A close friend of mine and I went to an Obama campaign rally in Indianapolis. This was one of my first big events in my wheelchair and I was very nervous about it.
It was cold, and I was wearing a coat. Hoping to make things a little easier, I put the minimum amount of stuff I needed into my coat pockets. This was a terrible, bad, no good call!
We get to the event and park the car. By the time we are halfway across the state fairgrounds parking lot, I am thankful for the chair already.
We get to the entry lines, and we are shuffled over to the leftmost line, as they are handling those of us that cannot get through the regular security lines. When it gets to be my turn, I have about half my pockets emptied into my lap, and half left unfortunately to make people wait while I finish. My friend and the security staff are pretty gracious while I fumble through my stuff to put it on the scanner conveyer belt. One staffer asks me about my meditation beads and makes other conversation as I finish up. The staff has me lean up for a pat-down, and then everything is fine.
So, this one is more about me getting used to the chair than anything else. I recommend, if possible, that one of your first wheelchair outings not be at such a high security event!
I am glad that the security staff were courteous and patient. On several occasions in which I have had to visit government buildings, I have observed security screeners being quite rude to people who were using assistive devices. I find that objectionable and highly unprofessional.
ReplyDeleteMe too, I've seen some bad scenes play out.
ReplyDeleteWhat was so awkward about this one was that they knew what I was/should be doing more so than I did! They were very kind.