The Wheelchair Zone

I dunno if anyone wants to hear about one of my two “real” pretending trips, but I’ve never told anyone else, so I guess this is the best place as any to do it.

This is a bit long, so you might want to put on some music while reading this, or prepare a cup of hot chocolate or something…

*takes deep breath*

I was lucky enough to have the house to myself for two weeks this past spring, so I decided to plan a wheeling trip. The one in this post is my second one (my first one was to a local university, which isn’t as interesting… perhaps for another thread later down the road). There were a few things that needed to be figured out ahead of time. Because my family is pretty well-recognized around the neighbourhood, I needed to wheel away from home and leave at a time when I wouldn’t bump into anyone I know. (I’m sure many/most of you know what I mean.)

Since my university class schedule was planned out so everything is crammed into three days of the week, I had two weekdays open — that’s an advantage, because a lot of people I know would either be at work or at school. But since I don’t have a full driving license (or a car, for that matter), I would run the risk of bumping into a familiar face on the bus.

Because not all students in university start at 8am (they may start at any time throughout the day), I decided to choose a place farther away. I decided on Victoria. (For those who aren’t good at geography, find Vancouver on a map of Canada. Victoria is on the big island west of Vancouver, on the southeast tip.) I’d have to take a ferry, avoid the crowds on the ferry (as it’s often full during certain trips) and have enough time to wander around Victoria.

The solution? 3:20am wake-up time and get myself ready in time for a 4:20am bus (the first one of the day). Then take 2 more buses to get to the ferry terminal before the 7:00am departure time.

The bus rides to the terminal were pretty uneventful. The ferry terminal’s ticket person asked if I had a “disability ID” for the discounted fare. I researched this beforehand and knew that you need to present an ID from the province showing that you live here; anything else is void. So I weaseled my way out of it by saying I’m not a resident… oh well. I wouldn’t pay the lowered fare anyway even if they didn’t require disability ID (unless the ticket attendant charged me the lowered fare automatically without asking, which happened on the return trip back; it might look foolish trying to insist on not paying the lower fare).

This is my first real time wheeling in front of this many people. I found out that holding a ferry ticket and wheeling isn’t going to work going up the big ramp to the ferry itself, so I decided to stop and pocket the ticket instead. It’s funny how people think you need help or something when you’re stopped, even if you’re just adjusting the volume on your iPod or something… That was interesting.

The ferry itself sucked somewhat though, in terms of accessibility. Except for one handicapped washroom somewhere, all the others had automatic doors — which would open but not close. I literally had to push with all my might to close those doors. Automatically-opening but not automatically-closing doors? Not such a good idea…

Getting out to the deck was a toughie too… But I gained good practice at simultaneously fighting the sea wind, opening a 2-inch thick metal door, and wheeling over a 1.5-inch high rut at the doorway. Some people were nice enough to help out but secretly, I kind of wanted the practice.

In Victoria, the public transit buses use double-deckers for the ferry terminal. Darn, no view from the top then. lol. But the first driver was somewhat cold. He didn’t lower the ramp until I called out to him from the curb, and he rarely even looked at me when I boarded. Hmph. Their buses are newer than Vancouver‘s though, and they had wheelchair bays that face the back of the bus, which I thought was interesting.

I read some of the accounts on here saying that it feels like people say “hi” to you or smile at you more when you’re in a chair. I got that feeling too; as we got closer to Victoria city limits, more and more rural kids (mostly teenagers) boarded the bus on their way to school. I was 20 at the time of this trip, so I was only about 3-4 years older than most of them, but I look like their age (I’m on the small side, for my age). There were a lot of teenage girls who boarded the bus who gave me a smile if our eyes met. I think it’s because of my chair, because I’m not even remotely attractive, LOL…

I got off around a kilometre from my original destination, which I first thought was a mistake but turned out to be a nice blessing. I wanted to hit the mall first, to see if the bookstore has a certain book I couldn’t find in the Vancouver area (I’m a geek, I know). Wheeling around a mall is something I never dared to do back home. This mall is similar to the ones at home; I found out that accessbility wasn’t a real problem, like the ones at home. But I overlooked something at home — while the mall was easily accessible, the stores might not be. The bookstore I went to had aisles that were JUST wide enough for my chair. And yes, I did find my book. Hazzah. It was still early and quiet at the mall, and apparently the checkout clerk was a big fan of the book I wanted too (it was a sequel to “The Golden Compass”), so we killed some time talking about it.

Next stop was the British Columbia Legislature Building. For Americans, this is your equivalent of a state capitol; Victoria is the provincial capital of British Columbia. But I was full kilometer away, so I had to wheel through a bit of downtown Victoria to get there. The sidewalks are often cobblestone; I didn’t mind that too much but it ended up loosening some screws, as I found out at home when the chair started creaking when it rolls.

Downtown Victoria has a lot of homeless people. They have some drug addicts too, but not as many as Vancouver. Welcome to the West Coast, I guess… One of the homeless I passed by was in a wheelchair across the street; I think it was something like an Invacare Patriot. Not too shabby a chair; I wonder if it was donated by someone.

I finally got to the Legislature Building. I wheeled around looking for an entrance, but found out that the only accessible way from that side was a lift, which needs a key from security to activate. So I had to press the intercom and ask for help… Then I had to wait in the wind before they got there. It’s like a wind tunnel in that area, seriously.

Inside the legislature, I saw the usual things one would see, like the meeting chamber where they debate, the area where they display historical relics of the province, etc. (I was tempted to drop a complaint letter at the Ministry of Advanced Education’s office, which is in that building. Damn them for the university tuition fee increases…)

The most interesting part was the way out. Apparently, there’s an easier way out that wouldn’t require using the ultra-slow lift; it was through the basement of the building. The basement is home to an escape tunnel leading to the harbour, and–get this–it used to house inmates for the police. Nobody else is allowed in this area, but I had to go through it (with a member of the building’s security) to exit. The security person told me that stuff about the basement and let me take a photo of the jail cell in there, which is now used for storage. It was neat — the cot for the prisoner is still in there.

The next stop was the Royal British Columbia Museum, which is a museum that houses the province’s natural and political history. Their exhibits are really neat; they re-create stuff like the natural forests, and it feels pretty real when you walk through them. They also create stuff like old canneries, the old Chinatowns, saloons, etc.

And it was all free.

I didn’t know about this, but because some displays on the top floor are not accessible, people who cannot get to them (ie. wheelers) get in free as long as they get a special stamp on their hand. Tee-hee. Saved myself $10. (I wanted to pay, but the guy said it’d violate the “free for wheelchair users” policy. Don’t want to get the poor guy fired, do we…?)

Some of the displays in there have cobblestone floors (to re-create the city streets of the 1900s), so I had more fun with that. Despite wheeling for a while that day, the most panicking part was when I decided to go watch a mini-lecture about global warming.

The area where the mini-lecture was to take place was shaped like a C, and there were about three rows of seating, which you’d have to go up some stairs to access. There was no area for wheelchairs.

So I had to sit ahead of the first row of seats, so I was in front of the first row. That was when “what if someone recognizes me? I’m in a highly-visible position” thoughts crept in. I also had to sneak in a little white lie when the person doing the presentation asked everyone where they’re visiting from (in case someone visits my hometown, sees me and puts two and two together, I claimed “Bellingham, Washington” as my hometown; close enough to the Vancouver area, but not too close).

A really cute story from the museum was when I was at the re-created street with the saloon. The saloon was on a platform about 2 inches higher than the “street”, and I was trying to peek in through the saloon’s windows. A little boy was watching me with curiosity. I noticed him (but pretended I didn’t). I popped a wheelie and got on the saloon’s platform. From the corner of my eye, I could see the kid staring in amazement with his mouth open, like he couldn’t believe a guy in a wheelchair can go up the platform without a ramp. I wonder if he’ll think differently of people with disabilities from now on, now that he’s seen a wheeler do something that “shouldn’t” be possible, like go up something without a ramp.

After the mueum, I wheeled back to the mall to finally have some lunch. Inside, I turned a corner and nearly ran/wheeled right into…another wheeler. A teenage girl hanging out with her friends after school (it was a really late lunch). I avoided her at the last minute. Haha, oops? We and her friends kinda laughed about it a little though, since it WAS a weird coincidence. We both said our sorries and moved on. As I wheeled away, I kind of envied her though, because she can wheel in front of her friends but I can’t, unless one of them understands. It was one of those sudden painful realizations, that whenever I wheel in public, it’ll have to be alone.

After eating, then wheeling around the harbour area, I had to go or miss the ferry. (I wanted to visit the University of Victoria, then to nearby Hatley Castle, which is known as Lex Luthor’s mansion in “Smallville” and the X-Men’s headquarters in the movies. No time to do so though.)

On the bus ride back, I nearly fell asleep. Stupid 3:20am wake-up time. Had a nice conversation with a schoolteacher on the bus, also going home. Coincidentally, she has a class with two kids in wheelchairs, so we touched on that a little (I didn’t say much, but asked a lot about how she handles it and such; act like I want to know “the other side” of being handicapped at school, but not touching on my end of the story, thus reducing the need to lie).

The ferry ride was uneventful. It was too dark to see anything on deck anyhow, so I read my novel a little bit and wheeled around once in a while. The only thing of note was a little 3-year-old girl who wanted to climb in my chair after I transferred to a seat. Her mother was trying to shoo her away; I just smiled.

If you’ve read this far, then take a sigh of relief because that’s the longest post I’ll make in a while.

Some photos are available (but if you comment, please don’t make any reference to BIID, as my friends and family know about this Flickr account too):
Victoria photos
Photos of the ferry terminal in Vancouver (except the first pic)
Photos of the ferry terminal in Victoria

(No photos of myself in there; I try to keep myself out of my Flickr photos due to security reasons.)