having to go around and do things now that i'm, like, not forcing myself to climb stairs is really highlighting the degree to which disabled folks are an afterthought. i saw a movie at the brooklyn academy of music yesterday (apparently they do movies?) and asked the ticket collector if there was an elevator, as the theatre was up a flight and a half of stairs. he said that yes, there was, and then pulled out his walkie talkie and said someone needed to use an elevator.
out a nearby door burst, like, the most generic white college student i had ever seen. excitably, he led me out of the main theatre area, past a security guard, into an elevator, back OUT into an open studio space, through a doorway, and down one of those elevators used primarily for wheelchairs. this whole affair took about three or four minutes. this entire time he was talking to me as though i were, like, a nervous child, and it was his job to encourage me.
i get this is entertaining but like this is a ridiculous amount of difficulty. just because it's theoretically possible for a wheelchair user to make it from one point to another does not make it, like, Actually Accessible. i remarked to myself as i was waiting that it honestly would have been easier to force myself up the fuckin' stairs.