Author: youshouldgoanyway

My accessible travels: Dunedin, NZ

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Dunedin from the hills at Larnach Castle

The first time I set foot (or wheels) in New Zealand, I expected to see beautiful hillsides filled with sheep. That’s exactly what I got when I arrived in Dunedin, NZ, a ridiculously picturesque small city on the South Island. Prior to my arrival I arranged a private driver to pick me up from the cruise ship and take me around for a half day. This sounds like it would be pricey, but it was actually quite affordable and would be even cheaper if you split it among a few people.

I am the kind of tourist who loves seeing as much as possible, as quickly as possible, so I told the driver to just take me all over the place, with the exception of one particular stop — the Larnach Castle — which for whatever reasons I had my hopes set on seeing. So she drove me around for a couple hours and we stopped at the castle for a quick tour of the grounds. You can take a garden tour or do the whole thing but it’s not accessible inside so you can’t really see much by wheelchair. But from the grounds there were amazing views back down on the harbor and the city and it was worth the stop.

After that she took me back down to the Octagon (the main center of town) where there were many shops and touristy things going on. There were some neat old churches as well. We also checked out some of the beaches nearby and the smell of the salty air was imprinted firmly on my mind. The other neat thing about Dunedin was the port. The logging mills nearby made the air smell like sawdust and there was an amazing church perched in the hills that I could see right from the boat.

Here are a few more of the pictures from that day stop in Dunedin:

The logs waiting to be shipped.
The church in the hills at the port.
The church in the Octagon
Larnach Castle
Larnach Castle gardens
More of the view from Larnach. I couldn't get down to that lookout with my chair but I really didn't have to.

Everyone needs tools, not just disabled people

youshouldgoanyway

Many people with disabilities use assistive devices like wheelchairs, canes, walkers, special software, glasses, hearing-aids, reachers, or other tools to help with day-to-day tasks. These tools are often invaluable to maintain a certain standard of living and productive lifestyle. My particular tools of choice are an electric wheelchair, a good reacher grabber, and my accessible van. When I first started using these tools I was somewhat self conscious of because not everyone else had to use them too. But now I’m starting to realize that while I use these tools to manage my day-to-day lifestyle, all people have their own tools they need to do the same.

Take a calculator, for example. I have seen people whip out calculators for the easiest of calculations. I have seen people struggle over computing the tip on a restaurant bill. Many people need help with these calculations and rely on paper and pencil, or a calculator, to do them. There’s nothing wrong with using these tools, but whereas I need a wheelchair to get around, I don’t need a calculator to compute 15% and for that, I’m thankful.

So if you ever start to get frustrated with all the tools you have to use, think about all the other tools you don’t have to use to live your day-to-day life. Maybe your job doesn’t require a shovel or a pickup truck or a hammer. Maybe you don’t need to consult your address book when you’re sending out a letter because you’ve got a great memory. Maybe you’re a wiz at vocabulary and rarely need a dictionary. Maybe you can put together an engine without a manual or have perfect pitch and don’t need a tuner. Maybe you can throw together a recipe by memory and taste without having to consult Betty Crocker. The list goes on and on.

Be proud of what you can do without needing assistance, especially if you are having difficulty accepting the times you do need it. All people need assistance at some point. It’s not a disability thing, it’s a human thing.

Do the people who motivate you know it?

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This is a picture of Tad Lietz playing the cello with his foot. I realized I could figure out a way to play again even though my arm was not able to hold the bow up anymore. A few feet of rubber exercise bands hanging from the ceiling and the problem was solved.

I was thinking about a few of the people who have motivated, dare I say “inspired,” me to do something different, conquer a fear, or keep myself pushing along. Often times it’s someone whose story I’ve seen on the internet or television. Occasionally it’s someone who I see in public do something nice or new. There are times when examples from relatives and friends push me to make a change as well.

I started thinking about these moments of inspiration and realized that very few of the people who have motivated me actually know that they’ve done this. I don’t usually send an email or make a phone call to thank someone who has inspired me. I don’t think most people do this. We tend to get fussy when something isn’t going our way and that’s when the pens and paper come out. If things are moving in a positive direction, we often don’t take time to appreciate the person who has helped get us going.

This isn’t a plea to start thanking everyone who has had an impact on you. Rather, I’m calling attention to the fact that you never know who will be motivated by you and your actions. After I posted the story of Bob McPhee, it occurred to me that he will never possibly know how many people his story has impacted. What’s even more interesting is that Bob’s story, while extraordinary, is really based on the fact that he decided to just continue living life and doing the things he wanted to do.

So isn’t it encouraging to know that you can simply live your life — disability or not — and know that it’s going to have an impact on someone else and probably many more people than you’ll ever know? Inevitably you’re going to face and beat challenges, accomplish something neat, or do something new. This is a part of human life for those of us who choose to live it.

So do your thing, share your story, and know that you’re going to have an impact on someone, somewhere, sometime.

My accessible travels: Lanai, Hawaii

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The beach at the end of one of the bumpy trails.

The island of Lanai is small, sparsely populated, and fantastic. I had the opportunity to go there seven years ago with a friend who had never been there before either. Fortunately, she was the kind of person who enjoyed (or pretended to enjoy) pushing my butt around in the manual wheelchair I was using at the time.

We went in the morning, came back in the afternoon, and the whole day was an adventure from start to finish. We flew over on a very small plane and they used this spider-looking device to get me up and down into the plane. Then we rented an off-road jeep and used the map they gave us to traverse the island, including the VERY bumpy “roads” down to the edges where the most beautiful and desolate beaches were. At times it felt like we were the only people on the island. While looking out over Shipwreck Beach, I felt like ghosts were going to fly out of the ship. It was nothing but us, the dark gray sky, and the rusty boat out in the distance!

After dropping in on one of the few hotels on the island, we drove through the Garden of the Gods, had lunch, and decided to go back to Oahu since it was raining. In 3/4 of the day we’d driven on almost every major road on the island! If you ever get the chance and you’ve got someone who can drive a jeep to go with you, then I highly recommend taking a day trip (or more) to Lanai. Make sure you can handle bumpy roads and even if you don’t get car sick — take a Dramamine.

Here are a few of the pictures I took on this trip:

This is the contraption they used to get me on/off the plane.
The jeep we rented.
One of the roads our jeep had to traverse. I am not sure if we had any metal left on the underside after we got done!
The eerie shipwreck beach. Felt like I was in the Goonies.
The garden of the gods. Super neat to drive through.

My accessible travels: The “sounds” of NZ

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Waking up in Milford Sound, NZ

I thought it might be cool to post some quick blurbs about places I’ve managed to go despite my wheelchair and muscular dystrophy. The first place I thought would make sense to mention, is the place you see in the header on my blog. I can’t remember whether it’s Doubtful or Dusky sound in New Zealand but I took it as our cruise ship sailed along the coast of the southern island of New Zealand. We woke up in Milford Sound then spent the day cruising the other sounds. Most of the time we were the only boat within sight.

People either love cruises or they don’t. I find them the best way to deal with traveling in a wheelchair. You get to see a lot without the hassle of getting from place to place. I wish there were more pre-planned accessible cruise tours so you can easily leave the boat when it’s docked, but you can plan your own and get out and see the ports of call on your own. Sometimes it’s nicer than having to crowd on a bus with 100 other people. Here are a few more photos from that part of New Zealand. Make sure to click on them for the bigger view.