Woman in power chair, Auto Adapt UK photo
People with disabilities are not all alike and the accommodation they need to go to work or school is different. Ryan’s comment on the story You Really Hit A Nerve makes good points. Thanks for your comment Ryan.

Ryan is a student at UPEI living in residence. He is a paraplegic and uses a power chair. For Ryan and others in the PEI-Canadian Paraplegic Association, walking long distances are not a problem. They have an electric wheelchair.

Ryan writes “Although some disabled students are going to have to work more now- because they have to wheel a bit longer to get where they are going.”

That’s the crux of the problem. Ryan is making the assumption other people with disabilities are in a wheelchair. But they are not.

The same view was expressed to us over and over by UPEI management and their Access-Ability committee. “It can’t be that bad to wheel a few more meters.” But again they are quadriplegics or paraplegics and using wheelchairs. Why isn’t everyone using a wheelchair? they ask.

I’ve had this discussion with them over and over and wondered: are they stupid or just putting me on?

There are different types of disability and different degrees. A wheelchair solution doesn’t help the blind or many other disability types.

Blind women walking, National Federation of the Blind photo

The majority of people with a walking disability do not use a wheelchair. They are not members of the PEI-Canadian Paraplegic Association. They definitely have trouble walking but use canes, walkers or just walk with difficulty.

I had polio at 3 and always had walking problems like falling, slowness, pain and fatigue. I toughed it out for 45 years because wheelchairs are a big pain to use. I also wanted to look like everyone else. People in wheelchairs get patted on the head – it happens all the time. Who wants to be looked down upon. It’s hard enough getting respect and having self-respect.

Another reader Freda writes in Wade MacLauchlan Doctor of Pain

“It’s better for people to walk as much as they can and want to(if they can). Prevents osteoporosis, better for the heart, etc. And it is hugely expensive to get the van, scooter, etc, and not covered by insurance unless you’re at a certain level of disability–and even then, often not.”

Sometimes we look through only our own eyes, seeing the world through our lenses. This can be especially so when life has dealt the severe disability card. I have been as guilty of that one as the rest. We need to look at each person’s situation and find an accommodation that helps them to be able to work, to go to school, entertainment, church – be a part of the whole community.

There is resistance to accommodation from some parts of society and UPEI is a typical example. The worship of the youthful body is pretty much the main focus of President Wade MacLauchlan. He spent $12 million on building accommodation for sports and some piddling amount on the disabled. Quite a hero. Didn’t they just give him that tin star called the Order of Canada?