My Date!

Olivia Sanders

Professor Overstreet

Date Assignment
 3/19/2013

Although this assignment was extremely different from any other assignment I’ve ever been given before I did think it would be interesting as well. Since I didn’t know anyone with a disability locally, I decided to go on an “imaginary date”. I am a college student so my dates are usually pretty cheap. I decided to analyze how someone in a wheel chair might feel going to The Commons and to a campus event.  To begin with The Commons have disabled parking located right across the street which would be helpful for someone having to maneuver a wheelchair. There is good accessibility for getting into the café, there are two ramps and handrails which make it fairly easy for everyone to enter into the building, disabled or not. There are also elevators inside the café so anyone would be able to sit and enjoy their meal on the second floor or outside. Easy access to the food and drinks vary. Someone who is sitting down may have a few problems preparing foods like the salad and reaching the soda machine because of how high they are.

The activity level any day in the café during lunchtime is intense. There are people everywhere, some are sitting at the bar, and some have nudged seats in between preexisting chairs. There were tons of people who all had the same intentions…eating! Crowding for the most part is ridiculous. Someone maneuvering a wheelchair would probably have a hard time navigating through the crowds of people on the first floor. The areas where there are booths are located are less crowded because there aren’t as many tables to sit at, but someone in wheelchair would have to sit at the end of the table.

Since there where no seats away from the crowd we would have to sit right in the middle of all the commotion, which made the comfort level pretty low. I felt pretty crammed in and I didn’t have anything extra with me, I’d assume someone in a wheelchair might feel uncomfortable because they wouldn’t have the sufficient room move around to get seconds under those crowded conditions. There also isn’t much privacy in the café. The tables are really close together so people sitting at the table beside you could hear your conversation very well even when using your inside voice.

There was a fun campus event going on outside on the campus green. A fraternity was having an event to raise awareness about cancer. They had games, music, and goodies all of which provided a lot of good sensory stimulation. The sun was out, you would hear people laughing, and you could smell the aroma of the bbq on the grill. Since it was a fraternity  event the sociality level was high, members within the organization were interacting with each other, people who came up to their booths, and with their sister sorority.

There was control at the fraternity event, people were enjoying themselves, but no one behaved poorly. The members all seemed to have control of the situation, if someone needed something we knew who to ask and they did maintain order. Every now and again a couple people would become rowdy and the guys just asked them to lower their voices and they did.

I wish I could have been accompanied by an actual person, but this still was an eye opening assignment. I’ve never had any disabled friends, but I do have an aunt with schizophrenia. I know taking her on a date with me would have been a completely different experience versus someone in a wheelchair. The message I took from this assignment was to not be so self-consumed and be more acknowledgeable of others.