Date Night

It was just another Thursday in the Student Center when we overheard a conversation involving this beautiful woman in a wheelchair. She was chatting with her friend about how she was on an existential journey to find the perfect sweet potato french fry. A woman after our own hearts, we decided as a group that we had to approach this sweet potato connoisseur. At first it was awkward. We must admit, it is hard getting a girl’s number as a group of four. But we are all charmers and eventually had her chatting us up like close friends. That is when we made our move, and asked if we could take her out for the best sweet potato fries in Columbia. She was skeptical at first, thinking she had already had the tastiest sweet potato fries the city of Columbia had to offer. We said nay, and told her to meet us at the corner of 9th and Elm St. at 6 PM. After some thoughtful pondering, she agreed.

Our wonderful date will start with dinner at Ingredient (home of the best sweet potato fries in Columbia), then a movie at Ragtag, as well as some quiet, relaxing time in Peace Park. Our route, as shown below, will consist of quite some distance that will need to be covered. And although Columbia is known for many things, quality sidewalks are not one of them. We took the time to explore several possible routes from Ingredient to Ragtag and from Ragtag to Peace Park. In many instances we came across cracked, narrow or inclined sidewalks where a wheelchair would not be able to pass through (pictured below).



We made edits to our route and found that the route outlined below would be the safest one as well as fairly accommodating for someone in a wheelchair. Although, by no means, was it perfect. In fact, to find a perfect route for a wheelchair user in downtown Columbia is almost impossible.



Although Ingredient is the home to the best sweet potato fries in Columbia, we did find that eating in the restaurant may prove to be difficult for someone in a wheelchair. For instance, the walkway that the restaurant uses to funnel in customers to the cash register may be a little too narrow for our date. The counter for getting napkins and drinks may be a little too high as well, and many of the tables were too close together to be able to eat at. The bathroom was probably the most accessible part of the restaurant.



Our next destination was RagTag. We found that it was very accommodating for our date, and we faced very few issues. Both theaters had a seat or two sectioned off for a wheelchair user. There were also accessible exits and wide paths out of the theaters. The ticket booth, water dispenser and tables were all fairly accessible, being at about the right height for a wheelchair. The only problem we found with RagTag was its relatively high concession stand/bakery counter.



Peace Park, nevertheless, was another difficult destination. The path, for example, was fairly steep on one edge of the park leading to the university, and could be hard to navigate using a wheelchair. Additionally, most benches sit on the grass with no concrete leading up to them. A good thing to note, though, was the curb cuts leading into the park. Although the park is a romantic atmosphere, it definitely was not the best option for a carefree end of our date.



Afterwards, the four of us and our date had some time to reflect on the accessibility of the city of Columbia. Although we are generally a pretty forward-thinking progressive area, we are far from accessible. There is a lot of work to be done. But, our date said she "had fun and maybe we could do this again sometime?" Fingers crossed.