Tag: concerts

I hate this place…

Yes: I never seem to be happy where I live. Sometimes, I do not realize that I could have been happy if I tried harder until I leave. Sometimes, I am bang on with my assessment.

Burlington is nice for Ables. It is a pretty city close to many other interesting cities. It has many awesome things (Ikea, some awesome concerts…), but it has a couple of MAJOR drawbacks for me. The biggest one is the transportation around here.

It has happened several times: I have to be somewhere, and there are no ways for me to get there. The bus is a bit too far from the destination to make the trip worth it and there is only one wheelchair cab which is booked. I mean, I get only having one accessible cab if you do not have the demand for more, but it always seems to be booked when I need it.

The other night, we wanted to see a movie. Several hours before the movie we had tickets to started, I called to book a cab for 1830.  It was schedueled for that time, so we would have to take it at 1800, which is annoying but doable.

The required trip home would have to be at 2245: they had nothing after the 1800 time they gave me. We would have been fine with a time after 2300, but the cabs stop running at 2300 for the wheelchair rides, and they gave no other options. Basically, people in wheelchairs have a deadline to get home by 2300 or be stuck.

Now, I am not saying that I do not fully understand: I, myself, am in bed by 0000 most nights and do not expect cabs to run all hours of the night. It would be nice, however, to know that I would not be stuck if I was out one night. It would be nice to just have the option. As it stands, I cannot go to a concert or to a bar because, if it ran over that 2300 time, I would be stuck wherever I might be. Frustrating? HELL YES.

Let’s be real: who needs a life anyway?

Ableist

It is something we all tackle with: the idea that someone cannot do a task all because of their position. Assuming someone is useless because of their handicap is ridiculous and strange. All because someone is in a wheelchair, or unable to walk without some sort of aid, dose not mean that should be cast aside and deemed unable to do anything.

Now, I say anything, but that is a bit extreme. Okay: the person cannot walk. That is not ableism, that is just obvious. It is ableist to assume that they need help with every little thing they face in life.

Yes, it is okay to ask if they need a hand. If they refuse your assistance, however, THEY REFUSE YOUR ASSISTANCE! I could not tell you how often, in my situation, people offer help and then INSIST after I say that I am okay. It is offensive. You are displaying that you actually see that person as less than that: you see them as incapable to do anything.

Wheelchairs, in particular, are a clear depiction of someones physical limitations. In some cases, people are never without the chair. It may as well be a shirt. They are obvious, huge, intrusive, and a hinderance to more than just the user.

Now, with that said, there are people who are better in a wheelchair than most are at walking. Some people in chairs flow through heavy foot traffic gracefully and quietly. They maneuver peacefully and do not disturb a single person. There are, however, those who need a hand. That is why you just simply can ask. It is not offensive if you accept the potential ‘no’ and leave it at that.

I feel like a broken record. I touched on the ramifications of forcing yourself on someone in a previous post. (Example one || Example two || Example three || and there are more I’m sure, see “Law Rants” up top). It is only part of the issue.

My personal example is that someone wanted me to go to a social thing a little while ago, but did not push the issue because of my chair. They never talked to me about it and I only found out when they decided to explode with rage towards chariot. The fact was ignored that I would have enjoyed that. There, by law, have to be ways for me to get into the venue. I have preferred seating (if the venue is not run by dicks) and usually my physical condition gets me a reduced rate. However, there was a sense of true anger towards the situation that I had no choice but to live with. I was made to feel as if I did something wrong because I am in a chair. There was no concession for the fact that I am trying to get up from here: no sympathy about how I might be impacted by the situation.

Google Definition

SIDE NOTE!
Post #90! Thank you!

/offTopic

I just jumped onboard something awesome.

My friend Katie started writing a blog on a different website (with terrible html syntax), so I offered to do what I could to help her progression. Her vision for the new site has been fantastic so far and I am excited to keep it going and keep it clean.

She goes to a lot of concerts, so she started reviewing them. That, in combination with her fantastic photos, is the bulk of the articles. She plans to continue to expand and evolve what she is doing to encompass reviews in the very near future.

I urge you to give it a look, especially if you are either in or into punk music. Not that it will always be punk, but it has been so far.