Apparently you now get to pick where you sit when you buy your tickets. When we bought the tickets we were told that I could sit in the wheelchair seating but there was no companion seating available for that show. Those seats had all been bought. My mom replied that that won't work and that she needs to sit next to me. Again, they said I could sit in their wheelchair section by myself. My mom (not getting though to them) threw in the towel and came to where I was sitting to tell me what happened. Coincidentally the manager was standing nearby and overheard her explaining this to me. He asked what the problem was and again, my mom explained. Eventually we were given a folding chair for my mom to sit in so we could watch the movie together. We only had to pay for one ticket because I apparently too disabled to enjoy the movie. Now when we got into the theater there were no other wheelchair users. The companion seats were all filled by random movie goers (not companions to people in wheelchairs). I think the reasonable thing to do is reserve those chairs last so that they are only filled by random people if the whole theater is completely full or if no people with disabilities show up. But hey, we don't have lives and certainly don't go to movies with friends or family.
Showing posts with label accessibilty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label accessibilty. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
People with disabilities live in a vacuum
So again, sorry for the lack of posts- crazy things are happening (all good). On Saturday my mom and I went to see the movie The Kids are Alright. It was at the theater we usually go to but they had just redone the interior and we had never seen a movie in their new setup.
Apparently you now get to pick where you sit when you buy your tickets. When we bought the tickets we were told that I could sit in the wheelchair seating but there was no companion seating available for that show. Those seats had all been bought. My mom replied that that won't work and that she needs to sit next to me. Again, they said I could sit in their wheelchair section by myself. My mom (not getting though to them) threw in the towel and came to where I was sitting to tell me what happened. Coincidentally the manager was standing nearby and overheard her explaining this to me. He asked what the problem was and again, my mom explained. Eventually we were given a folding chair for my mom to sit in so we could watch the movie together. We only had to pay for one ticket because I apparently too disabled to enjoy the movie. Now when we got into the theater there were no other wheelchair users. The companion seats were all filled by random movie goers (not companions to people in wheelchairs). I think the reasonable thing to do is reserve those chairs last so that they are only filled by random people if the whole theater is completely full or if no people with disabilities show up. But hey, we don't have lives and certainly don't go to movies with friends or family.
Apparently you now get to pick where you sit when you buy your tickets. When we bought the tickets we were told that I could sit in the wheelchair seating but there was no companion seating available for that show. Those seats had all been bought. My mom replied that that won't work and that she needs to sit next to me. Again, they said I could sit in their wheelchair section by myself. My mom (not getting though to them) threw in the towel and came to where I was sitting to tell me what happened. Coincidentally the manager was standing nearby and overheard her explaining this to me. He asked what the problem was and again, my mom explained. Eventually we were given a folding chair for my mom to sit in so we could watch the movie together. We only had to pay for one ticket because I apparently too disabled to enjoy the movie. Now when we got into the theater there were no other wheelchair users. The companion seats were all filled by random movie goers (not companions to people in wheelchairs). I think the reasonable thing to do is reserve those chairs last so that they are only filled by random people if the whole theater is completely full or if no people with disabilities show up. But hey, we don't have lives and certainly don't go to movies with friends or family.
Friday, July 2, 2010
"You're not going to let physical barriers get in the way of your daughter's education, are you?"
Hey, so this is an old story. When I was in the 1st grade I went to my neighborhood public school. I was fully main streamed- not in special ed. But one day I told my mom I was board about 60% of the day. So that propted her to start looking for other schools. So she called 11 schools and explained about me- extremely bright and very physically disabled. Nobody was interested. Even though I brought a one-on-one aide with me to school, so the school didn't really have to do anything in terms of helping me physically or adapting lessons for me.
So the 12th school my mom visited was a good 45 minutes away. When my mom got there, she saw that the entire school was completely inaccessible with stairs going everywhere. She took the tour with 10 other parents but knew the school would not work even thought it would make an absolutely perfect match in terms of philosophy and teaching style. When the tour was over, my mom asked the principal if she knew of any similar schools that were nearer to where we lived. The principal rattled off names of schools but they were all ones that had rejected the idea of me. Not to sound like a jerk, my mom finally told the principal why no other schools had worked and why this principal's school would not work. She loved it, but it was not accessible. The principal looked at her and said, "You're not going to let physical barriers get in the way of your daughter's education, are you?" My mom was speechless (that's very rare for her). The the principal took my mom around the school and figured out what they would need to adapt. Needless to say, I ended up going to this school and loving it. I was the first physically disabled student the school had ever had but by the time I left, 3 more disabled kids had enrolled.
So the 12th school my mom visited was a good 45 minutes away. When my mom got there, she saw that the entire school was completely inaccessible with stairs going everywhere. She took the tour with 10 other parents but knew the school would not work even thought it would make an absolutely perfect match in terms of philosophy and teaching style. When the tour was over, my mom asked the principal if she knew of any similar schools that were nearer to where we lived. The principal rattled off names of schools but they were all ones that had rejected the idea of me. Not to sound like a jerk, my mom finally told the principal why no other schools had worked and why this principal's school would not work. She loved it, but it was not accessible. The principal looked at her and said, "You're not going to let physical barriers get in the way of your daughter's education, are you?" My mom was speechless (that's very rare for her). The the principal took my mom around the school and figured out what they would need to adapt. Needless to say, I ended up going to this school and loving it. I was the first physically disabled student the school had ever had but by the time I left, 3 more disabled kids had enrolled.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Letter to Invacare
As some of you may remember, I had a slight problem with Invacare. So I decided to write a nice letter to all their CEO, President, and all their VPs. Enjoy!
I'm writing to complain about your customer service. On Dec 7, 2009 I sent my display for my Power Tiger to you. The plastic on the display had cracked and moisture could get in. I also asked for this repair to be "rush" since I had zero mobility without it and had to be pushed. I was very happy when it arrived 5 days later until I plugged it in. I subsequently found out that you had updated the software (something I had not asked for or wanted) and erased ALL my settings. There was no reason for you touch the technology of my display. This made my chair NOT drive-able and took 5 days to get it back to where I needed it. I didn't have a memory card and had to reprogram EVERYTHING by hand. One phone call asking if I wanted the software updated would have saved me a lot of hassle.
When I called to discuss this matter and get an email of someone in customer service, I was informed that you don't have a customer service or email and the only way to file a complaint was verbally. This is impossible because my disability renders me NON-VERBAL. When my aide explained this we got the same reply. This is outright discriminatory. For a company that deals with people with disabilities only I would have expected you to be more sensitive.
Unfortunately since I love my chair I will continue to be a customer. I will, however, tell others about this experience, personally and on my blog on which I have over 5,000 readers, in hopes that they will take their business elsewhere.
Eva Sweeney
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sometimes accessibilty is more than meets the eye
Hey everyone, I have a video for you. I am going around, handing out brochures for my dog walking business. This means going to different vets offices and asking them if its okay to set up some flyers. These places are not the usual places I go, so there is always a question of if I can get in. Watch this (the person was not blurred in this case because I found her particularly polite):
Granted, I didn't call first and ask about accessibility. But sometimes even if I do call in and they say yes, I get there to find that's not the case. There is sometimes like one step or something. Another example is when my family and I went on vacation one year. We’re old hats at traveling and we always call first to make sure I can get in everywhere. However, when we got to the hotel (which was supposed to be accessible) there were 3 steps leading up to our room.
Most people think accessibility means ramps and being able to get into the main building without scaling flights of stairs. People don’t consider “is the bathroom accessible” or “are the tables placed too close together so that a wheelchair wouldn’t be able to get by”. I know able-bodied people don’t get practice thinking about these questions. But it’s really frustrating getting somewhere and finding out there’s no way in or no way to maneuver around. ESPECIALLY when I am with a big group and now we all have to go somewhere else. And I am just discussing mobility barriers. Other disabilities like vision and hearing impairments or sensitivity to fragrance or things like that have a whole other set of problems.
One cool story about some place adapting to my needs is my old hairdresser. She shared her shop with her husband who was a tattoo artist. The problem was her part of the shop was up a huuuge flight of stairs. Rather than saying, “Sorry but no can do,” she brought all of her supplies down and gave me a hair cut in his tattoo parlor. Adaptations don’t have to be major sometimes. Sometimes you can work with the person.
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