Switching Places

To understand the obstacles faced by others, it’s sometimes necessary to take the opportunity to put ourselves in circumstances where we actually experience the frustrations they face. Recently nine provincial government managers from Service Ontario and the Ministry of Transportation in Kingston Ontario took up the challenge of working for a day from a wheelchair.

They were raising money for the Rick Hanson Wheels In Motion, run, walk and roll which takes place annually in June. Far greater than the money raised however was the lessons learned by those who faced the challenge of working in a wheelchair for a day. The story was relayed in our daily newspaper the Kingston Whig Standard.

One of the most difficult lessons the managers learned in their wheelchairs was that, an accessible building on paper, and accessible buildings in practical terms are two different things. Their, “building code” approved office wasn’t as accessible as they thought.
The power assisted doors were timed to move at the rate of the fastest moving individuals, not at the rate of those who experience dexterity or mobility problems

Participants also found that machines and office equipment were often placed too high for someone in a wheelchair to reach. Speculating, I assume they had to ask someone to reach things for them, risk injury by reaching for it themselves or go without the item. It probably resulted in a certain level of humiliation, persistence and creative thinking.

Participants also found that a tiny curb at the buildings entrance became a major obstacle when they tried to go over it and get in the door. The news footage covering the event showed one participant wheel over a curb and almost tip over her wheelchair onto the concrete sidewalk.

One manager could only take part in the event for half a day, because her office was so tightly filled with filing cabinets she couldn’t work from a wheelchair.

The managers also discovered obstacles of an internal nature. People who were not part of the wheelchair experiment often came up behind their wheelchair bound colleagues and started pushing their chairs without asking permission to do so. The managers were surprised by how powerless they felt. Not surprisingly, no one cared to comment about their washroom experiences.

Four positive opportunities emerged from the Wheel chair experiment: Money was raised for Rick Hanson’s wheels in motion. The managers saw the world through different eyes and they made a list of recommendations to make their workplace more user friendly. Perhaps most importantly, however the managers decided everyone should experience one day in a wheel chair to comprehend the obstacles we usually ignore

What do you think of the wheelchair experiment?

Terry Harris

Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy when he was two years old, Terry Harris in the opinion of many experts within the medical and education professions, would never walk, talk, read, write or go to a regular school. It was recommended to his parents that he beplaced in an institution. In 1995 Terry graduated from Brock University with a B.A. in English Literature and obtained a degree in marriage and family therapy in 1999 from Tyndale Seminary. Today Terry coordinates an academic support program for children of offenders with the John Howard Society of Kingston.