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A Private Show
Written by Chloe on Friday, June 19, 2009
It had not occurred to me until today that something I do in connection with BIID could be considered performance art. Maybe I should start selling tickets.
It was one of those days where I had a bunch of little things to do on the way into work, and also on the way home. Consequently I was with wheelchair.
My first stop on the way home was to pick up some tickets for an outdoor concert that we are going to on Friday evening at the botanical gardens. None of the many accessible parking spots was in use so it was a no brainer. I pulled in to the first spot, which was also right next to the ramp up to the sidewalk. As I was parking I noticed that there was a guy sprawled out on the lawn bank, with his legs halfway across the sidewalk at the top of the ramp. He seemed to be sunning himself, and I guessed he was waiting for friends. I thought nothing of it. Nobody else was around.
As I was putting my wheelchair together, he came up to me and asked if I needed any help. I thanked him but declined the offer, saying I could handle everything myself. After I had myself situated in the chair, I went round the car to make sure all the doors were locked, as usual. There was some significant uphill ahead, so I locked the brakes and started to put on the wheeling gloves. It was then that I noticed. This guy was staring intently at me. He had been watching the show all this time.
I was in the space between my driver’s door and the little but steep ramp up to the sidewalk, just a few feet away from him. When I noticed him staring, I stopped to give him a little smile. He didn’t smile back or say anything. He just kept staring: at me; at the wheelchair; at my wheeling gloves; at my leg brace. I didn’t pay much attention. I don’t get self-conscious about such things.
The next task was to wheel up that ramp onto the sidewalk. This meant that we were directly facing each other, just a few feet away. He continued to stare as I struggled somewhat up the steep ramp. I was focused on what I was doing, but I noticed his expressions out of the corner of my eye. He was clearly interested in the much closer look at my leg brace that he was getting, and there seemed to be some kind of delight in seeing my uphill struggle.
All of a sudden I broke out into a big smile, not at him, just at the situation. I almost started laughing. I controlled it though, realising that if I lost it it I would likely roll backwards into the parking lot, rather fast, and out of control. I had to negotiate around his feet, which he didn’t move at all from the middle of the sidewalk.
Next there was a somewhat long, but not so steep, ramp up to the level of the building where I was picking up my tickets. No big deal.
There was a family just ahead of me, with two small kids. The kids gave me a fleeting glance and evidently decided I wasn’t the slightest bit interesting.
Getting the tickets went very quickly. I had ordered them ahead of time and had already asked about the wheelchair spots. Time to reverse the whole procedure back into my car:
Although the first downhill wasn’t that steep, it was straight, and long enough to get up some speed. At the bottom there was a tight U-turn back onto the sidewalk. I decided to let the speed build up and then at the bottom grab the right rim as hard as I could. There he was, in exactly the same spot, staring at me as I executed my perfect high speed U-turn!
Getting myself and my wheelchair back into the car was evidently just as entertaining as the previous exhibition. He didn’t take his eyes off me for a second. Apparently it was very interesting that I could walk a few steps with a leg brace and crutch, albeit with great difficulty.
I was brushing the hair out of my face just before turning the key in the ignition. He was still staring at me. I almost cracked up laughing again. I was wondering how much money I could make by selling tickets for my circus act.
None of this made me uncomfortable. I just go about my business regardless. But I definitely thought it was a bit weird.
Later in the evening I realised that this guy just happened to have been in the perfect spot to observe any people with disabilities getting in and out of their vehicles. Also, anyone needing to use the ramp to get up to the building would have to go right past him. Hmm…
Tags: Accessible, BIID, Crutch, Leg Brace, Ramp, Wheelchair
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3 Comments
2 On 19 June, 2009, Lane said:
@Sophie Well put. …Makes me wonder, tho: wouldn’t that be a good dev game-plan. Position yourself in a handy, prominent location, don’t bat and eye, or flinch a bit when you’ve made contact with your target. If you’ve got the guts, you get the maximum possible value out of the experience by watching as long as you want. Creepy, but true. (NO, this is not from personal experience.)
I’m still waiting to see what my dev at work is going to do when I start to bring my chair to work. I think it’s gonna blow his mind and it gives me a little grin whenever I think about it. Tee hee.
I’ve had situations like that, when someone would be staring at me while I went around in my chair doing my stuff.
The most recent time that happened was when I was setting up my wheelchair outside the car and transferred on to it, and started to make my way through an outdoor mall. An old lady was observing me intently the whole time as she was making her way to HER car and actually stopped me as I reached her, to tell me that she thinks I handle myself brilliantly in a wheelchair at my age. I guess that’s the equivalant of a “bravo” on stage?
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1 On 19 June, 2009, Sophie said:
Put a camera in his hands and he woulda seemed like the stereotypical devotee (not that I’m not saying that that image is necessarily accurate, I know only a tiny number of devotees seem to forget about manners and common sense when they see a disabled person).