Sorry for the Inconvenience
My last first day of undergraduate classes is tomorrow,
which means that today I had to go get
my textbooks from the University
bookstore. This is no easy task
for chair users like myself, or anyone who
cannot use the stairs. To get to
the second floor of the bookstore, where the textbooks are housed without
taking the stairs, you need to leave the bookstore, go outside to an elevator,
take the elevator up, go down the hallway, ring a bell, open a door (without an
automatic door opener), go down another hallway that is usually dark, and wait
for somebody to open up the last door so that you can get into the store, you
also need somebody to open up the door again for you when you want to leave.
Needless to say, it's quite an adventure!
Today, my mom and I had been waiting approximately 15 to 20
minutes for somebody to open up the last door when she decided enough was
enough. She went back downstairs into the bookstore and took the stairs to the
second floor to find somebody to open the door for me. When she got upstairs
she was informed that they were busy and I would just have to wait. When she
told them that I had already been waiting for more than 20 minutes in a dark
hallway at this point, they told her they were sorry for the inconvenience.
Inconvenience? This was more than just a mere inconvenience, it was lack of
access, and lack of accessibility.
When people refer to total lack of access or accessibility
as an “inconvenience” they minimize its importance and the impact it has on a
person’s life. When I go to hotels and they do not have accessible hotel rooms
available they always apologize for the inconvenience. Not being able to shower
or properly use the bathroom is more than just an inconvenience, it's an
inability to take care of essential needs. When I go to public places and
elevators and accessible bathrooms are out of service, it's more than just an
inconvenience, its total lack of access. All of the sudden, I am not able to be
present in that place. That is not just a minor in convenient or frustration,
it is a denial of access that sometimes borders on discrimination.
A mere inconvenience is having to take an elevator that is
out of my way and go down the hallway to get into a store when other people can
simply go up a small flight of stairs, it is not having to wait until somebody
decides they have the time to let me in to the building if they let me in at
all. That is not an inconvenience, that is not an annoyance, that is not a mere
frustration, that is discrimination. I would not have gotten into the bookstore
today if my mother had not been with me and able to go downstairs to find
somebody to let me in. I would not have been able to purchase my books. I would
not have been prepared for class tomorrow. I would have been denied access to
the bookstore. That is so much more than an inconvenience.
When we look at accessibility issues and lack of access as
inconveniences we perpetuate the idea that they are not a big deal. When we
refer to the denial of basic rights and the ability to take care of basic needs
as inconveniences we downplay the importance. When lack of access is seen as a
mere inconvenience, people forget that it is a civil rights issue. My ability
to use facilities or get in and out of buildings is not a matter of mere annoyance
or inconvenience; it is so much more than that. It is a denial of freedom. It
is a denial of the ability to be present in so many public places. It is a
denial of the ability to have the same rights and privileges as everybody else.
It denies me the right to live my life on my own terms. That is not an
inconvenience, and when we refer to it as such we don't acknowledge that access
plays a huge role in helping to assure equality.
Lack of access is not now, nor
has it ever been an inconvenience, it is injustice, and we have to continue
framing it as such.
