Working World: Wheelchairs are Liberating

By Tamar Asedo Sherman

My first time was embarrassing. Just like you, I felt extremely self-conscious. I thought everyone was staring at me and must have thought I didn’t know what I was doing. But I really had no choice.

After 20 years with multiple sclerosis, I knew my new job was more demanding than others—physically, that is. I was quite capable of handling the editing job I was hired to do. What I couldn’t handle was the walk from the parking lot into the building, down the corridor, around the corner, up the elevator, and down another long corridor to the door of my new office, at least not if I wanted to arrive there at 9:00 a.m.

At the interview, I used my rolling walker. My obvious disability didn’t deter them from hiring me, but the half-hour it took me to get back to my car afterwards gave me pause. I struggled to put one foot in front of the other, step by step down the seemingly endless hallway to the elevator. Could I handle going to and from this job?

It was clear: the time had come to use a wheelchair. I had one that my husband pushed me in for occasional family excursions. Could I manage it alone? I practiced loading the wheelchair into and out of my van. Gravity helped me take it out, but putting it in was another matter. More experienced wheelers advised me to ask for help, much as I hated to do so, if I needed it.

The next day, I discovered that opening the door to the building was more of a challenge than getting the wheelchair out of the car, but a guard noticed me and helped me in. Out of the elevator, I easily wheeled to the door of the magazine office, but then I faced another barrier: I had to slide a magnetic card into the lock at the same time that I pulled the door open and rolled the chair in! It took some fancy maneuvering, but I eventually mastered the technique.

Getting into the bathroom was the next challenge. As we all know, even now, 15 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), many buildings still do not comply with the very specific guidelines for wheelchair accessible stalls.

At the end of that first day as a wheelchair user on the job, though, it took just a couple of minutes to get back to my car. Much to my relief, the guard escorted me out and helped me load the wheelchair into the car, without my having to ask.

Using a wheelchair certainly made my life easier. It was liberating! I didn’t exhaust myself going to or from the office. I had energy to complete my work and even some left over to cook dinner when I got home.

We all resist using assistive devices, I know. We think that somehow others will think less of us if we must rely on a cane, a walker or—perish the thought—a wheelchair. But using a wheelchair is what enables me to participate in society, to hold a job, to go to school, to go to the pool or gym, to attend movies, concerts, museums, eat in restaurants, and visit friends.

It doesn’t matter how I get there. What matters most is that I go. And I’ve learned that instead of exhausting myself getting from place to place, I’d rather use my energy to do what it is I want to do when I get there. In that respect the wheelchair expands my universe. I can do more and go further with wheels than without.

Which brings me to the topic of my new column: employment and disability. Don’t let using a wheelchair keep you from doing what you love to do. You can go to work using a wheelchair. The ADA is your civil rights act. It forbids any discrimination against people with disabilities in employment and guarantees you reasonable accommodations for a job you are otherwise qualified to perform.

In this monthly column I will tackle many issues related to employment of people with disabilities, such as: what state vocational rehabilitation services can do for you, what the ADA represents, what job accommodations are, how you ask for them, how you can return to work without losing your Social Security Disability benefits, tips on job readiness, preparing a resume, going for an interview, and on and on.

I welcome comments, questions and topics from you, my readers. You can reach me at action@unitedspinal.org.

Tamar Asedo Sherman is a freelance journalist who is completing a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling.