Joely Ramos

Dr. McKenney
LEI 3707
12 June 2016
Reflection Paper: A Mile in Their Wheels
Many times I take leaps of faith into the unknown expecting to learn about the world, its
hidden treasures, and the many paths I have yet to take. Along with those realizations, in my
unique journey to Europe, I ended up discovering different angles of my own character and the
severe need for love and compassion that our world is craving. My story starts from the moment
I first typed the email about my interest in the Inclusive Leisure Study Abroad Program. Without
that vital action, the whole rest of this paper could possibly have been void. With that said, I will
not let the small courage needed by the ten other
students that joined me on this trip pass over my
head. In addition to the bravery needed by the two
adults that took on the challenge of watching over
us curious college students while being a whole
continent away from home. As Lao Tzu would agree, the journey of a thousand miles begins
with one step. Our one step was deciding to commit to our interest regardless of the odds that
were against us financially and safety wise.
May 6th marked the first day that all 13 of us united in flesh and bone, with some
exceptions in which the digital world came in handy. Up to this point in college, we recreational
therapy students have heard a lot about the Americans with Disability Act in our classes and
studies. However, The Music Within truly set the tone for what we had been hearing about the
last couple of years. Yes, we know we can make a difference. Yes, we know we shouldnt pity
people with disabilities as if they were aliens or had some weird type of malady. Yes, we know

there are laws to help those who need adapted accessibility. But no, we never understood the
roots and stories from which all that we learned was coming from. There is power in personal
testimonies and real stories being transmitted to other. The movie was based on a real story,
which meant real people like us could make real differences, and I feel that watching The Music
Within gave us an idea on where to start. Watching this before the trip let the words of Dr.
Padrow settle in my mind the whole rest of my time abroad. He quoted, you dont need to
change their minds about the peoples disabilities, you need to change their minds about
themselves.
Just some days later, the emotions of that movie would become a real life experience for
the beat of my own heart. On May 12th I landed in Rome and explored the city until I could no
more. Literally, I spent the whole day walking to wherever I could to see anything I could and
ask and listen to whatever I was able to. The freedom
was so real that I was in a state of awe for about a
week straight, not completely believing that the soles
of my feet were actually touching European ground.
Two days later class begun and little did I know how
much I was about to learn about my own mind and lack
of experience which needed time to develop if I wanted to be greater, just like Dr. Padrow
predicted.
Our first assignment was to look for Italian laws that affected people with disabilities in
the country and how it compared to the ADA in the United States. Superficially, this assignment
seemed like busywork assuming that the laws would either be exactly the same as in the U.S.A.
or nonexistent at all. To my surprise, there were a lot of benefits for people with disabilities,

especially in the area of work for people with sensory limitations. I also found out that schools
dedicated solely to special kids are banned, and Intisar, one of my roomies, kept bringing up
the beauty of inclusiveness found in this law. The clich saying that knowledge is power
weighed heavy on me now. Im not really into
laws and the logistics of many things, but after
our conversations about how the United States
has advanced in accessibility but not enough
that its fully fair yet, I realized that I HAVE to
start getting more into it if I really want to
push for change. Peoples perspectives of what a disability is are SO different from one another
and even from the lawful definition, that if I dont try to see it from the governmental view, I will
be disabled in my own knowledge of reality. I know that disabilities are not always mental,
physical, sensory, or obvious. Many times disabilities occur within our own hearts when we stop
realizing that each one of us as human beings are created equally and have the same chance of
becoming vulnerable to the hardships of this life. However, even though thats deep and a very
true thought, there are moments that my optimism needs to be set straight so I can pick up the
cruel reality of labels that have been placed in our society. Without these specific definitions,
categories, and laws it would be difficult to express needs for any specific community of people.
It wasnt long before our class did their first wheelchair simulation learning activity. Im
not sure Ill ever be able to fully express the emotional rollercoaster I went through doing this
activity. I believe I experienced feelings I didnt even know existed inside of me because of how
personal everything felt the moment I sat in that wheelchair. Let me not skip to that part yet so
that I can first explain more about how it went as the pusher or assistant of the student

Tatiana, my other roommate with a very different personality than my own (but still lovely) in
the wheelchair. I am already naturally an overly caring person, but when I become the assistant
of someone that is partially dependent on me to enjoy the beauty
of a new place thousands of miles from home, my nurturing
instincts go into overdrive. In my people pleasing tendencies, I
wanted to make sure everything was going so perfect that I
probably annoyed Tatiana with all my talking and reassuring. It
was so hard and exhausting because no matter how nice and
smooth I wanted everything to go, there were many bumps in the
road, literally. Sidewalks were so small and crowded with
obstacles, like trashcans and bikes that we were strolling down
the side of the road hoping a car didnt launch her before a hard mound on the road did. Going
from sea level Miami, Florida where the biggest mountain we have is a pile of trash on the side
of the highway, to Florence, Italy where your walk alone to the nearest supermarket is probably a
workout, was our physical challenge of the day. We dont realize how privileged we are until we
experience the just-enough-to-get-by sidewalks, if any at all,
of third world countries.
Ironically enough, the most exhausting part of this
activity happened when I was sitting down. Being in that
wheelchair and exploring the same city I once explored freely
from a lower eye-level came very testing for me. My desire
for human contact was hurt deeply when we crossed a main
street between two tall, beautiful buildings and even the

gypsies that would normally ambush us, stayed away from what seemed like the poisonous
wheelchair I was riding on. Then, I almost lost all hope when we visited a monument where
every room had an informative tablet in the middle describing the paintings on the wall that I
was infatuated with. First, I went to the middle of the room and an old senior couple standing
there looked at me and when I smiled to show my appreciation for their close proximity, they
walked away. Positively, I thought to myself
that maybe they were just done reading and
eager to go to the next room. However, this
mindset changed when the same thing
happened in the next room, which was not as
crowded and the young person had just walked
up to the tablet so I knew they were not done
reading. At that moment, I became upset because I thought the concept of untouchable was
being forced on me as if my wheelchair was all they saw and that I was unacceptable to associate
with. I know I may sound a little exaggerative, but at the moment I was frustrated and
exceedingly delicate to my surroundings because a couple of hours ago I felt that those same
people would have stayed in their place or at least smiled at me and acknowledged my presence.
I may just be overthinking, but also may be right, the latter is scary but is the true life many are
living currently and I cant simply be okay with it.
Depending on others to take me where I need, to make a way for me, to laugh with me,
and to struggle with me, was mentally draining. There is a peculiar challenge of whether or not
you want people to treat you differently because you are in a wheelchair, and even though you
can do everything an able bodied person can do, you need some modifications and common

courtesies to do it comfortably. For example, I was walking through a crowded room and one of
the workers there politely walked in front of me excusing people out of the way so that I could
make it across without hindrances. At this moment, my
emotional process was all over the place because I was
trying really hard to see what this would have felt like for
me in the long term if I was actually injured or had a
condition that required wheelchair assistance. Was I upset
because I could have done that myself even though it
would have taken more time and I wanted to show that I
am independent? Or was I grateful because of the
intention of this worker was good, sincere, and probably
part of her job description as a representative of the church? This was a constant thought process
throughout the whole trip and I think my final reflection on it is that this feeling, just like every
other feeling, will vary from how each person takes the moment. A variety of things play a role
into how a person will take what is being done for them, but overall its about whether you are
looking at the cup half empty or half full. It takes a brave person, persistently looking for the
light in a dark world to live joyfully in a place that most dread being destined to someday.
It was on the stairs of Santa
Croce that I noticed my mind was
being opened to ideas that mattered
more than I was previously aware
of. Therapeutic massages were now
significant and not just another fun

technique recreational therapists aimed to do for people with disabilities. I personally felt the
soreness and tension in my muscles from being still in a wheelchair for about 3 hours, and I
could only imagine a whole day or lifetime. What I once would have voted out, I now saw as
absolutely necessary and even cruel if neglected. This same day we looked for specific
accessibility requirements inside of the church and the findings were incredible. There were
ramps everywhere but they led to a set of stairs, making no sense to have them there in the first
place. I would almost feel taunted if I had to visit places like this, one-after-another traveling so
far to see the same thing I could see through the pictures posted online. On the other hand, I did
eventually grow to understand the struggle of modifying monuments and how the job can almost
be like taking an original piece of history and throwing it away. Both historical conservation and
aesthetics have to be considered when thinking about changing an environment to make it more
easily available for some people. Yet, I believe that there are ways around it like using assistive
technology, mobile ramps, and lifts which can be added and removed whenever desired.
Specifying specific hours that these technologies would not be obtainable would balance out the
need for modification and the desire for preservation. I noticed a lot of inaccessible areas more
when I was told to look for it, then when I was selfishly
admiring the art around me, which gave me a wakeup call
about our lack of sympathy due to our own fulfilled longings.
We need advocates willing to more often place others before
themselves and live vicariously through the experiences of
our societys underdogs.
Some unnecessary comments, long naps, and hilarious
games of charade later we reached Paris, France. The 8 hour

train ride was worth every second we passed the glowing sun and beautiful, snowy French Alps.
I have never been to New York, but if I had to picture it in my head, Paris was the perfect
description of what I envisioned. We went from art nation to fashion district, where even the
Burger King staff were dressed nicely. Although I was missing the small town feel from
Florence, I also liked the night life vibe that Paris gave off. Our fancy ride to the hotel in an
empty coach bus all for just the thirteen of us, to our even fancier Hotel ATN really set the mood
for the rest of the week. I LOVED IT! That is minus the misunderstandings that occurred in
between, but we are past that now. A good nights sleep and I was ready for our next unscripted
journey.
One of my favorite things about Paris is easily the metro system. If we had superlatives,
Im almost guaranteed to have won most likely to get lost so figuring out this huge city was
pretty adventurous for me; good thing I didnt mind. On
our first full day in Paris we were headed as a class to
Stade Charlety when Kristen, certified hair braider and
peer, almost got CHOPPED IN HALF by the vicious
closing metro doors. Luckily, shes still intact and I can
continue to ask her to braid my hair on lazy days.
However, after the buzz of that learning experience our
group was split up and each smaller group of us now had
to work together to get to the stadium. Id say it went
pretty well on my side and I learned a lot more about train routes than I thought I could in one
hour. When we finally reached our destination, which would have taken triple the time if we
were in wheelchairs, we all met up and began our tasks.

At first, the HandiSport event was kind of tedious because it started so late compared to
the time that we got there, but my mom taught me that all
things valuable are worth the wait. The post I was
assigned to was the exit for athletes with disabilities to go
through when they were done competing. I got to meet a
handful of athletes, mostly with physical disabilities,
including Lawrence and Kamar. Lawerence was missing
one of his lower limbs and would read my lips whenever
we spoke, but I cant say for sure if he had a hearing
impairment or now. He lacked no ambition and was full
of life, filling the room with joy whenever he walked in. Ill tell you about Kamar later because
hes a story of his own. I loved seeing how everyone interacted with each other and gave one
another room for celebration, but also frustrations. Many of them would roll inside and be upset
because they felt like they couldve done better or like their one time to shine was wasted. At this
point, I realized that the emotions people with disabilities felt were no different than everyone
else. This was obvious before, but I feel as though being back there and seeing how they cried,
trained, and rejoiced over the same things any other athlete would, was a small moment that
became a big, reality.
The nervousness and tension in the air all seemed to disappear once they began running,
javelin, and high jumping on that field. So confidently and in-sync people who were deaf and
others with no lower limbs would zoom to the finish. One guy fell so much that he practically
dragged himself to the finish line more than he ran to it, but the point is that HE FINISHED. As
Tracey Maher would put it, it doesnt matter what happens between the start line and the finish

line, what matters is that you cross both. Observing such an event that proved the majority of
thoughts people have about
individuals with disabilities wrong,
was truly inspirational for me. It
pushed me to contemplate what
barriers I need to stop stressing and
what goals I need to start heading
towards NOW, not caring what happens in the process as long as I reach the destination. I saw no
barriers in that place that day because each person present was fully confident in their own
abilities which triumphed any doubt that tried to stare them in the eyes.
The second day of the event, I sat down to watch most of the HandiSport event with some
of the girls in my class, intentionally looking out for the friends we had made the day before. As
we were leaving the stadium, we bumped in Kamar, which did a fantastic job in the high jump
section, and his coach. Little did we know that this
unplanned appointment would turn into a story session that
pushed us all out of our comfort zones. After talking to the
young champion of India and his trusty sidekick, we
agreed on having them come to our class debriefing session
in front of the eighth world wonder, the marvelous Eiffel
Tower. (Side Note: I still couldnt believe I was having
class in front of the Eiffel tower in Europe). What was
supposed to be our guests listening to us flipped quickly
and we ended up asking about their experiences instead.

We learned that Kamar was born with polio due to the mischievous act of someone who injected
him with a fake cure for the disease. This caused him to have a big limp but an even bigger heart.
He shared with us how his friend was not able to join them that night, or any night that they
planned on going to the Eiffel Tower because of inaccessible routes. What he really wanted us to
take away from all we had been absorbing was to not just be talkers, but doers, because hes met
a lot of people who know a lot but have changed nothing. Just like faith without deeds is dead, so
is knowledge without action, and he was sure to make that clear to us our entire time from there
on. As a class we went and had dinner with him, met up with him the next day, and even took the
elevator to the highest point on the tower at night. It was great to practice what we had been
talking about all week, inclusiveness and the fact that a disability doesnt affect a persons ability
to be a great friend. Truly, people can do whatever they set their minds to as long as they are
willing to work hard enough for what they so badly want.
As our time abroad was coming to an end, we still needed to visit the Lourve, one of the
most world known museums in the world. The twist to this is that I had to walk into it
completely blind folded, starting from the hotel. This was more trying for me than the wheelchair
simulation and within the first ten minutes I
was ready to slam the blindfold to the ground.
Then, I remembered this is real life for many
people. Although, a lot of people are born
without vision, many are also dispossessed of
their vision for various reasons and slamming a
blindfold to the floor isnt one of their options
or solutions. Strong emotions were overtaking me, my body confused, and my mind distrustful.

This could happen to me at any time because disability does not discriminate. Being a young,
college student, with a strong foundation was not going to magically protect me from one day,
God forbid, having to live with something as unfamiliar as losing my sight, or even my legs, or
arms, someday. I was going to pull this through, whether I liked it or not, because someone else
in this small world had to do and I wanted to understand them at least one little bit more than I
thought I did then.
Crossing the streets, I adopted batmans ears and could hear the lady across the street
dropping her keys along with the conversations around me that I would have regularly been
oblivious of. The box with the man holding a
stick forward that we saw at every crossway
in the city came to my mind now and as I
asked for Tati to reach for it, we found that
the button was on the bottom of the box. It
made a quick, loud beeping sound to advise
us to go and slowed down before it
completely stopped. On longer roads the sound was harder to listen to but I appreciate the citys
concern of placing it at every light to ensure secure crossing. The bumps and grips on the ground
and stairs never mattered more than they did right now. Neither did the amount of
communication between Tati and I, which was my biggest challenge. She wanted me to simply
trust her to guide me and I wanted her to just tell me what we were doing in detail. Not knowing
where Im standing or which way Im facing is miserable and made me feel like a robot taking
orders. We argued more than normal because she knew what was best visually, but I knew what
was best emotionally, and both are important so without a common ground it would be a rough

day. Eventually, I just shut down and listened so that I would get through it quick enough since I
felt that I couldnt really defend myself or have time to explain my mood right then and there.
Art is my thing, its my flow, my hobby, my stress reliever, and go to activity. Being
surrounded by it and not being able to analyze the details was killing me softly. It was really cool
of the museum to have some braille descriptions, audio followings, and a tactile gallery. It was
obvious that they tried to be inclusive of those who could not see.
Walking through the museum I was already in a bad mood, but
hearing descriptions and hearing references to things I had seen
before helped to lively me up. The mind is a powerful thing, more
can be created there than there are enough materials in the world to
build. I wondered how a sighted guide would have helped me if I
was born without visionhow would they describe anything to me?
Really, I came to the conclusion that people with disabilities are so talented, courageous, and
hardworking at breaking down barriers that I wanted to embrace my abilities like they do in so
many areas of my life. After this, I was going to have to speak up and advocate for something,
anything at all that would better the world.
In the tactile gallery, Tati did a great job of describing to me what she was looking at and
placing my hand on top of what she was describing. My favorite part of art is the emotion it
makes you feel so I would constantly ask her what facial expressions they were making, and the
answer was always just a regular straight face. At first, I thought she just didnt see what I would
have seen if I could look at these models myself. I wanted more than her emotions and bland
descriptions of color with no emotion. However, later on when I was able to take of the blindfold
and look at the art myself, I pointed out every sculpture she had described and set my hand on

because it looked in person just how I had thought about it in my mind. I apologized for my lack
of trust in her guidance I realized how important it for both of us to LISTEN and BELIEVE that
we meant what we were saying not to boss around, but to help. Hellen Keller was right when she
said the only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.
One of the last things we did in Paris was one more
wheelchair simulation, but since Italy and France are so
different, so was the experience. This time we had to go to
Sacre Coeur, translated to Sacred Heart, which was what felt
like on Jupiter. Taking the train there would have been so
easy, but since I was pushing someone using a wheelchair, I
knew that the jaws of the metro would not mix well with our
trip. Since that was the case, we decided to walk, or should I
say hike, up the slanted, narrow streets all the way to the
breath taking church view. There was no way I would have made it without the help of Ardith,
the student I was pushing uphill. We decided to count ten seconds that she would push herself
and ten seconds I would push her. Team work
truly made the dream work using this method. It
gave her a sense of independence and me a
moment to refuel so that I could do my job well. I
constantly tried reminding whoever I was pushing
that they were not a burden to me and to ask me if
they needed anything because I knew what that felt like and flashbacks of strolling through the
mercato in Italy would pop up in my mind every once in a while. One of the most horrible

feelings in the world is feeling like you are the reason for someone elses trouble or pain, so
being intentional about expressing positive words of affirmation was a key component of
assistant and person with disability relationship. I
understood why many people that have
disabilities are often seen as frustrated or cranky,
and its simply because they go through so many
emotions and rough days that its be inhumane to
ask them to keep those feelings to themselves.
Instead, now that I knew what my fellow peers were somewhat going through, I tried to increase
my thoughtfulness of what they are enduring and that made the activity richer for us both.
All in all, elevators and bathrooms seemed liked the least of the problems in comparison
to the emotional and physical exhaustion that comes with being labeled as disabled. Sacre Coeur
made a great place to stop and reflect, so this is where I was my last day in Paris. I thought about
our professors, Dr. McKenneys biggest lesson to us all being that the laws about accessibility
are the bare minimum, but its more about the spirit of the law. How we need to change our
mind before we can change the world, and how this trip
really did that for me. I took this class already, but I
hadnt lived this class like I did in Europe. My eyes and
ears hear and see way more now than they did on day one
because the music within is more tuned than before. I
wouldnt undo anything about this unscripted journey for
all the money in the world because with this experience
Ive gained a richness no one else can give me. This

paper and even the things I felt through it are just a drop in the ocean of what is really happening
in the world around me. I will never fully know what someone else is living, but I can try to
understand it. This trip helped me do exactly that so I will be forever grateful for the opportunity.
My goal now is to increase awareness of leisure education and accessibility needs, bring forth
challenges that make people think of someone other than themselves, and encourage better
relationships between assistants and clients in recreational therapy. The biggest barrier is lacking
love for our neighbor, so if I can break the walls of hatred down one at a time by building a
bridge of understanding, than Ive fulfilled my purpose. Thank you for coming this far along my
voyage, but I encourage you to live out your own now and find your own tune. Remember what
Mother Teresa said, We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But
the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. You matter.