Home / Case Studies / A Day in a Wheelchair

By Jonathan

The day started off at the void deck of a HDB estate when I first got onto the wheelchair. Initially, trying to maneuver on the wheelchair was difficult as I needed to ensure that I was moving in a straight line and not strafing to the left or right. Controlling both wheels to move at equal speeds also meant that I had to use equal amounts of energy for both hands which was difficult at times and hence found myself not being able to move straight.

Another problem in maneuverability was the turning of the wheelchair. For example, when I wanted to turn to the right, I had to spin the right wheel backward and left wheel forward in order to orientate my wheelchair to the right. This was sometimes quite confusing especially to someone like me who has never been in a wheelchair. One major hindrance in turning that I realized was that for a person to change direction, he could only do so by rotating on the spot and then continued moving on. This made moving around in a wheelchair rather cumbersome and slow.

Being pushed to a ramp.

After several tries with moving around in a wheelchair, I set off together with my group members behind and one of them pushing me along. As we entered area of shophouses located in the low-rise HDBs, I was somehow feeling rather uneasy especially with some people swiping awkward stares at me on the wheelchair. Other than that, the amount of space for mobility through the shophouses was also quite limited and inconvenient for movement, especially in a wheelchair.

The main objective to go through the shophouses was also to reach the MRT station that was on the other side of the road. However as the only direct way across was via an overhead bridge (that was not wheelchair accessible), we had to cross the road to get to the MRT station which was further down the road. Furthermore, we also had to bypass 3 flights of stairs before we could find a ramp that could lead us down a pathway that further leads to the pedestrian crossing.

Me attempting to press a wheelchair friendly lift button.

Even as I was crossing the road, I could see some people crossing from the other side that were staring at me and made me feel rather uneasy. Due to the uneven surface of the road, the ride across was rather bumpy and jerky.

One of the most uneasy/embarrassing moments of being in a wheelchair was when I was in the MRT station/MRT itself. Although I was obviously seen in a wheelchair, I was not given priority to enter a lift (ironically, built for the wheelchair users and pram-pushers) leading up to the platform. Maybe it was out of pure ignorance or perhaps apathy that caused me to be left waiting for the next lift to the platform. However, the kinder side of man emerged when I entered the train carriage with the help of some commuters who made sure that the wheelchair was not stuck in the narrow gap between the platform and the carriage and pulled me in although the carriage was relatively packed.

My attempt to wheel myself up a long ramp.

After alighting at the next stop, we proceeded to AMK Hub, a newly-opened nearby shopping centre. The facilities around the place were generally good as there were clear signage as to where the lifts and ramps were. We then proceeded to the hypermarket in the shopping centre. General movement such as navigating through the hypermarket was quite okay given the relatively large walkways that were wide enough for a wheelchair to pass. However, the large crowd did contribute to bottlenecked walkways at certain sections of the hypermarket. I had also noticed some wheelchair-compatible shopping trolleys that were tucked away in an insignificant corner that was blocked by crates and boxes. One major problem I realized was that the only way to exit the hypermarket was to squeeze through the payment counter (as the entrance was a one-way gate) and this problem was aggravated by the constantly packed queues.

Convoluted instructions, with no direct lift access to the hypermarket.

After our bout in AMK Hub, we proceeded to a nearby hawker centre and had lunch. For a wheelchair user like me, it was quite a daunting task especially to maneuver within the array of tables and chairs given the constricted space between each table. However, I still managed to sit at the table and had my lunch.

Sitting at the hawker centre table.

In conclusion for my (half a) day in a wheelchair, I felt that this was quite an experience that gave me a deeper insight into the difficulties and problems that a wheelchair user would face, not only with regards to the inaccessibility issues but also the psychological aspect and the unfriendly glares and annoying stares that they had to endure. This whole experience also invoked me to be more empathetic towards wheelchair users in our community.

The immensely packed state at the hypermarket.

The express queue does not cater to the wheelchair user with the metal bars obstructing.

By Chi

I took over from Jonathan in the afternoon after lunch. It was very awkward at first, trying to maneuver the wheelchair with this unfamiliar method of locomotion. I tried propelling myself using my 2 arms; I was fast tired, and could not move as fast as my normal walking speed. After getting myself used to the wheelchair, the group set out to the MRT station to begin our journey to our school.

We passed through the same HDB estate, although we took a different route. Most, if not all routes to specific places around the neighbourhood has only one single wheelchair-accessible route. We had to take long detours to avoid stairs and to find ramps. Most ramps build to bridge kerbs and roads are well designed, but some are just too steep.

Wheelchair going on uneven and potmarked ground.

Even small kerbs or flights of stairs, commonly dismissed by people as just another unnecessary step up to another plane, has become barriers that cannot be tackled by a wheelchair. There were a few examples of laughably bad design: ramps that started at a kerb, and ended on another kerb, with no other ramps in sight. My friends had to, at numerous times, tilt the wheelchair to enable it to travel up the kerbs. It is impossible to do it without external aid.

We passed by a bus interchange, and wondered whether there were any wheelchair-friendly facilities, even though the wheelchair-accessible buses do not ply the route. We found that the boarding bays had kerbs to the road with a height of at least 30 cm (nearly 12 inches). A lot of the buses have a metal grab pole running in the middle of the back door; this forces any wheelchair users to enter and exit through the front door, which will usually be swarmed by commuters boarding and alighting.

The group moved on to the MRT station, and I was left together with Jonathan at the side of the station while the other 2 went to get some drinks. I felt the glares of the passing commuters. I agreed with Sherena; it’s okay to look, but staring hurts. I remember a few men and women keeping their gaze on me as I sat there, even going so far as to crane their neck backwards after they had passed me.

Going through the wheelchair-accessible ticketing gates.

After getting our refreshments, we went on to enter the boarding platform. A number of commuters had clearly saw my group and I coming over to try to enter the boarding gates; I had saw them looking at me before averting their eyes after I looked at them. However, some still went ahead and used the sole gate wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, even when the other gates were empty. What was worse was that the people coming in from the other direction had casually looked away, and all the same tapped their cards and continued going through the gate, oblivious to my group and I waiting on the other side for the gate to clear.

What shocked me was an incident occurring when we were boarding the train. After waiting for alighting passengers to clear from the exit, Jonathan pushed me into the train. However, a middle-aged woman suddenly rushed past us, knocked into Jonathan, and swore at us in Hokkien vulgarities before exiting the train. Hui could make out a bit of what she was saying; something along the lines of ‘why knock into me’.

We reached the school without much trouble, other than the usual assortment of kerbs and low platforms. We found that the 3rd and 4th floor of the Junior Block in our school was impossible to access with a wheelchair, with only stairs linking the levels up. It was funny that there were clean and fully equipped wheelchair-friendly toilets in these floors, because the one on the 2nd floor was malfunctioning, and the one on the 1st floor was used as a cleaner store. However, the entire 7 levels of the S. Rajaratnam Block was accessible by lift.

There were the usual problems of the canteen being too cramped, the water-coolers being too high, and the corridors being too narrow.

After my half-day in a wheelchair, I have definitely gained an insight into what actually happens when one uses a wheelchair for locomotion. The unfriendly stares of passers-by, were especially hurting. However, there are still good people in this society, with many members of the public doing their best to lend a helping hand to my group and I.