The Traveling Wheelchair

METRO - Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
http://www.wmata.com/

After a very chaotic day of travel from the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington Virginia to the U.S Capitol, I am PROUD to say that I personally witnessed Barack Obama take the oath of office to become the 44th President and Commander in Chief of the United States of America. Congratulations President Barack Obama!!

I’ve traveled on the Metro many times during my visit to Washington DC in June of 2007 and on this recent trip to Washington DC to see the Inauguration and find it is fully wheelchair accessible. Every Metro stop has a handicap entrance from the street level to get you down to the subway level. This level is called the Mezzanine level and is where the ticket booths to purchase your tickets are located.

Metro employees are always available to help the disabled and guide you to the next area where you need to be. Once you purchase your tickets, you will need to take another elevator down to the platform area where you board the train.

Once on the platform disabled will be able to see red warning lights which mean ” do not go beyond this point” which prevent you from getting too close to the tracks and falling off the platform. The visually impaired are also warned of this danger for there is a special mat with bumps in it which signals danger and warns them to stop here.

When the train arrives, the doors open and almost every car has a special seating area for persons in wheelchairs. There are no tie downs to secure your wheelchair so make sure your wheelchair seatbelt is fastened and your brakes are locked.

TODAY, the Day of the Inauguration  was a lot more chaotic for there was a mob scene at the Metro and many people were pushing and shoving to try to get past me in my wheelchair. Many trains came by and when the doors open, my friends Tony, Ric, Kate and I saw no room for me in my wheelchair.

We had left our hotel very early this morning and were at the Metro for over an hour trying to board a train with no success UNTIL a very nice police officer, named Officer Ferguson came to my rescue. (THANK YOU OFFICER FERGUSON!). Officer Ferguson made room for me and Ric on the next train that came by. There wasn’t room for Kate and Tony, so they were going to be put on the train behind us and we were all to meet at the same stop.

Once on our train, we realized that the train did not stop at the scheduled stops so Ric and I got off the train three stops past our scheduled stop. Well then I became nervous for now we were really separated from Tony and Kate. Well to our surprise, Tony and Kate were waiting for us when we got off our train. I still can’t figure out how this happened since they took the train that left after us.

After seeing the wonderful and historical Inauguration that was well worth the confusion, we all headed back to the Metro, only to discover that the METRO WAS CLOSED at 1:00pm. We were originally told that it was closed due to a tragic death that occurred on the track after a person fell onto the track. We later learned that the person who fell onto the track was NOT killed and thankfully she was only slightly injured. We could easily understand how somone could fall onto the track for we, ourselves found the crowd to be like a MOB SCENE with many people shoving each other trying to get onto the train first.

My friends pushed my manual wheelchair to the next stop, only to find it was also CLOSED. We finally found a warm cafe to go into and  grab some lunch while we waited for the Metro to reopen. It was very crowded inside with many others who were waiting for the metro to reopen.

At 3:00 pm, the Metro reopened. American Soldiers were called in to help with the disabled, elderly and mothers with children. There was a long line of disabled waiting to board the train and when it came to my turn a group of soldiers helped me and my friends board the train :)

I still give Metro in Washington DC FIVE STARS for wheelchair accessibility and FIVE STARS to the officers and soldiers who help the disabled. Yet as for the crowds of people who are not at all sensitive or respectful of the disabled, I give Zero Stars.

We’re finally back in our hotel and are very tired but still very happy and excited that I was able to witness the Inauguration today. After a little dinner, we will try to post our review of the 2009 Inauguration which was also very crowded and very difficult to access in my wheelchair

Again, THANK YOU  Representative Steve Canessa  and  Congressman Barney Frank for thinking to give me tickets so I could attend today’s exciting and historical Inauguration!!

Inauguration review to come so Stay tuned!!