I went to a teacher event tonight with Adam at a well-known theater in Houston. From the teacher’s standpoint, it was a fantastic event with great speakers, great swag bags, door prizes, and even an open bar. (I don’t drink, but I can appreciate the gesture.) I’m enough of a sports nerd to appreciate getting to hear some very famous athletes speak, both of which were fantastic. There was a couple of issues that I would like to address from the accessibility standpoint, however. Namely, it wasn’t. Not even close. We almost got up and left as a result, but decided to stick around.
The first issue was with me. I used my walker for this event. My walker is large, because it is designed to hold me straight up and put my weight on my forearms instead of my hands and wrists. I usually ask for accessible seating as a result, so I can sit in a chair and move it out of the way, yet within reach. When Adam and I walked in, he asked where accessible seating was located. We were rather rudely told by a theater employee “right here, and the walker will need to go outside.” Well, “right here” was a slightly wider aisle where everyone was coming in. There was no room for either a walker or a wheelchair. I told her that we would not be putting my walker outside. She didn’t press the issue, thank God. I spent the entire event looking at the stage through my walker as a result.
The idea behind moving my walker, as I have been told before, is that it is a hazard in case of an emergency, and it needs to be moved well out of the way in case of a fire. Let’s get one thing straight, right here…this idea is absolutely ableism in pretty wrappings of logic and concern for public safety. In short, you are telling me that I’m disabled, get out of the way so all the healthy people can get out. If my mobility device is in the way, you are telling me that I am a fire hazard and I am in the way. This is disgusting.
I said what I said. Let me explain. I’m fairly mobile, but many times I absolutely depend on my mobility device (cane, walker, or chair) to get around. Also, sometimes my mobility gives way in the blink of an eye. I step wrong, and that’s it for the day. My knees or hips are done. So in case of fire, who is going to bring me my walker? No one. I get to stumble out, the best I can, without a mobility device so that all the able-bodied people can get out quicker. If I’m using it, that walker is no more in anyone’s way than I am, since it is attached to my body. I have the same right to leave in an emergency as anyone else in the building. You do NOT get the right to take my wheels away from me. In addition, walkers are expensive. My expensive and easy to steal mobility device will stay in my sight at all times. This is non-negotiable.
Right after that, a woman came in with a power chair. They directed her to sit in the back, and she could drive her chair up the middle ramp. Their was a 4-5 inch lip to get on that ramp that was at an angle. It looks like absolutely nothing…unless you’re a wheelchair user. It almost tipped her over, we had to move my walker out of the way so she could approach it from another angle. Then she became stuck. Luckily, she had a small degree of mobility because she eventually had to get out of her chair so they could push it over the lip. The middle ramp was also steeper than my chair could have handled, so I was impressed that her chair pulled it off.
First of all, I would have been utterly humiliated. I have social anxiety disorder, and that would have tipped me over the edge. There is no reason for anything now to be inaccessible. There should have been no reason at all for any wheelchair user to be forced out of the chair to attend anything. What if she had no mobility? Second, we all know that there’s a great many people with misconceptions about disability. I wonder how many people thought she was faking disability when she was able to get out of the chair? It opened her up to all sorts of attacks.
I won’t be attending another event at this theater. It’s been 30 years since ADA became law. Do better.
Unapologetically Disabled 