Show and Tell: (Self Female)

[Amy]

It has been a while since I posted anything here. This was a situation I found myself in during my 6th grade. It's not exactly a TUG story, but some of you might find it interesting. I haven't had much time to write lately. I thought this would at least get some interest on this board. I figured I should share this and see how it goes. Also, I am classifying this as a self situation since I could have gotten out of it pretty easily but didn't Have a read and let me know what you think.

I was a little uncomfortable with all the looks I was getting that Thursday morning. I had gotten to school pretty uneventfully. The last two days I had made it a policy to keep my harness in my backpack until I got on the bus to head home for the evening. There had been a few more teasings, but the whole matter was dying down. Kids at that age have a short attention span and they often move onto something else. However, the morning announcements were playing overhead. I was seated at my desk in the front of Mr. Wimer's classroom. The difference was I was still wearing my vest. A few of the kids were looking right at me.

The announcements finished up and Mr. Wimer gestured towards me to get up. I pushed my chair back from my desk and stood up. Then I made my way to the front of the classroom and stood. I took a minute and gathered myself before I began speaking.

"Good morning everyone." I began "As most of you know my name is Amy and some of you saw me wearing this earlier in the week. It's a securement vest for school buses and family vehicles." I pointed down towards the vest I was wearing. "It's a seatbelt system that can be used when a vehicle doesn't have seatbelts or if you are too small for the normal seatbelts offered by the vehicle." I continued with the explanation.

I took a few minutes and went over the specifics of the vest and my history with it. I turned and showed the class how it fit me and how it closed up as well. The whole idea of this show and tell had actually come from my teacher. Mr. Wimer had suggested after the embarrassment on that Monday I take a few minutes and show my vest to the class. Hate is often born out of ignorance. He had set aside about 15 minutes for me go through all of this in the hopes that it would make my situation better understood by my classmates. It had taken some courage to go through with it. But, I had the undivided attention of most of the class.

I took a moment and went and retreived my chair from the desk. I drug it about 15 feet towards the front of the classroom and seated in the middle facing them. I then seated myself.

"Now, once the vest is on the passenger, it attaches to the seat on these 4 rings. There are two on the shoulders and two on the hips." I explained pointing to the attachment points on the harness. I seated myself in the chair and fished an X-shaped strap out of my pocket. I had brought a chair mount with me so I could demonstrate how the D-ring system worked with the harness to the class that morning. The mount was primarily intended to secure one of the vest harnesses to a wheelchair. However, it could use used with just about any normal chair if you wanted to. I took a seat and clipped one of the 4 attachment points on at my hips. There was some snickering going out in the class in front of me. Mr. Wimer was getting up from his seat at the big desk at the front of the class.

"So, how many of you folks know how seatbelts work or why we wear them in a car?" He asked addressing the class in general. A few hands shot up and he pointed to one boy.

"We wear them in the car because they keep us safe in the event of an accident." One of the boys in the class answered.

"That's correct, but how do they keep us safe?" He responded to the answer with a second question. This time the room feel a little silent. "I guess this is a good time for a little lesson on how seatbelts actually work. I think a demonstration is in order if Amy will help me here."

Mr. Wimer walked around behind me and gave my chair a short push forwards. I was tossed a few inches up from the seat and forced to stand up. He motioned for me to sit back down and I did. He then turned my chair sideways and started scooting it along the floor for a few feet. Then he suddenly stopped and pulled it back against me. Again, I moved forwards out of the chair and landed this time in a half crouch.

"You see when you are in a car you are moving." Mr. Wimer began. "Newton's second law of motion is that things in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted on by an outside force. Now, take this chair, for example, when Amy was sitting in it and I was pushing it she was moving with the chair. When I stopped moving the chair, just because the chair stopped didn't make Amy stop. This is where seatbelts come into play." He explained.

Mr. Wimer motioned for me to sit down in the chair again. I did so reluctantly at first, but there was something about his mannerism that put me at ease. Once I was seated, he took the chair mount for my vest harness and attached the two D-rings on my his to it. Once that was done, he turned my chair around and slid me a couple of yards in the other direction before bringing it to a stop. This time I was still thrown forwards, but the straps on my hips kept me connected to the chair. However, my upper body bent forwards.

"Now, the chair isn't going all that fast when I push it here. However, a car is probably going between 20 and 50 miles per hour. When you are riding in the car if you get into an accident, that means the car has collided with something and stopped. However, you are not part of the car, so you are still traveling at 20 to 50 MPH. That means you are either going to hit your head on the dash or go flying through the windshield. This is where seatbelts come into play by attaching yourself to the car with a seatbelt you become part of the car. That means you stop when the car stops." He took a moment and caught his breath.

"Right now, Amy is attached to the chair at two points at the waist. This works like the middle lap seatbelt in the back of some older cars. It fastens you into the car at the hips. But, this only stops your waist from going forwards in an accident. That's why most modern cars have 3 point seatbelts." He explained. Mr. Wimer reached down behind me and fasted the third clip onto the back of my vest at the right shoulder. Next, he turned my chair and repeated the pushing followed by the fast jerky stop. This time the chair stopped and I stopped with it. My left shoulder went a little forwards, but I stayed seated pretty.

"When you add a shoulder belt it adds a third point and holds your upper body against the seat in an accident. This is why most modern cars have this type of seatbelts. However, there are even more secure systems available similar to what Amy is where here. They are known as a harness, or 5 point seatbelt." Mr. Wimer Explained. He took another moment and fastened the last of the 4 clips on the strap designed to attach the vest to the chair. He also took a moment and tightened all four of the connector straps down tightly against the back of the chair working the slack out of the system. Afterward, he gave my chair a final scoot and stop the demonstration. This time the harness did its job amazingly and I didn't move from the chair at all.

"Now, when you are in a harness you are strapped down at multiple different points. Has anybody seen harnesses anywhere besides the one Amy is wearing?" Mr. Wimer asked the class. We got the normal mix of responses including race cars, some carnival rides and car seats for little kids from a couple of the students in the classroom.

"When you're in a harness, you have a belt across your waist like all the other types you see in cars. But, you also have straps over both shoulders. This holds your upper body tight against the seat and divides the force of an impact out in a crash more evenly. Most harnesses also have a strap that goes between your leg's like this one on Amy's. This keeps the lap seatbelt from riding up in an accident and you from sliding underneath it. Last some harnesses also have either a clip or in this case another strap that keeps the shoulder belts together and in the right spot." He explained pointing out the features of my vest.

I shifted back and forth in the harness a little less comfortable now. I normally kept my vest fitted relatively snug for the ride to school and I hadn't loosened it for this little show and tell session. Mr. Wimer had adjusted the mount to be quite snug to the chair. There was a lot of tension on the straps and I was locked pretty securely in the seat.

"As you folks can see, Amy is secured pretty tightly to her seat. Now, on most school buses you are all probably aware there are no seatbelts. School buses are much larger vehicles and bright yellow. So, they don't get into accidents all that often. When they do, the seats in front of you is tall and if you are thrown forward you just hit the seat back and stay. That's called compartmentalization, and it's what school buses rely on to keep you safe riding to and from school." Mr. Wimer explained.

"Now, for most people that are considered safe enough. However, some parents don't think it is and want seatbelts on a school bus. With Amy wearing her harness, she has that safety plus the added safety these seatbelts give her. So, that is why her mother has her wear it on the bus. Are there any questions?"

At first, there were no questions. So, Mr. Wimer decided to take my chair on one last journey down the middle aisle of the classroom to the second row. He parked me in front of my desk still strapped to my chair. The whole process took him about 15 seconds and ended with a short turn and a jerk. With the harness on though, I didn't move at all. "Well, if that is all then let's get out our spelling books and turn to chapter 3." Mr. Wimer began. Suddenly a hand shot up to my right.

Mr. Wimer pointed at a girl sitting to my left and let her ask her question. "If harnesses are so safe, why don't we have them in cars for everybody?" She asked.

"There's a trade-off between safety and comfort. As you probably saw, Amy cannot move around very much with her vest on. It also takes a lot longer to get in and out of a 5 point seatbelt than the normal 3 point ones you see in cars. If 5 point harnesses were standard in the very car, a lot of adults wouldn't want to use them. Likewise, it's less expensive to put a 3 point seatbelt in a car than it is to do a 5 point harness. But, as you know most car seats have them for younger children because they are the safest option." He finished explaining. "Now, let's all get out our books and move onto spelling."

Whether it was accidental or intentional, Mr. Wimer walked away from where I was sitting leaving me strapped to my chair. Maybe he didn't want to take the effort to release me. Alternatively, maybe he wanted to see how I would react. Either way, he left me seated in front of my desk with my harness still intact. Now, obviously my hands were free and at that age, I could have gotten myself out of the harness relatively easily. All I had to do was release the 4 hooks on the D-ring, unzip the back and unbuckle the crotch strap. But, curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see how he and the rest of the class would react.

I reached forwards and opened the top of my desk. The harness anchored me pretty securely to my chair. I had a very limited amount of movement of my upper body. I couldn't lean forward with my shoulders locked back against my seat. Still, I had enough reached that I could retrieve my spelling book and deposited it on the desk. However, I couldn't lean forward enough to reach over it and write in it. The book had about 30 some chapters each having about 25 words to learn. There were several exercises in the book to help us learn to spell the words and use them in a sentence. From my current position, I couldn't reach the book to write in it.

I had worn the harness affixed to a chair like this at home numerous times. Several of them had been working on homework at our dining room table. The chair I was strapped to was designed for a child of roughly my size. So, my feet could comfortably reach the floor. I reached ahead and took hold of my desk. Then I started sliding my chair forward and scooted myself in under the desk. I had to move to the point the desk was almost against my chest in order to reach the correct angle to write in the book with the harness still on. There was the noise of the chair sliding. But, Mr. Wimer and the rest of the class ignored it.

Once I was seated where I could at least operate over the desk, the morning's lessons continued to proceed forward. As the discussion proceeded about the spelling less I spent a little time shifting back and forth in the straps. I vest did what it was intended to do. It heads me back against the rear of the seat securely at the waist and the shoulders. I could lean forward an inch or two, but not more than that. Likewise, I could slouch a little bit, but the waist belt kept me from sliding too far towards the front of the seat. After squirming around for about 10 minutes I found a comfortable perch and stayed there. I could feel some tension on the straps. But, I could still do my work.

After spelling we transitioned into English and then onto math. I sat there the whole time just squirming about slowly in the straps. I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't in a hurry to slip out of this. I chanced a few quick glances around the room. A few of the other students were paying attention to me. However, most of them were wrapped in up their studies. Mr. Wimer just seemed to be ignoring the whole situation. He seemed content to let it alone and just proceeded as if everything was normal.

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl for me. But, it also kept my mind focused. You would think being strapped down to my chair would be really distracting. In truth, it was at first, but after the initial focus on the situation wore off. I found myself quite attentive and drawn to my studies. I had been strapped down while doing homework at home on multiple occasions growing up. Sometimes by my mother or siblings and sometimes by choice. It always seemed to help me focus on the task at hand. Mostly because I would set a self-limit that I wasn't allowed to get unbuckled until the task was done. It was having a similar effect in the current situation.

The morning drew on slowly but surely as our lessons came to a close. After the first hour, I forgot I was wearing the harness. The rest of the class seemed to as well. I caught a few awkward glances here or there. But for the most part, the situation just seemed normal. It was kind of like one time when I was the second grade that I accidentally wore my pajamas to school. I hadn't realized it until about an hour into the day. At that point, I announced it to the teacher because I was wearing them. Everyone got a good laugh at it for a few minutes. But afterward, it just fell into the background.

It was around a little after 11 am when we were getting ready to go to lunch and recess. I had spent the whole morning of the class seatbelted to my chair with the harness. Mr. Wimer announced it was time to put away our books and line up for lunch. I had actually forgotten I was wearing the harness until I tried to stand up and realized I couldn't. It took me about 90 seconds to untangle myself from the chair and slip out of the vest. I went ahead and deposited it into my backpack and exchanged it for my lunch. That was the end of the whole expedition at least for that day. I did wear the vest again on the ride home from school on the bus. But that was a typical affair for me during that year of school.

That concludes this story. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it. I apologize for the long absence between postings. I have some things going on in my personal life right now. So, my postings will be a little more staggered this summer. After I get them sorted out. I do have some more stories that I want to get posted on a more regular basis.

[Steak in a Tree]

Different, as far as stories i've read go. Pretty interesting, and you told it quite well. Nicely done.

[Plueschbabycd]

Hallo Amy, German Handicap had luxurious get drive to school but most in normal car with middle lap seatbelt because was not fist or last how collected how get normal 3 point. If drove in school bus for school excursion we had middle lap seatbelts in some drive over 50 mph. I had sometime the fear what would in accident because in our school some person how was handicapped form an accident. But I saw some like vest harness once before Jennifer described it. Only after it I cam on idea that want us it at point was already adult, know that I possible would never could.

[Felinius]

Great story. I doubt I would have been as calm, and being able to focus on my work in that position!

[Plueschbabycd]

I also not sure If like it. But if looks for me, I will never have even change to test.