Traveling in a Wheelchair

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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.  Whenever I have had a layover, it has always made me go from one terminal to another in a matter of half an hour or less.  That is not even possible for an able-bodied person, let alone a person in a wheelchair!  Fortunately, I do not have layovers often.  Then, there is the TSA.  I know that the purpose is to keep all of us safe and I respect them immensely.  However, there are several instances in which I have had issues with the TSA.  My favorite moment while going through airport security is when a TSA agent asks me, "can you walk?"  If you see a person in a wheelchair, just automatically assume that they cannot, and do not ask them if they can or cannot.  Chances are, that person has spent their whole life imagining how things would be different if they could, and asking them this question is just a reminder that this is a distant dream for most.  Now, you're at the gate.  Normally, airports have a procedure in which individuals in wheelchairs are assisted onto the plane first.  Once, this did not happen for me.  It was so embarrassing to see the eyes of other passengers look at me like some sort of sad lifetime movie.  How does a person like me get on the plane?  Well, there is a small chair that you sit in and get strapped into.  Are you familiar with the movie, The Silence of the Lambs?  Remember that scene where Hannibal Lector is strapped into the straight jacket?  That is exactly what the straps on this chair look like.  Then, it is the same process to get off the plane upon its landing.

Overall, I would just like to remind you that I love traveling!  This post was simply so you could get an idea of what it is like to travel in a wheelchair.

See you next week!



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