Home for a Lifetime

Many probably assume that all of us New Englanders are snow bunnies and just love all that glorious white stuff that blankets the Northeast every winter. Well, many of us are and do love it except when school is canceled, you have to drive in it, can’t make it to work or when you get your outrageous home-heating bill. After the last snow storm where we got a whopping 25” of snow, this New Englander needed a break and I booked an overnight package for my little munchkin and I at a chain indoor water park that boasted a temperature of 84 degrees. We ended up with a ‘handicapped accessible’ room, so it also turned into a bit of a business trip.

The room itself though was a bit narrow and crowded with furniture making it rather difficult for someone with a mobility aid to ambulate. It was quite dark and the colors they choose for the decor was very dark- deep burgundy paint on the walls, cherry furniture, brown carpeting with flecks of black and gold. Even after turning all the available lights on- it was still dark and I’m 32 and have no major vision issues. I imagine someone with vision problems would be quite miserable in this room.

After getting settled we quickly changed into our tropical wear and headed down to the water park which was very conveniently located just to the other side of the hotel lobby. Needless to say- most of the water park was not accessible to someone in a wheelchair. There were many stairs to climb to get to many of the water attractions. To be fair, there were a couple areas where a child could walk/roll into the water without steps- but children with limited mobility would be quite disappointed that they wouldn’t be able to use all the fun water attractions.

All in all, the only real accessibility features were found in the bathroom. It’s a shame that this chain hasn’t used more principals or universal design when constructing their park. It’d probably expand their business considerably.

I was recently reading an article about planning an accessible wedding and it got me thinking. The bride who wrote the article spoke about finding a venue that would be wheelchair accessible to her and her friends. But the question this raised for me was “what about before that? what about dress shopping?”

The bride in the aforementioned article took the same route I did. She had her gown custom made. Our reasons were identical – we didn’t want to waste our time shopping for dresses that would never fit us. Or worse yet, we didn’t want to risk falling in love with a dress that wasn’t available in our size. So we chose to have the perfect dress made from scratch.

After avoiding dress shops entirely for my own wedding, I’ve now been a bridesmaid 3 times. And I’ve got to tell you, I’m very glad I went with that decision. As a plus sized woman, shopping in one of those chain stores would have driven me to tears. The dresses aren’t kept in stock in all sizes, so you get to try on whichever size they have in the shop. If it’s too big, they use clamps to keep it closed. If it’s too small, someone stands behind you to hold it us so you can guess what it might look like.

I’m especially glad the author of that article spared herself the frustration of trying to shop in one of those stores while using a wheelchair. The dressing rooms are often just big enough for a bride, and a gigantic pile of dresses. Chain stores might have one or 2 larger dressing rooms they call accessible, but smaller boutiques might not have the space for a roomier changing area. I also don’t remember there being much room for a wheelchair in the aisles with all the dresses. You’d probably have to wait at the end and let the salesperson grab dresses for you. And if you and the salesperson don’t see eye to eye, that can get messy.

And I think it’s safe to say that the challenges of wedding dress shopping carry over into day to day shopping. Women’s clothing sizes change from store to store and from one brand to the next. Some stores have clothing packed into as many nooks and crannies as the fire marshal will allow, making it difficult for anyone to walk down the aisles. I understand that a one size fits all approach may not always work for fashion, but is it too much to ask that stores keep a wider range of customers in mind?

When I was in school, and still living on campus, I lived in the same building as a guy named Patrick. I forget what the reason was, but Patrick had very limited mobility and used a wheelchair to get around. I wouldn’t say we were friends, but we chatted on several occasions. For instance, I remember standing in the quad as Patrick told me all about the voice activated software he was using to write his papers. I also remember glancing over in the direction of his dorm room and being jealous. Patrick had the best room on campus!

I say that Patrick got the best room on campus because it wasn’t actually a dorm room. There was no way he could have functioned in the tiny little closets the rest of us dealt with all year. Instead, maintenance turned one of the student lounges into a dorm room for him. I think EVERYONE was jealous when they learned about that one.

It’s been almost two decades, and I may not remember why Patrick’s mobility was limited, but I remember all the reasons I coveted his dorm room:

1) It was on the first floor, right next to an entrance with a ramp. Our dorms didn’t have elevators so moving in and out meant LOTS of carrying.

2) The entire side of his room facing the quad was a window, and it had a sliding screen door. The rest of us had over-glorified port holes for windows. (I remember someone comparing them to the small openings medieval castles had for firing arrows.)

3) I may have mentioned this already, but his room was huge compared to ours. We had space for a bed and a desk, with just enough room to walk between the two.

4) This is unconfirmed, but I think they left him the full sized refrigerator and the microwave. We could put little fridges in our closets, but microwaves were considered a fire hazard.

I always felt that part of going away to college was living in less than stellar accommodations to make you appreciate what you have at home. But wouldn’t it be awesome if dorm rooms were designed for comfort and accessibility instead of housing as many students as possible in whatever space is available?

I can only imagine how stressful things can be for a freshman when you have to add accessibility concerns on top of everything else. Getting ready to go away for school is stressful and exciting. Your primary concern should be figuring out where to find extra long fitted sheets –not whether you’ll actually be able to get into and out of the buildings on campus. And what about students who get injured while they’re away? Schools shouldn’t have to convert rooms for accessibility each time this happens.

I’d love to hear from readers about their experiences with accessibility on a college campus. With changes in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since I was on campus, I’m sure other schools have had to retrofit their dorms for incoming students. How’s that going? Are new dorms any better?