Angela and I went to see a movie today at Destiny USA, which is a huge mall in the heart of Syracuse. The movie was good – Searching – and it was great to be out and just do something normal. Anything normal these days is fantastic.
But it wasn’t normal at all, in one way. I was in a wheelchair. I was in the world of the disabled – a place I have never been my entire life.
You must understand, I know of this place, and quite intimately. My sister has Cerebral Palsy, so I grew up understanding a disability and all that that involves. I also grew up twirling her canes and jumping around on her crutches – it was great fun to have such toys to play with as a boy! Do you see the nice wheelchair that I am sitting in in the picture? That’s hers – she loaned it to me, and is it fantastic.
It turns out that now I am in a disabled state and out in the community. This is where life gets interesting, because its one thing to observe someone who is disabled from the position of a biped, and it’s another thing to be the disabled person yourself.
We can easily look down and despise all these accommodations. Many public places have those stupid doors that open with a button, and when you press the button it always opens way too slowly, and if you just want to get in without pressing the button, the door is too heavy to move. What a pain.
These doors are not a pain if you need them to open in order to get into the building at all. If they don’t work, there you sit, looking through the glass at the inside of the building while you are on the outside, and there is absolutely nothing you can do to get inside, unless some nice person happens to have mercy on you and open a door. There are nice people out there, but many just don’t care either.
Another example bipeds might disregard is seating in the movie theater. The one we were at had a cut-out space where I could park my wheelchair and watch the movie. Not a big deal, but without it what would I have done? Let’s say the theater was crammed with chairs and a narrow aisle between them, with no place to park the chair. What would I have done?
After the movie, we found a bathroom in this huge mall that was “Family Accessible.” Great. The bathroom happened to have three – I count three – grab bars to make transferring to the toilet safe and accessible. Someone who has never been in a chair can no appreciate such a setup. Having something solid to hang onto is a life-saver.
Then there was a minor detail at the food court. My wife and I ate at a table specifically designed for a wheelchair on one side. We could actually sit across from each other and eat, as opposed to me forcing my chair sideways at the end of a table in an awkward alignment. This is not huge, but it does make life a bit more comfortable.
I have to say, I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I’d see this side of life. It’s a real eye-opener.
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Cancer Chronicles 