I Am Climacophobic. I Am Also Kakorrhaphiophobic.

A man died from falling down the subway stairs. It's stories like this make my Climacophobia (fear of stairs) more severe. When I first moved to NYC I had to confront my fear of subway stairs - and the hardest part is that I also have Automysophobia (fear of being dirty) , Mysophobia (fear of being contaminated with germs), Microbiophobia (fear of microbes), and Koniophobia (fear of dust) = all of these phobia prevent me from holding the handrailing as I go up and down subway stairs. Just yesterday Yesenia, Amanda, Kimberly and Rene at The Point were making we deal with my Climacophobia. Maybe I should start using handrails now.

BTW my favorite phobia is Kakorrhaphiophobia (fear of failure or defeat) - I think every human being is born with that phobia - we all just confront it (or not confront it) in different ways.

Hold the Handrails: The Post mentions a terrible freak subway-related death from the weekend: Amulfo Espana of Staten Island died at the Roosevelt Avenue stop when he was rushing to catch the R train. Espana's friend was holding the doors to the train open, and Espana ran down the stairs, only to trip and hit his head against the stationary train car. Espana, a recent immigrant from Mexico, died on the way to the hospital. Gothamist finds it a sad and chilling story because we've found subway stairs unexpectedly slippy at times - especially when the metal guards at the ends of the treads are worn smooth (and we've definitely fallen "up" the stairs at Times Square more than a couple times). The MTA's safety suggestions say, "Most subway accidents result from slips, trips, and falls on stairways when someone is in a rush. The best safety advice we can give you is: slow down when you are on the stairs, and hold the handrail." And while some people try not to touch anything in the subway or subway station, holding the handrails is always a good idea, especially when fighting rush hour crowds in the opposite direction. Photograph of subway stairs at West 72nd Street by Joe Schumacher

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