Top Ten Ways to Improve the World for Tall People
With my head held over six feet above the ground, I am one of many people who suffers because our human culture is made to accommodate for an average adult height of 5'4". Even though I'm one of 1% of people in the upper tail, that's 1% of 7.3 billion people in the world. But still, the main reason we don't fit in is that we literally don't fit in cars, clothes, beds and planes that are designed for people of a high-average height or lower. This has to change.I currently own the largest bed that my family could find. It takes up a fifth of the room in my bedroom, but when I get in it, I make it look small. I still have to compress my legs or lie diagonally to fit comfortably in it, and with my insomnia, I need whatever sleep I can get, which is just made more difficult by the way I am forced to lie down. Not to mention that a large bed traps a lot of heat under the sheets. I know for a fact I can't be the only one with these problems, so there should really be larger beds available to people.
Car companies say they will accommodate for tall people by increasing the head room in their cars, and I am glad that they do this. But they do nothing about leg room. News Flash: tall people can be call because of their large torso OR their long legs. I have a moderately long spine, but extremely long legs, so it is leg room which is really the problem. By the time I was twelve, I could simply no longer fit in the back of my mother's VW, and my parents really had to dig deep when it came to replacing it.
Planes are no better. There is almost no leg room at all, and one has to sit with one's thighs clutching one's stomach tightly the whole time. Imagine that in the time it takes to get from London to Sydney; I didn't really have to. The limit of space is annoying for everyone, but for someone of my size, there's just no compromising, particularly since everyone notices if you move. The thing that makes it worse than cars: you can sit in the car at a dealership and make yourself comfortable, but you can't pick out a plane with sufficient leg room. Nevertheless, VW need to refine their models as much as Airbus need to.
I'm lucky enough to have a stylish range of clothing, but the fact is, in mainstream firms, the clothes I like are too small, and the clothes that fit me are tacky, sport-like, thin polo shirts and shorts. For the record, the stereotype that tall people are always sporty is both untrue and patronising; a lot of tall people are unfit because of the time it takes for a regular heart to pump blood through a large circulatory system. For me, finding obscure independent clothes shops is pretty much the only option, and even they rarely account for the necessary clothing at different times of year, and different parts of the world, with different temperatures and levels of humidity. I've been to Malaysia, where it is painfully humid all the time, but I particularly suffered because I couldn't get clothes that wouldn't trap a ridiculous level of heat under them.
People of an average height just have no idea how much trouble being tall can be. Something that really ticks me off is when they say that we're complaining about nothing. As much as being short is a painful extreme, so is being tall, albeit, for different reasons. Being able to reach high shelves is one thing, but another is having to bend your knees and spine like an iron bar to reach something on the floor, making one more susceptible to back pain. So before you tell us to shut up, just think about our perspective. We'll only look down on you metaphorically if you don't.
I've been hit in the head by a bus wingmirror before. I was simply waiting for the bus, and was standing out against a crowd of much shorter people, who were in no danger of being hit. I'm glad to say there was no concussion, but it was painful enough. I've also hit my head on signs and branches, and that's also annoying.
If one could raise and lower the seat so people wouldn't yell at you because they can't see, or move the seat forward and backward to account for leg room, there would be no hassle when seeing movies, university lectures, etc.
I have a sufficiently high shower head at home, but hotel showers are the worst, because they're essentially resting on my shoulder, forcing me to curve my spine uncomfortably just in order to wash my hair. I can't take a bath either, because I don't fit in the tub.
I'm only 5'2, but our shower head is about 5'4. I wonder how my dad even showers when it's that short.
UGGH! I'm the exact same hieght as our shower head, so I bend down! It's tedious!
The first thing that people say to me when I meet them, or tell them my height, they just say I'm tall. Sometimes, it's like "Excuse me, OI! May I have your attention, good sir?!...You're tall."
Why, thank you, I'm thinking. You've just turned my life around.
I'm 5' 1". I'm not sure if that's tall for twelve, but I have been told that I'm tall before. Luckily, I'm not going to grow much anymore. I'll have a possible adult height of 5' 3".
It is impossible to see some things from inside a car when you're tall. This includes high traffic lights and cars at certain angles.
I've had to sit at desks which I can't help put push off the ground because my legs don't fit underneath. And there are so many chairs that are too low to get yourself into without bending awkwardly.