How do you get to work using a wheelchair

4 Jun 2012: As a person with a disability who is in a wheelchair, I am always having to think about how wheelchair accessible some places are.

The truth of the matter is that I am unable to get off my driveway safely because the curb is too steep. There are also no footpaths around where I live. My home is my castle and my island.

So, after taking the risk to get off my property onto the road and push myself to the bus stop to hop on the bus to get to work – I then have to hope that a bus comes along that is wheelchair accessible.

To my surprise I have found that most busses in my area are wheelchair accessible.

I still then have to somehow make my way from the bus stop to my place of work. The paths where I work are not flat and in some instances very steep.

You are probably wondering how I get to work now? My husband, Andrew, drives me to work and pushes me into my workplace.

It would be an interesting experiment to get myself to work independently and blog about this experience. You never know, I may get to work in one piece. However on the return trip home, the bus I would like to catch is not wheelchair accessible. I would have to wait an extra 30 minutes for one that was. Which makes me feel frustrated as the question needs to be asked: Why are not all busses wheelchair accessible? And needs to be answered.

Discovering that there are so many wheelchair accessible busses is lovely but, they all need to be wheelchair accessible – people who use wheelchairs need as many opportunities as everyone else to get where they want to go within a reasonable time frame. I wonder how many people go, oh well I could have hopped on that bus as it is going in my direction, but I think I'll sit here and wait for the next one, just for fun!

Have you experienced frustration at getting to places, especially work? Do physical access barriers stop you from looking for work? I'd love to read your stories.

Until next time!