I Went to a Convention in a Wheelchair and it was Alright
This past weekend I went to a convention in Columbus, Ohio and I used my wheelchair.
As some of you may know — but most of you probably don’t — I have nerve damage in my legs from a severe car accident I managed to survive roughly a decade ago. I am constantly in pain; though some days are worse than others. I’ve had to use a cane for years and a handful of months ago, I got a wheelchair. I’ll talk more about this in another post, but the main takeaway here is: sometimes the pain is so bad I can’t walk. When that happens, I have a few choices: stay in bed until it sort of subsides, use my cane, or use my wheelchair.
This trip was the first time I’ve had to use my wheelchair for an extended period of time and in a more crowded place. To say I was dreading it would be a severe understatement. As the people who know me can attest, I’m pretty stubborn when it comes to accepting my own physical limitations. I once went on a hiking/caving trip and couldn’t walk for over a week dealing with the fallout from overexerting my already not so strong legs. If I can get away with hobbling around on my cane, I’m probably going to choose that over using my wheelchair, even if it means I have to take frequent breaks and may or may not end up biting my lip so hard from the pain that it bleeds.
As the convention approached, I found myself dreading it so much I didn’t even want to go anymore. I don’t know how many of you have gone to a convention, but the days leading up to it tend to be a nightmare of last minute costume construction and coordinating. Normally, I’m that sicko who finds that part rather fun, but this time I was sitting at a messy desk frantically trying to stick craft foam together with hot glue while my legs felt like they were boiling, stabbing, and itching all at once. I couldn’t walk. I could barely stand, and even then I had to have my boyfriend supporting me and handing me my cane when I inevitably forgot it places or dropped it out of reach. The night before the convention came and I was a mess of paint, glue, loose pieces of thread, and unbearable pain and stress. I was supposed to be a part of a group costume the next day and the character I was dressing as was an active adventurer — Fionna, the genderbent version of Finn from Adventure Time. How was I going to pull that one off?
I expressed those anxious thoughts to my boyfriend (and a couple friends) who brilliantly said, “let’s just put a bandage on you and you can be battleworn Fionna!” So that’s what I did. The morning came and I finished my costume (or at the very least, slapped everything together truly last minute), stuck a bandaid over my nose, and started the day.
I think I was right in dreading being in my wheelchair pretty immediately.
My boyfriend parked in a parking garage near the convention center and got my chair out of the trunk, helped me into it, and we piled our bags and costume pieces into my lap. On the walk (and roll) to the convention center, we had to cross train tracks on the street and I almost fell out of the chair and onto my face with all our stuff. My wheel got stuck and we couldn’t figure out another way around so we unloaded the things from my lap and I hobbled out of my seat, clutched onto my boyfriend for dear life, while he finessed the wheel from the track. Then, when we got there, the first couple of elevators we tried were either locked or just not working. We had to use a wheelchair lift to go up a short flight of stairs and learned that it doesn’t work from the buttons inside and a second, able bodied person actually has to operate the lift for the person on it. I also had to avoid certain shops because my chair simply couldn’t fit inside them, let around around all the people there. I had to go out of my way to find seemingly hidden elevators just to move from floor to floor and, naturally, the high traffic areas had full elevators I had to wait to clear out a bit and/or pack myself in there like a sardine.
But, despite all that, I still found myself having a great time.
The people attending the convention were wonderful and accepting, going out of their way to make sure I was helped when I needed it and complimenting the costumes my boyfriend and I were wearing. Something I’ve noticed at every convention I’ve been to is that the people there are usually overwhelmingly accepting individuals, and this time was no different. It didn’t matter that I was in a wheelchair instead of on my feet and it didn’t matter that my costume wasn’t 100% accurate. In fact, for the first time at any convention I’ve attended, I was stopped by multiple people asking to take my boyfriend and my picture (side note: suddenly I understand why some people get really into cosplay).
The group of friends we were with did ask about the chair when I first showed up and immediately understood and accepted it, sympathizing and even sharing their own issues with pain.
My boyfriend repeatedly commented throughout the day that being with me and helping push me around really opened his eyes even more to the struggles of people who use wheelchairs or other assistive devices. These are comments we both usually make when I’m having a bad leg day (or week) but this time it was blatantly obvious and not as easy to ignore. He was by my side at every moment and expressed with me the frustration of not being able to find an elevator, an elevator not working, me not being able to reach things, or operate my own chair lift, etc. I’ve been out in my wheelchair before but not in such a crowded place — I live in a rural area and have a backward sleeping schedule so I’m normally out well after most people are already in bed. This was a new experience for me and it was nice being able to share that new and fairly uncomfortable experience with him too.
It can be difficult to accept my physical limitations and remain positive at times and I am so lucky to have people in my life who understand and support me when I need it. To end this post: I just want to say thank you to everyone who made the convention a really great and enjoyable experience, or at least, not a terrible one.
And especially thank you to Michael, Nate, Carl, Jon, John, and Dawn. You’re all ridiculously talented and wonderful people. I’m glad to be considered your friend.
I can’t wait for the next convention!
