Rocky Horror, Hannibal Lecter and Accessibility
Recently I went to visit an old friend in Brooklyn, New York. He rents a 6th floor apartment owned by a property management company and during the course of my visit, the elevator broke down on an evening we were supposed to meet another old friend for dinner. Fortunately we were in his apartment and not trapped in the elevator. My friend called 311 and was advised that he could file a complaint. He was further advised that the only way he could do anything to get me out of the apartment was to call 911. We made it clear that, by first-responder standards, this wasn’t an emergency situation and that we just wanted to go about our day. After much consideration, my friend called 911 and explained the situation, again advising the dispatcher that this was not an emergency. The dispatcher advised us they would send someone out right away.
Within minutes, the fire department arrived, not shy about using their siren to alert everyone in the neighborhood of their presence. Upon their arrival, they asked me if I needed to either go to the hospital or to a doctor. We explained that I did not and also explained that we told the dispatcher this was not an emergency. After several minutes of standing around looking at each other and whispering among themselves, the firemen explained that they are technically not supposed to help in this situation because it wasn’t an emergency. However, they agreed to help this one time.
To add to the embarrassment and humiliation of the situation, I was forced to be carried down the stairs in a chair they provided, that looked similar to the Hannibal Lecter contraption he was strapped to while wearing that terrifying mask. The chair had a countless amount of straps and seatbelts and the firemen strapped me in to the extreme, in the interest of safety, to make sure I could not and did not move. As I was being carried down the stairs, virtually everyone who lived in the building came out in to the hallways to see observe the excitement and commotion. I do realize that the safety measures with their chair, along with their questioning from earlier, are standard protocol.
When we reached the bottom of the stairs, the firemen asked us if we planned to return to the building later that day. Realizing quickly where the conversation was going, we advised the firemen we would make alternative plans if the elevator was still down upon our return. They seemed relieved.
Unfortunately, the story does not end there. Later that night, we had plans to go watch a midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at a movie theater in New Jersey. We found accessible parking right near the theater and everything seemed to be fine. We went into the theater and scanned our tickets. The young person behind the counter, likely a high school student, asked is if we were there to see Rocky Horror. After responding yes, they became visibly uncomfortable. She told us that the movie was upstairs on the 2nd floor and that the theater had no elevator.
My friend, who had done so much to take care of every single detail of our time together immediately looked mortified. He apologized to me profusely and I told him that was not necessary. He apologized that he never researched the theater to find out if it was accessible. I am 45 years old, and I would not have thought to research if the theater was accessible because I’ve never come across this in my entire life. We quickly made the decision to figure out a way to get up the stairs and see the movie as we had traveled all this way. We figured it out and enjoyed the night. As we were leaving, someone from the performance troupe found us and apologized that the theater was not accessible. They told us that they had tried to work with this particular theater to show the movie on the first floor but the theater was not willing to make that accommodation. They said if we ever wanted to see the movie again at any other theater at which they perform to please reach out to them on their website. We researched both the theater and the performance troupe to see what was on their respective websites. The theater does not have a website but their Facebook page references their accessible parking and bathrooms, making no mention of a 2nd floor and accessibility issues. The performance troupe website, which shows all of the theaters at which they perform, makes mention that you should reach out to them if you intend to see the movie at that particular theater and have mobility issues.
Upon our arrival back at the apartment building, we discovered the elevator was fixed, after having been out of order for 36 hours.
My thoughts coming out of this situation are many. I’ll try to be as elegant as possible here in explaining them.
This situation speaks to a gaping hole in the care and compassion for persons with disabilities and any other people that have mobility issues.
The property company cannot necessarily speed up the pace at which an elevator is fixed. That being said, it should be their responsibility to educate themselves on alternatives they can provide in these situations.
The firemen in this situation were technically correct in their approach. They should not have necessarily been called into action in this situation as it was not an emergency by first-responder standards. But with no alternative in place, they were called into action. While their questions to me led me to feel embarrassed and humiliated, I understood their position and why they asked them. I’m grateful they helped us out anyway, although I was made to feel like a charity case.
311 told us calling 911 was the only option. This to me is the most glaring issue and is indicative of a major gap in services that I’m certain exists elsewhere. The implication is that for persons with disabilities and others with mobility issues, who’s lives are already inconvenienced by their disabilities or issues, should further inconvenience their lives by putting them on hold in these situations.
Unless it’s an emergency by first-responder standards, you’ll just need to reschedule and/or reorganize your day. That old friend you wanted to visit today that you haven’t seen in years…sorry, you’ll have to plan that for another time. That movie you wanted to go see…sorry, you’ll have to stay in place until we can get the elevator fixed for you. Those errands you need to run…sorry, not happening today.
Let’s have discussions and collaborations with each other to make situations like this better or even avoidable. Let’s re-examine the definition of an emergency and who should be called into action in situations such as this one. What if the situation were reversed? What if someone in a similar situation as mine goes grocery shopping and drives home in a snowstorm only to find the elevator of their building out of order? Who else can be called into action?
Let’s afford persons with disabilities and other mobility issues the dignity and respect they deserve. Let’s not make them to feel that, unless it’s an emergency, you don’t matter and we won’t help you.
We know better so let’s do better.
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