Step Outside Your World Analysis“Okay, this should be a piece of cake,” I thought to myself after reading the guidelines for this assignment. After all, my friend’s wife still had the manual wheelchair she used when she broke her ankle last year and it was just sitting there holding dirty laundry and books and she readily agreed to lend it to me for this project. This initial assessment, however, quickly went south as soon as I tried to load the wheelchair in my car for a trip to the local mall to see what life was like from a new perspective. The wheelchair did not fit in the trunk and I had to struggle to squeeze it in the backseat, tearing my seat covering in the process.

Unfortunately, things did not get any easier when I reached the mall. While I did have a wheelchair, I did not have a handicapped parking sticker so I was forced to park on an upper floor of the mall’s multi-level garage. Committed to realism, I went alone and the only concession I made to not staying in the wheelchair was during the loading/unloading phases so I was stuck on the third floor, wheeling myself to the nearest elevator which was located at the far end of the parking level and the trip was uphill all the way. After reaching the elevator, I found my shoulders were already aching and my hands were cramping. Still undaunted, though, I took the elevator to the ground floor and wheeled myself into the nearest mall entrance thanks in part to the kindness of a stranger who held the door open for me.

Although I had been to this mall dozens of times in the past, this visit was unique for a number of reasons including most...

It was also interesting but slightly unsettling to watch the reactions of other people to my using a wheelchair when I had no obvious physical disabilities to account for it. Notwithstanding this minor difficulties, I did manage to enjoy the modestly exhilarating feeling of going fast on the smooth floors when there were no crowds around, but this feeling quickly evaporated when I got thirsty and tried to order a Diet Coke from a vendor at the food court. All of the vendors had long lines, so I naturally selected the shortest one and got in line behind a family of three (a couple with a young boy about 5 years old).
While we were all waiting for the people ahead of us to place and receive their orders, I was looking around trying to avoid eye contact with this inquisitive youngster who was obviously intrigued by my wheelchair. When it became impossible to avoid it any longer, I smiled at the young man and asked him how he was doing. He responded by asking, “Why can’t you walk?” at which point his mother pulled him sharply by the hand and scolded him that the question was rude and “none of his business.” Since I was the source of this rebuke, I felt bad but not as bad as I did when I tried to place my order and the vendor actually leaned over the counter to eyeball me while I asked for a Diet Coke.

Taking my Diet Coke in hand, I realized that I was faced with an unexpected…