My curiosity has taken me far and made me outshine my obstacles . . the cause is; I hardly take a no for an answer if people tells me something is a bad idea because of my wheelchair, I try to find a solution until I’ve reached my goal.
I am well aware people mean good, but the problem is; others always seems to know what’s best for you. And when in a wheelchair you often get labeled as a person who are not able to make your own decisions.
Well, I am! And my curiosity is probably a very good reason why my journeys has taken me far and made me ignore my wheelchair AND I’m stubborn and very self dependent. I have an adventurer in my stomach and I’ve heard that you should do what your gut feels like 🙂
Traveling in a Wheelchair
I am often asked how to travel as a wheelchair user?
This is how you travel in a Wheelchair:
The short answer is, it is impossible to explain in a few words.
.. well in MY humble opinion there is NO “one true way” how to travel in a wheelchair. There’s as many ways as there are people.
Much of it depends on what type of person you are and what kind of handicap you may have. Are you introvert or extrovert. What kind of things do you like to do. Do you normally ask others for help if you need help to climb a staircase. What do you do when you are out and about in your own town. Do you like change or stability. Does everything need to be planned, or are you open for changes. Do you trust in other people. Do you trust in other people to help you.
All people are different. It doesn’t matter if you are in a wheelchair or not. All the things above fit on different people. You can’t tell from (most) of the words, if we are talking about people with a handicap or not.
But if you travel as a beginner in a wheelchair or with another kind of handicap, it may be a good idea to ask yourself the questions above. It will help you to know what to expect on your mental views, and it could make a huge difference for you to have these expectations for your trip entirely clear.
I have always been a curious, open minded and an extrovert woman.
I want to do a lot of adventures, and challenge myself.
To me the world is a huge playground or at least a place I need to explore.
And as I already mentioned; if you are in a wheelchair, you may often be mistaken with someone who can’t make their own decisions. I am a grown woman, making my own decisions, also when traveling. I believe very strongly you should go for you dream. No one knows your desires in life better than yourself. And it goes for all; wheelchair or no wheelchair, YOU can AND you should make your dreams come true, nobody else.
Often the general opinion is that you can put a large fat label on all people with a handicap, presuming we’re all the same. So obviously when traveling the handicapped must prefer to go to the same special accessible designed resort.
WRONG! Nobody is the same.
If WE were all the same, I might as well suggest that all people with red hair are the same. My guess would be that people with red hair would be a bit offended if I said I know most things about them. Guess what, people with disabilities will also be offended if you make such a generalization about us.
The put it short; I can not give you a pre-packaged list of how you travel as a wheelchair user. To travel as a globetrotter in a wheelchair as I travel; it require you to be open to a lot of challenges and not let obstacles stop your journey. It takes courage, imagination, and it requires you to trust others to help you. Angkor Wat Temple is not flat and accessible because you come rolling by. So as I said, give some thought to your priorities before you depart.
You can decide what type of trip you are up to and what kind of traveling you would like to do.
In order to help, I’ve tagged posts with a #wheelchair tag at Posts I might think can inspire you to do your own wheelchair traveling.