my ignorance

those that don't know my profession...i work in a college admission office, and i love it! i greet all prospective students and their families and see to it that they have a memorable experience. there is a lot of coordinating between people within our office, guidance counselors, professors, current students, etc. to ensure a smooth visit. this past friday i experienced a first: we had a student that was in a wheelchair. he was a delightful young man who appeared to have cerebral palsy perhaps? his parents were great, he was engaging, and i tried to "treat" him as normal as possible assuming he didn't want royal treatment or pity. as he and the rest of our guests were leaving to go on a campus tour, i thought in the back of my mind...i hope that the tour works out for him, and my worrying didn't go much further than that. i was busy getting prepared for more students arriving within the next hour. the tour returned, and then they all had interviews which take place in a different building than my office. so after the interview, one of the counselors called to say this young man was on his way over to meet with our student lunch host who would be taking him to our dining hall. if you walk out the front door of our building, you see the dining hall down the hill. i thought to myself, wait, we have a ramp out back, but i don't think we have a ramp out front. i grabbed my student worker, and we ran outside to see. then i thought well, wait...why do we have a handicapped parking space out front towards the north end of the building? how in the hell is a person going to park there and get in here? then i thought how is our friend going to leave here and get to the dining hall? so i panicked. we ran out the back of the building to see how they were going to leave and get to the dining hall. i was freaking out because there were all these steps and the sidewalks that lead to the dining hall had steps down. leslie and i were like, how are we going to figure this out before he arrives, so it won't look like we are idiots on getting him to the dining hall. we quickly figured that she needed to meet him outside of a courtyard and literally go a long way around campus so his wheelchair would be able to access a sidewalk and pathway that lead to a patio connected to the dining hall. ALL THIS TO SAY...i feel so ashamed that i didn't know how to get around our campus if one is handicapped. i was sad that i have never thought about it. and i was sad because you know that he and his family have to think about this every single day of their entire lives. it's almost like a maze or a puzzle that has to constantly be solved just to do normal things in life. and i am sure 90% of the time ends in frustration and/or disappointment. we take so much for granted, ya' know? i challenge you as you carry on with your life...notice if your office building is handicapped accessible. next time you go shopping, to a meeting, to a park, pretend if you were handicapped and see if you could get access to where you are going. if someone calls you tomorrow and asks how to get to your office, would you know how to tell them to go? man, reality check.