In October I took
24-day trip to Miami and Orlando,
Florida. I had been there before, but it is always so nice to be back.
I just love this
place. Love everything there; the warm weather, the fun parks and people
smiling everywhere , the restaurants, lakes, and of course the shopping. There
is a place where you can find anything you want. But, especially for me coming
from Brazil, there one thing that I enjoy the most and even feel I little bit
jealous, the ACESSIBILITY!
Yes people, I consider everything there accessible,
at least for someone in a wheelchair. I saw ramps everywhere, the buses were
accessible, the parks, hotels. There was not a place where I could not go.
Maybe for people in
wheelchair who were born in a place like this they may think that it´s not a
big deal. But think about someone who lives a different reality.
Imagine you living in
a wheelchair, not having a car, and the place where you live doesn´t have an
accessible bus? It becmes almost impossible to leave the house, to work, and do
other things. It is very sad. Well, but let´s go back to the trip.
This time we rented a
very nice house so everyone could be accommodated with comfort and space. The
good thing about renting a house is that you almost feel like you are at home.
The bad thing is that you need to make your bed every day. You need to go to
the supermarket to buy some food, but its fun and makes you feel like living in
a different country for a while.
During my flight from
Miami to Orlando the people from American Airlines very badly damaged one of my
wheels. I realized that it would be impossible for me to use my wheelchair like
that, so I went to the baggage claim and told them what happened. Fortunately,
I was very well cared for by the American Airlines staff.They immediately put
me in contact with a company called " Quest Mobility Solutions" that supports
them in these situations. As soon as they contacted the Quest staff, I waited
only 15 minutes for one of them meet me at the airport and check my wheels. I
highly recommend their services because they were very efficient.
Well, with the wheels were fixed let´s go have
some fun!
This trip we went to
three parks; Universal Studios, Island of Adventure and Magic Kingdom. It´s so
exciting and so much fun to be there. People in wheelchairs can participate in
all the attractions, even the rollercoaster. But I do not recommend it if you
don´t have good strength in your upper body. Some activities you can do without
transferring from your chair. For others you need to transfer. Right in the park
entrance you find a map that provided very detailed iformation about all the
attractions and whether you need to transfer from your chair.
While I was at the
Island of Adventure Park I saw many children in wheelchairs, with different
disabilities, been guided by monitors wearing t-shirts from "Miracle Flights.org". I thought that so interesting and looked over
the internet to see what that´s about. Miracle Flights for Kids® is
the nation's leading nonprofit health and welfare organization with a mission
of helping families overcome financial obstacles by flying their seriously ill
children to receive proper medical care and to get second opinions. It sounded
like such a neat job and made me feel very glad to see those children having
the opportunity to travel and have fun.
Well people, I suppose
I could tell you just a little bit about my emotions and feelings during this
trip. Perhaps I could tell a lot more, but the essence is here and you won´t
get to tired to read it.
To wrap up my final
message is, "People with disabilities, please don't be afraid to overcome the
barriers of travelling to a different country. It's so exciting and we all,
with no exceptions, have the right to do it. Let´s travel everyone." J
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