HOW I ROLL

In the disability awareness class that I am helping with, Becky (who uses a wheelchair) issued all of us a challenge to use a wheelchair to go use the rest room. I went down the hall and entered the restroom and the stall and got onto the toilet and back all with out using my feet at all. It was harder that I thought it would be, and I never imagined that it would be easy. It also makes you think about the accessible restrooms, and how accessible they really are? I can tell you that even in the Center for People with Disabilities I had a very hard time maneuvering the chair into a stall. If I really needed to go I would have left a puddle I am sure of it.
For our next challenge I was paired off with another girl and given very good earplugs and challenged to wear them, and walk to the student center on campus and ask a student what time it was and also go into the book store and ask for help finding books on sign language. We were lucky to find very helpful people in both places, but the hard part was that we had to try to engage a stranger in a conversation. It was really weird how uncomfortable people were with us around. I could see them looking at us because we were talking loud so we could hear each other and using a lot of gestures (because had no idea how to get around USU campus.) The thing is when I tried to smile at someone to start a conversation with them, they would just look away and not make eye contact.
It was a super neat experience, and I am so glad I got to participate in it. It really opened my eyes to how people with physical disabilities are perceived. The morale of my story is.....
You can't judge another until you roll a mile in their place!