An Accessible Date with Jessica, Kristyna and Tessa

Introduction
The accessible date project was a mind-altering assignment. In order to understand the everyday struggles a wheelchair user may face, the project urged us to acknowledge these struggles. While we will never understand the lived experience of a wheelchair user, the project forced us to consider how we would be able to accommodate a wheelchair user on a date and make it a comfortable, enjoyable experience.

Meal
Our date began with a nice meal at Ingredient Eatery in downtown Columbia. We chose this restaurant particularly for its convenient location to the other businesses and nightlife activities. Furthermore, Ingredient is a fairly accessible location to eat at. A wheelchair user would probably find this location more favorable, compared to other downtown restaurants.

The entrance has enough room to move around and find a suitable table. For our date, we decided to sit at the table with a combination of both a booth and two chairs. We would simply move one of the chairs in order for our date to sit across from us.

To order our food, we have to walk down an aisle and up to the counter. This aisle could accomodate a wheelchair easily. Furthermore, the counter is low enough for a wheelchair user to comfortably place their items, and more so, it is not eye level and awkward.

In addition, the soft drink dispenser is also low enough for them to get their down drink. Although the counter is low, some of items are pushed further back. They may have trouble reaching items such as straws, lemons, or napkins. Another difficulty they might face is maneuvering through the restaurant. This may pose a challenge because the tables and booths are close together. The tables in the middle of the room are usually spaced out, which forces even able-bodied people to move around them and feeling cramped. What’s more, the bathrooms are very large and accessible. For example, there are handlebars along the walls, if one might need them. The mirror even goes down low enough to where a wheelchair user could see themselves in while they were washing their hands.

Entertainment

As we made our way to the Missouri Theater for the [fictitious] performance, we noticed that the sidewalk and curbs along 9th street were in acceptable conditions for a wheelchair user. Furthermore, we noticed that the sidewalk was wide enough to be walking along the side of your date, as well as having enough room for people walking in the opposite direction.

The entrance into the Missouri Theater has level ground and two wide avenues to the doors. On the right, exterior wall there is an automatic door-opener to assist those with disabilities. The theater’s entrance hall has an open floor plan; thus, many people can move around comfortability. Depending on where your seats are, there is a brand new, extra wide ramp that makes it easier to get from the lobby to the house, or using the elevator to get to the balcony. The balcony has additional handicapped spots so people with mobile disabilities are not limited to spots on the floor.

Throughout the theater, there are only a few designated areas for wheelchairs, one of which is located right along the aisle. Although this section is carved out for the position of a wheelchair, this limits the seating arrangements for the disabled. In addition, the aisles on the first floor are relatively narrow, so a wheelchair user would ultimately use most of space to get to their seating section. This might be problematic if there was an incidence of a fire or other cause for vacating the theater.

Additionally, the bathrooms have the designated handicapped stalls, but we noticed how the width of the stall-doors might be a bit problematic. For this reason, there are usually lines of people waiting to use a stall. If a wheelchair user were to be in line, or opening the handicapped door, it would essentially touch the people in line. Although most people would move out of the way, the fact that there is not enough room to comfortability move around might make it difficult for the wheelchair user.

Lastly, there is a small exhibit area near the bathrooms. The exhibit has a old fashioned camera, pictures, and a mural for visitors to walk through before or after the show. Although the exhibit is not very large, the hallway itself is fairly wide. You and your date could comfortability explore the exhibit side by side.

One critique we have about the theater is that depending on the show, people can not always reserve a certain spot. Some shows allow people to reserve a spot through the purchase of their ticket. However, if it’s general admission, then “it’s first come, first serve.” Nonetheless, one thing to keep in mind about the Missouri Theater is that it is an old building. It was built almost 100 years ago and back then, accessibility was not something that was considered. To maximize the handicap friendliness of it would take an incredible amount of money and drastic modifications. According to an employee, it’s money that the university doesn't want to put into it. Overall, the theater association is doing the best they can with the state it is in and the budget they have.

Privacy

We struggled to find a place to have some private time on our date. Tessa’s house, while closest to downtown on North 8th Street, was inaccessible. The only entrance to her house is through a porch that’s raised a foot above the ground and can only be ascended by a set of three steps. Even if a wheelchair user were able to get onto the porch by being carried, it would be extremely difficult to move throughout the house as the floors are literally sloped because the foundation is sinking since it’s such an old property. This made us think more about how socioeconomic status can intersect with ability. Especially in a college town, in order to live in a newly renovated building that would have more ADA-accessible features, it may cost more and a wheelchair user would be restricted in where they could live. Since we knew that Tessa’s house was out of the picture, we tried to go to a quiet bar to have a drink with our date. First, we headed to The Understudy, just a few blocks from The Missouri Theatre. However, since the The Understudy is based in the basement of Kaldi’s, the only way to enter was through a single set of stairs. Luckily, Craft Beer Cellar was right across the street, so we headed there:

Unfortunately, we faced a similar difficult. A ramp at the entrance only leads to a closed-off alley on the side of the building, and the entrance to the basement bar also required a set of stairs to enter. Because two of the closest casual bars were inaccessible, we settled for a cup of coffee at Kaldi’s. The fact that bars were inaccessible, made us think more about how disabled people are often seen as unable to drink alcohol and aren’t typically associated with parties. Kaldi’s was more accessible, although still difficult to navigate:

If our date wanted to order for themselves, the line to the counter would be a tight squeeze and require some things to be moved out of the way. In addition, some seating areas would be off-limits, such as the elevated section toward the back of the coffee shop and the bar seating. We would be able to move chairs from a table so our date could sit across from us, but they would be unable to navigate between aisles as the chairs and tables are packed so tightly next to each other. Ultimately, it would require significant planning ahead of time to pinpoint a place for private time that would be accessible in order to not make our date try out multiple locations while on the date.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we realized how difficult it can be for a handicapped person to “simply” go on a date with someone. Due to not being wheelchair users ourselves and taking a observing-position on the matter, we probably missed a few difficulties a handicapped person might face. However, we did our best to look at all the positives and negatives within our total-date-environments, and it forced us to think about how we could play a role in being more accommodating and critically think about which businesses and spaces we choose engage with.