‘Chairleaders’ event gives glimpse into life in a wheelchair
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.