Sunday, November 12, 2006

Things that crack me up, #14

Sitemeter shows a google search that ended up here: "Why do the disabled wear shoes?"

What do you think? What's your excuse?

Posted by Kay Olson at 9:34 PM

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I actually stopped wearing "real" shoes regularly a few months ago. Used to wear braces and (heavy) sneakers, but since I'm using the chair more, it tends to be easier to slip on water shoes.

I still wear the braces now and then, but it's tempting not to.

11/12/2006 10:59 PM
Penny L. Richards said...

If my son didn't wear shoes, he'd lose his socks constantly.

Oh, and there's always "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service."

11/13/2006 8:40 AM
The Goldfish said...

Well, most of us walk of course. However, using a wheelchair does sometimes allow a lady to wear the sort of shoes which she would otherwise compromise her mobility. And there's nothing to stop disabled people being a little bit fashion-conscious.

A douple-amputee friend has unrelated health problems now and can no longer walk or even wear his prosthetics. But he's still got a lot of stylish shoes which he is unlikely to wear again. I suggested that rather than let them go to waste, he simply placed a co-ordinating pair on the empty footplates when he got dressed each day...

11/13/2006 9:46 AM
Kay Olson said...

I wear shoes because I put weight on my feet most of the time I am sitting. It's not my feet that are weak or unable to work, it's a weakened torso that is held up partly through pushing down with my feet.

Shoes protect my feet, just like for anyone else. They stabilize my stance during tranfers -- particularly the thick, higher soles of those Docs.

I have worn slippers to the movie theater on occasion, and in Arizona I did indeed go barefoot all the time while commuting to, from, and around campus on my scooter. But I felt like it was bad manners to not have at least sandals on in many situations.

However, really high heels on a person in a wheelchair are just silly. All they do is bring your knees closer to your face.

11/13/2006 11:42 AM
Penny L. Richards said...

More--my son doesn't walk or stand, but he loves to swing, and shoes give him better traction for that. I also like to think of shoes as "foot protectors"--he may not always recognize imminent stubbing/pinching/crushing events, or be able to respond to them quickly enough, so shoes are his best line of defense.

11/13/2006 12:09 PM
Penny L. Richards said...

And speaking of search terms, one google search that landed someone from Utah at our blog this morning was "one-legged amputee in a schoolgirl outfit." Hmmmm. I doubt they found what they were looking for at DS,TU.

11/13/2006 6:05 PM
Anonymous said...

As far as the "No shoes, no shirt, no service" thing: I quit wearing shoes at 13 (29 now) and have never been denied service or even had a comment even at a fancy joint

11/13/2006 6:37 PM
The Goldfish said...

However, really high heels on a person in a wheelchair are just silly. All they do is bring your knees closer to your face.

Which combined with a short skirt... no, that look really doesn't work. Personally, more than 2" and I'm going to suffer having my calves forced into that position for any length of time. So I never wear really high heels.

I had a search today for "goldfish in a bra". I have no idea...

11/14/2006 6:29 AM
Anonymous said...

cuz I don't have to walk in them (though my knees are in my face and they STILL aren't terribly comfy).

11/14/2006 8:16 AM
Dawn Allenbach said...

I don't wear shoes.

11/14/2006 11:24 AM
Kay Olson said...

Hee! "Goldfish in a bra," but probably not wearing shoes. The mind boggles, doesn't it? Checking sitemeter for how people arrived at my blog is often the best laugh of each day.

11/14/2006 4:24 PM
Anonymous said...

Hi Blue,

Would you mind explaining to this "newbie" how does one keep track of google searches like the silly ones you've all shared in this post?

"Goldfish in a bra"...good grief! Someone has too much time on his/her hands.

11/15/2006 8:53 AM
Kay Olson said...

Sure, Connie. Sitemeter is a little widget type program that you add to your template and it will track many aspects of who visits your site. I believe Blogger has its own version, but I like sitemeter.com.

The little multi-colored square icon toward the bottom of my sidebar content is the Sitemeter icon -- or the one I chose, anyway.

You can subscribe to sitemeter and pay a fee for more statistics, but for the free subscription, it will tell you how many people visit your site/day and keep a cumulative total of same. You can check where the last one hundred people surfed from (unless they have blocked that info, which isn't uncommon). You can see what google searches they clicked in from, what their ISP is, where the computer is in the world, and many other cool facts.

For example, mine tells me that I get an average of 180 hits/day, though probably twenty of those are me. And my cumulative site visits is about 30,000 right now. That's since I installed sitemeter at the start of this blog in 2004.

The main thing I use sitemeter for is to check and see if any new link from elsewhere has resulted in a bunch of new hits here. Then I can trace back to the source and see what's up there and if I want to participate in whatever discussion linked to my site. I've found a lot of other disability blogs and made new contacts this way.

Does all that make sense?

11/15/2006 4:04 PM
Ettina said...

I assume whoever asked that question was thinking of wheelchair users, but I'll post anyway.
I wear shoes when it's cold or if I'm not allowed to go barefoot or something might hurt my feet.
I don't like the feeling of shoes (sort of like some autistics don't like the feeling of clothes) so whenever I can I go barefoot. (This is an annoyance to my parents when we get in the car for a drive of two minutes and I must put my boots back on before we get out.)
I hate the 'no shirt, no shoes, no service' thing! I think it's unfair. One funny story is that we were denied entrance to a mall once because a friend of mine was barefoot. We were going there to buy shoes because she'd lost hers.

11/16/2006 11:38 AM

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