Perspective from a wheelchair

It’s never happened to me before, blazing through airport check-in and security in no more than 3 minutes. From San Jose airport, I hopped out of my parents’ van to Sky Cab, where the good folk at Southwest Airlines checked in my baggage and checked me in simultaneously. “Your wheelchair will be here in just a second,” perked the service lady. It took literally 3 seconds. My chauffeur carts me to a secret elevator, where people who look like pilots enter in and out of. We exit right next to a security checkpoint where the nicest guards ask if I’m able to somehow go through the normal people scanner machine…you know, the one you walk through. I obligingly nod, ready to accommodate since I’m feeling pretty good by now because of this free wheelchair ride. Hopping on one leg through the scanner and feeling proud of myself, I was met by a rigid lady who exclaimed to other security, “he hopped through, that’s not allowed!” I was about to offer to drag my body through the scanner when another guard sympathizingly questioned how I was supposed to do that if I had one good foot!

That’s when the awkwardness began. The ride to Gate 2 took forever. The guy assigned to me drove me at a pace of about 1 mph, allowing any whizzing passerby to get a good look at me. I think the average human walks about 3.4 mph. It was strange looking up at people looking down at me. Usually I’m the one looking down..or looking at all, as I enjoy people watching. But even after I was parked in a disabled area I noticed that people were looking at me, or the thing I was sitting on. Is this what wheelchair faring people go through every day? I suddenly became aware of how self conscience I’d become. Luckily I had my long crutches with me to prove to people that I needed the wheelchair. My mom also called me..and suggested I put my knee brace on to legitimize my situation!

If you’re guessing what happened to me, I dislocated my knee playing beach volleyball. Now I’m considering ACL surgery. Uggh, I was supposed to be in the U.S. only for visa purposes.

I can’t wait to get onto the plane, where I’m sitting on a normal chair like everyone else. SJC airport has amazing free wifi. I’m out!