When Lauren was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, little did we know what would be involved. From surgeries, botox injections, seizures, therapy, CP Clinics and the list goes on; it’s a never ending journey, always evolving. And that journey is not always on a smooth, straight road but many are the bumps, turns and potholes. But I would just like to elaborate on one such pothole that we’ve hit, many times and that being accessibility.
If you are not confined or dependent on a wheelchair or the person behind pushing the wheelchair, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. You so innocently take your accessibility into a building, restaurant, house; all for granted. Many times I have wished I could take the owner of a business, a public building, etc. on a journey in the day of a life of someone in a wheelchair. Maybe just sit “them” in a wheelchair and say, ” now go and let’s see how far you get. Their view of accessibility would drastically change and maybe look at it in an whole new light. And sometimes that’s what it would take.
I’m going to zone in on one business in particular and come for a ride with us in Lauren’s wheelchair.
It was our first visit to McDonalds in Bay Roberts ( I love freedom of speech) when we moved here two years ago. We pulled into the parking lot and searched for the handicap parking spaces. Oops! not spaces; there was only one and that one was occupied. So I searched again for two regular parking spaces that could accommodate our side entry van. There it was, at the end of the parking lot but at least it would give us space to exit the van using the side entry ramp. Wow, nothing to that (I thought)!
Next we maneuvered our way through the parking lot and hit the curb sidewalk that we crossed, to only be faced with crossing the drive-thru entrance. A little dangerous for someone in a wheelchair or not. Then we got to the front door with no powered push button opener and then the second door, inside a porch smaller then the wheelchair; I was stressed to the max. Once inside I looked around for a wheelchair table, there was one but it was occupied. By this time I was so frustrated that I just wanted to leave but Miss Lauren was bent on getting her “happy” meal. So I obliged her and we sat in an aisle table. Then she wanted to go to the bathroom, I need not say more.
Then it was time to exit the restaurant, where would I start? But in order to get out of there I had to start my trek to get back to the van. Once I so anxiously got to the van; what to my wandering eyes should appear but another vehicle parked a foot from our entrance to the van. This made it impossible for us to access our van. What do we do? Wait, until whoever owned the vehicle to move, so we could pull out the ramp and enter the van. So we waited and waited…..
And that’s the story of our adventure to McDonalds in a wheelchair. And that’s when I became an advocate for accessibility (like I needed something else on my plate). Being an advocate certainly doesn’t win you any popularity contests, but that’s not why I do what I do. I do it to make change for the better, improve our society as an whole and to just make our world a better place to live for us “all”.
My advocacy began by making a phone call to the owner of McDonald’s , who listened to my concerns very attentively. I thought to myself, that was a little too easy. I was to learn later that I was right. He did tell me at that time that renovations were going to be done in the Fall and he would contact me for my input on accessibility.
The Fall came and construction began but no telephone call from the owner. So I thought, if changes were needed for accessibility, they would need to be implemented during construction, not after construction was complete. So I thought I would do the courteous thing and give him a call back to jog his memory on our past telephone conversation. I thought I must be talking to a different person, his professionalism just flew out the window. When it came to wheelchair accessibility he said, ” I will only do the “bare minimum” that is required to be considered accessible”. No regard, no compassion, no thought for those confined to a wheelchair; it was all business.
After that conversation I thought, okay, where do I go from here? I was more determined then ever. I went straight to the Government department responsible for enforcing the accessibility code/requirements. I told the department of my concerns and frustrations and they were totally on board. The next day they had an inspector sent out and several building code issues were enforced pertaining to accessibility. And for that I am, on behalf of my four year old daughter and all those who require proper accessibility, I say thank you. We now have push button door openers. Without advocating; these door openers were not in the plans and would not have been installed.
And to the owner of McDonald’s in Bay Robert’s (and out of courtesy I won’t give your name) but I say, “Shame On You”! I hope you will never have to be confined to a wheelchair or anyone in your family: but if you were, then you just might “get it” and have a heart. By the way, the renovations are really nice! Congratulations!