Being Handicapped

I’m in a wheelchair!

I didn’t get hurt – I am just in my history of health class!

We took turns being in a wheelchair and being blindfolded, and navigated our way through the Syracuse campus. Very interesting! I’ve always thought it was a good idea to get students in wheelchairs before drawing out ADA accessibility routes and spaces, because 1:12 ramps are, in fact, really steep! ADA isn’t something that should just be thought of as an annoying requirement. It is actually really important, so finding out what it is really like from a firsthand experience becomes really valuable. You acquire a new appreciation for codes ;]

What I learned was that the elevators are quite narrow and few. I was a bit nervous maneuvering my way into them.

I also have a new found appreciation for level sidewalks. So many times, especially in this picture, I kept going off to the right because the sidewalk was slanted that way!

But do you know what is pretty awesome? WHEELCHAIR DESIGN. I was very impressed with the flexibility of the chair, and it’s ability to spin left and right, round and round… it was very easy to learn and use.

By the way, the “1” on the card was our group number. We’re #1!

This is my friend, Adrienne, experiencing blindness.

Everything seems much farther away when blind…

Being in the library…

Now it’s Andrew’s time to be handicapped!