After my accident, I was in a wheelchair for two months, and had to rely on people to get around or get things done.My house couldn’t be ramped and I had stairs so it was impossible to get out on my own.
While I’m still wearing both casts, I walk with a cane and no longer need the wheelchair. All of this has made me have to be a creative problem solver. I still am limited in what I can do, and it can be exhausting. It has made me realize on a visceral level how important accessibility is for people, and how many establishments that claim accessibility are just using half-measures. I doubt that many have even tested userability of so-called accessible doorways and bathroom stall.

I was in a hotel and went to use the “wheelchair stall”. I could get my wheelchair inside, but the stall door opened to the inside and I couldn’t get the wheelchair out and was stuck in bathroom stall limbo until help came to wheel me out.

I attempted to get in an elevator but the doors were way too narrow. Someone suggested I take the escalator- Duh! Maybe if I wanted a wheelchair roller coaster ride.

When there is a facilities are not accessible and there is a lack of reasonable accommodation, or people complain about ADA compliance, the meta and not so meta message is that if you have a disability you’re not important, and so what. Not only is this anti-diversity and inclusion but it is very poor business acumen, because you are not allowing people to spend money in your place of business, and they will find somewhere else (like your competitors place) to spend it.

Two restaurants that were beyond hospitable and I would return anytime I’m invited are in San Francisco; Mexico DF and Chow. Not only were their doors wide but at both places when I was entering, exiting and wheeling around someone from their staff came to me and asked how they could help make it easier for me.

Of course I ran into the people who want to be ‘sensitive” to disabilities. At one event upon trying to exit, my wheelchair was stuck in the doorway because I couldn’t wheel over the threshold. One guy just stood there and was “patiently waiting” for me to get through. Finally I said (and I know I might have sounded just a little irritated) “would you mind helping me.” After which he told me he hadn’t offered to help me because he was afraid I might be offended, and didn’t want me to think that he thought I couldn’t do it myself. Good intention, except it was obvious that I couldn’t do it myself. Hmm, how long might he have waited at that door.

It also makes me laugh thinking about the people who knew me but when they all of a sudden saw me in a wheelchair pretended not to notice. It was easier to be around people who were not “sensitive” but were interested and just said,
“Simma, what the heck happened to you!

Now I am just a visitor to disability and don’t claim to have the answers or know how people who have long term or permanent disabilities take care of what they need and want to do, but I do know I am way more attuned and when i’m walking and getting around I will still make it my business to say something and make suggestions when I go somewhere and see no real signs of accessibility. Besides, I’ll be helping whoever it is raise their profit margin when they make it easier for someone to do business with them.