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‘Chairleaders’ event gives glimpse into life in a wheelchair

Sep 5, 2017 | 2:22 PM

Six Red Deerians are now reflecting on the five hours they spent in a wheelchair Tuesday morning.

Chairleaders is an experience hosted by Spinal Cord Injury Alberta which gives able-bodied people the chance to see what life is like for someone constrained to a wheelchair. It also happens to fall on World Spinal Cord Injury Day.

Tymmarah Sheculski, Diversity and Inclusion Specialist with the City of Red Deer, is one of the half-dozen who took part. She said her trek to work in the Professional Building downtown was an emotional one.

“I park at Sorenson Station and it’s about three blocks to my office. My first observation was a crack in the sidewalk – I looked at it and thought ‘I’m not sure if I can actually get across this.’ The next thing I noticed were three people walking in the opposite direction and not one of them looked me in the eye,” she said, wondering if the lack of eye contact is due to embarrassment or pity for the person in the wheelchair.

“Both times I crossed a crosswalk, the light changed and then I went, but when I crossed from City Hall to the Professional Building, the hand came up before I got across and I thought ‘I need to speed this up a bit.”

Sheculski finished her part of the day in a wheelchair by presenting to the City’s corporate leadership team and city council.

Patricia Arango, Executive Director at the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre, said Chairleaders plays perfectly into the iRespect movement.

‘What respect covers is absolutely everything. There are a lot of barriers for them to move around,” she said from her office. “It’s amazing how much we’ve neglected them and it’s important to respect them as human beings.”

Arango’s support centre offices are serviced by a wheelchair accessible elevator, but according to her, looks can be deceiving.

“People believe we are accessible, but I’m telling you we are not. I am proof that when we say this is accessible, well the door is not accessible, the elevator is scary to be in, it’s too tight,” she says.

“Our volunteer coordinator is in a wheelchair and we also we have clients. A client came here crying because there’s only one handicap parking spot and the ramp [to the sidewalk] is the same ramp to the garbage. Then she came in here and the door was difficult to open, the elevator is terrible — she asked ‘What is wrong with me?’ I had to apologize and say there’s nothing wrong with you, it’s us.”

Arango, grateful for the opportunity to take part, said her stress kicked in a very short time after being in the wheelchair.

“I can’t stand up anytime — I can’t imagine for people who have to be there forever,” she added. “I don’t know how they can do it. This is not easy.”

Manager of Regional Programs and Services for Spinal Cord Injury Alberta is Doug Manderville who suffered a spinal cord injury himself in 1994.

Manderville says it’s impossible to give able-bodied persons the full picture of what life is like in a wheelchair, but adds this small glimpse will hopefully give them a newfound or increased respect.

“For me, it’s not about having a disability, it’s recognizing the ability and realizing there is a difference between having a disability and being disabled,” he said. “That’s the way I try to live my life. Yes, I have a disability, but my disability does not disable me.”

As far as accessibility in the city is concerned, Manderville believes things are improving.

“We’re bridging that gap. Slowly, but surely, we’re becoming more of an inclusive community,” he said noting the much improved wheelchair ramp at City Hall. “That ramp is just a starting point, but my hat is off to the City of Red Deer for doing that.”

For more information on Spinal Cord Injury Alberta, visit www.sci-ab.ca or contact the Red Deer office directly at 403-341-5060.