty understanding about travel miasma. I did not donate blood this week because I was not well enough and not because I am miffed at the red cross for phone harassing me all week (seriously, I think they called 7 times without ever leaving a message) and then after I told them I was unwilling to schedule an appointment because I often get sick when I travel, they gave me two days of silence then called me at 4am while I was adjusting to the time zone in France. So now they're a blocked number, and I'm not sure I'm going to unblock them, although I'll probably donate again when I'm not cranky about it.

Anyhow, recovery will go better with more sleep, so I'm going to do that now!

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