Wheelchair Adventures

I've been close to my niece since the day she was born with cerebral palsy in her lower extremities 16 years ago. I've been to all of her birthday parties. I cheered, and then cried, and then cheered again the first time she walked a few steps at the age of four. I traveled with my sister and my niece to Shriners Hospital in Minnesota when my niece had to undergo one surgery after another. I babysat her. I watched Blue's Clues with her. I went to her school plays and musicals. In recent years, I've attempted to scare all the boys away. And I've watched her struggle to do common things that you and I take for granted.

And now, my baby is growing up, and I suspect that Uncle Lee is becoming an embarrassment to her when she's around friends. Thankfully though, we still hang out often. I take her to church whenever I can convince her to go and I take her out to eat at least once a week. We usually go to the same Buffalo Wild Wings and we order the same thing. I'm kind of an order-the-same-thing kind of guy. I think she's wired that way too. But one thing I really like about this particular restaurant is its accessibility for my niece. She can get her wheelchair in and out of the handicap bathroom easily—assuming some able-bodied person isn't using it. The waitresses are always looking out for us and they put us at an end table so she doesn't have to maneuver her way through a lot of people. But often, getting into the restaurant is a different story.

Sometimes people park in the spot that is designated as the wheelchair ramp that leads to the sidewalk. It's not even a parking spot, but since it's directly in front of a Dollar General store (that is next to Buffalo Wild Wings), people seem to park there anyway and then I have to struggle to get my niece up onto the sidewalk so we can enter the restaurant. The process isn't as simple as just getting her over a curb. This particular parking lot uses bumpers, so I can't possibly get her over the bumpers and then the curb. So I have to use the ramp. In such instances, I'm forced to squeeze my niece by the offending car…and sometimes people leave so little room that I have to lift up the left or right side wheels just to get her over the bumper on the side of the ramp.

Yes, I should probably confront the offenders more often, or call the police. But one gets battle weary because it's never just about parking lots. Not all places of business are as considerate as Buffalo Wild Wings. The aforementioned Dollar General that my niece likes to frequent after we are done eating contains aisles so narrow and packed with displays that she can't even get down many of them. I've complained to management, but to no avail. Another restaurant that my niece likes doesn't even contain handicap bathrooms…which means the door is so narrow that she can't even get into the bathroom. The restaurant was built before the ADA became law and they haven't seen fit to make any changes, even though I've complained to management.

The point is, complaining gets old. And it interferes with the time I want to spend with my niece, so more times than not, I don't complain. I just figure out how to maneuver her so we can have a good time together. But that rarely stops me from getting angry with people who are clueless and insensitive.