(In) Accessibility: Commentary on Disability Rights

Image courtesy of travelweekly.com Traveling.  It is really fun, right?  I love traveling!  I have been to three other countries outside of the United States, as well as thirty-six states.  There are so many ways to travel now in the 21st century;  Car, train, plane, boat, you name it, you can travel by it.  However, with the joy of traveling and discovering a new place, come some annoyances.  While I could go on for hours about travel, I am solely going to discuss airline travel, as this is the most common way I travel, and the one with the most accessibility issues.  Also, if I covered all of them, this would be a really long post, and you would probably lose interest rather quickly.  Let me explain. Growing up, my dad has always worked in the airline industry in several capacities.  Thus, I fly A LOT.  However, traveling via air is one of the worst ways to explore the world when using a wheelchair.  Why you may ask?  Oh, several reasons.  For starters, airports are HUGE.  Whe

Oh, elevators.  Elevators are central to daily life, especially the life of a daily wheelchair user like me. However, elevators are a pain to deal with every single day.  I have encountered a countless number of elevator issues, some of which I will outline below. The first thing you need to know is, I have a huge fear of elevators.  Now, half of that stems from the fact that I am terrified of being in enclosed spaces, also known as claustrophobia.  The second half of this stems from previous terrifying experiences that I have had in elevators.  Well, actually, it was just one terrifying experience, but trust me, one was enough. When I was in 6th grade, I was stuck in an elevator.  It was the last day of school.  My school had two floors.  I was with my best friend and we were headed downstairs to the gym for an end-of-the-year celebration.   Then, the elevator shut down.  We were stuck for half an hour.  We kept pressing the bell button.  Nothing.  There was no phone in the el