Handicap for
a day prove
interesting an
frustratili
By Leanne Lally
Of The Print
First of two parts
j <
Photos by Kevin Almond
The prison is small and
mobile, the four wheels it sits
on are wide. Metal and rubber
form a chair that once in,
changes a person’s view about
life. The prison is a wheelchair.
For the handicapped, this
prison is a place they confront
daily. For someone not han
dicapped, sitting in the
wheelchair for a day can bring
new and startling insights on
what it’s like to be handicap
ped.
What’s it like to be han
dicapped? I fried it for a day
and found out it’s scary.
The real test came after I sat
down in the chair and was
promptly wheeled through the
Community Center. Millions of
eyes stared at me as if I were an
attraction in a freak show.
Many of the people had seen
me walking upright on campus
before this and were probably
thinking things like, “Poor girl, I
wonder what happened,” and
“What a pity, she’s so young.”
I felt a sense of em
barrassment having all those
people stare. I wanted to get up
out of the chair and say, “see,
there’s nothing wrong with me.
I’m just pretending.” But a real
handicapped person can’t just
stand up and say that.
Getting around was quite a
problem. If you don’t have a
good set of biceps, sitting in a
wheelchair will build them up in
no time. Not only that, you’re
three feet shorter than
everybody and a few feet have the muck end up on my
wider, too. Scraped knuckles hands after turning the wheels
were a common mishap in my The automatic opening doo|
day as a handicapped person. are scary, too, especially!
I’m sure that everybody someone is pushing you. 1
going to school here has seen -seemed as though they would:
the ramps that are connected swing open and take my facT
to the trailers. We as upright off.
people walk into many of our
Eating junch was anothl
classes on them because it’s hassle. I was too big to I
quicker than the stairs. If you’re through the gate of thl
in a wheelchair, the event is cafeteria line so I had to whe|
like climbing Mt. Everest. The my way through the crowd ana
ramps on most of the trailers enter where everyone elsl
were so steep that I just rolled exits. In the lunch crowd 1 fel
back down or didn’t get up at. like a hippo among swanl
all. And going down was wor Everything was low enough fl
se.
me but the place they keep thl
The big blue doors on the cottage cheese, eggs, and
trailers that seemed so easy to yogurt, was too far away for
open when leaving a classroom me to grab. I bought a glass of
are quite a bit harder to open Coke. Carrying the Coke wl
when you have to manuever a hard because I had to have mJ
wheelchair through them while only two hands free to wheel
holding the door open.
the chair out of the vicinity. I
After I finally got the door
By that time my arms weria
well enough open to wheel killing me. It’s strenuous to pu|
through, I began to shake; I just your weight with your arms, fl
knew I wasn’t going to make it like doing chin-ups. I was nevi
down the ramp without killingi good at those.
myself or denting the chair. I
I was lucky, I didn’t have to
began my decline. Holding stay in the chair very long.jl
tightly onto the wheels so I didn’t have to go home on the
wouldn’t roll down the ramp ii bus in it, I didn’t have to wheel
gently pushed myself over the around at home. I didn’t nave
bump and promptly “slid” into I to go to a movie or a restaural
the stairs opposite the ramp. in the chair. At the end of the
My heart was racing as I day I could get out of the chair
crashed into the concrete stairs. and Walk upright again, lira
Checking my injuries (there before. When I did I felt a sen!
were none except for a woun of relief, but more than thfl
ded spirit), I shakely got back in when I saw a person infl
the chair. I was just about ready wheelchair, and they were«
to give it.up.
pretending, I could really idem
My whole day went like that.
tify with them; I knew exam
Once I accidently rolled what it was like. Well, almost?!
through a mudpuddle only to
f
6
Clackamas Community Colli