Okay, so my mother's mobility has been restricted for a few years and recently took a serious downturn; she uses a cane to get around when she can't use a walker. I spent the weekend with a friend who was recently in a terrible accident, and at least for the present is limited to using a cane to get around when he can't use the wheelchair he got from the hospital (he's on disability, and cannot get one of the really nice chairs, so this is whatever the VA had). The accident also has his left arm in a sling, so he can do some hand stuff, but his ability to wheel himself around is currently fucked, so I spent an okay amount of time this weekend wheeling my friend around.

Between being more physically involved with my friend's movements, and how I feel safe and open to messing up around him by comparison to how I'm hypervigilant around my mother (for good reason), I found that I am now *much* more aware of how building and sidewalk architecture can *really* screw with someone mobility impaired. My mother's (and Grampa's) problems mean I feel my old age will find me facing mobility issues, but now I feel a *lot* more sympathetic to people who face those issues now, and wanting to improve things somehow isn't entirely selfish. I'm not quite sure where I go with my new information, but it's definitely there.