You never know how anti wheelchair the world is until you are stranded three cities away and considering calling a tow truck. I was there today.

My mom was driving me to weekly therapy when a driver’s worst nightmare happened: all the dashboard warning lights came on. Every single one. They flashed on and off repeatedly causing anxiety all the way to our destination. Then the real question came. Was it safe to drive home after? It would be bad if mom lost power steering in the case of an outage or permanent damage was caused.

There were two options left to us. We could try to get it fixed at home or call AAA. The problem with fixing it at home was it had to actually get there first. If it was not safe to drive, it would have to be towed. But what about me? Tow trucks are not wheelchair accessible. My father was also on travel so he could not fix the car and had taken the backup wheelchair van with him. So AAA it was. If they could not fix it, I would have to get creative going home.

AAA replaced the battery and gave the all clear to go home. The lights are all still on so there might be further issues, but we drove home anyway. Hopefully it lasts until my father returns.

This really highlights a gap in society. People in wheelchairs don’t have the same level of support in emergency situations. Just like how elevators shut off in case of fire, my only route home could have been cut off if things had gone any more poorly. Disabled people now leave the house often and society has yet to fix all the gaps. I hope there are more solutions in the future like accessible tow trucks or widely available wheelchair accessible taxis. I for one am getting tired of the obstacles that remain.