When I first had contemplated entering the wheelchair I thought it was a great opportunity to earn points and stroll around school, however what I experienced was a metaphysical vast ocean of knowledge and experiences. I entered a new world, and was reduced to half a man.

I first started by waking up and immediately realizing there was no table in my house that I could reach, I could not carry out my basic hygiene options without help from my family. Not to mention just getting in narrow spaces, most people don’t even realize how much they take for granted just being able to fit or reach for places. In my own house, which I thought was my safe and comfort in the world, denied access to me, and therefore I felt my own house push me out.

Now the grueling part of the day started, I entered school. I rolled into the lower library area from the street. The first thing I noticed is how everyone averted their gaze away from me, as they seemed not to want to do anything with me. Me in my ignorance of being newly handicapped, tried to open a door with my hands like I was standing, even though there was a handicap button there. After going up the elevator and getting out the library, I faced my largest obstacle.

The dreaded hills, Georgia State has ramps whose inclines make it virtually impossible to go up on and descents that force people to go down at dangerous speeds. This was overshadowed by the fact that my arms, especially my shoulders, burned worse than my most intense workout and I felt something akin to a constant fire start to fester in my shoulders. I quickly learned how many people in wheelchairs got strong arms. I also understood why they wore gloves, to avoid blisters and to avoid getting shocked by pressing on the metal elevator buttons since they build up so much static throughout the metal in the wheelchair.

After my classes I would have to either navigate outside, something I hated to do out of pure embarrassment  of people looking at me, it required a great deal of mental toughness. After a while I started to develop a tunnel vision, similar to how the handicapped person I see in school, of just wanting to get to the next destination and not stopping to enjoy and take in my surroundings. That especially hurt me, as I am a creative person who likes to enjoy everything around me, I was now forced in this deep dark depressing hole of emptiness and loneliness.

Out of the whole experience, I would say this, it is not something I would want to experience again. No one usually wants to interact with you, whether its out of digust or respect. I even had friends that I knew that would not even talk to me and simply walked pass me as if I was an object. I was not acknowledged, and by the way I was looked upon made me feel as if I was foreign or  inferior. Even though I knew it was an experiment, I could not help but lose the cheerful attitude I have to a more somber personality. In viewing my surroundings, I realized everything was made for able-bodied people, with only simple add-ons made to accommodate handicapped people. I remember in a movie that a person said, humans do not acknowledge and are prejudiced  to something they cannot understand. I experienced it with my own two eyes.

However, I came to realize the mental fortitude and toughness of a handicapped person. It is so greater than ours, because most humans hate to imagine themselves as defective, and it would drive most of us mad.

Right now I would like to thank all handicapped people, first for your courage, and secondly for making me a more humble person. Because of this I also learned even with a wheelchair I am not half a man, but stronger than the average man, and I challenge anyone to try this experience, and I can guarantee that most won’t even last a full two hours without using your legs or admitting that you are able-bodied. There is no such thing as half a person, I am not half a man.