On her way to her English class, senior Claudia Rivera focuses on the daunting stairs in front of her. She broke her leg in November on her way to a rehearsal for the musical and was wheelchair-bound for weeks.
And even though she has recently been able to start walking on crutches, Rivera wishes the building was more accessible and fitted to her needs.“It was really hard when I was in a wheelchair,” Rivera said. “There were people passing by and I couldn’t really move out of their way. It was really hard because one day you’re just walking and the next day you’re not. It’s really depressing.”
Freshman Carolyn Martinez tore her ACL, a major ligament in her knee, in September due to a soccer injury and had surgery to repair it in January and started using crutches.
“I can move it and everything,” Martinez said. “I just can’t put weight on it. That’s why I’m on crutches. I have to wake up 20 minutes earlier and I have to take [my brace] off, put my clothes on and put it back on. I have to get out five minutes early from class. I always take the elevator. Sometimes I’ll miss a little bit of notes from the end of class, but I’ll usually get them later on.”
Both Rivera and Martinez have missed out on activities due to their leg injuries. Rivera is excited about recovering and getting to walk again but feels sad about not playing her role in the musical, “The Wedding Singer,” since she was at the hospital and had to miss 10 straight days of school. On her first day back at school after her accident, she could not go to clinical rotation at the hospital with her class due to lack of wheelchair accessibility and her weak condition.
“I knew I wasn’t going to be able to go, but I just had that little hope that I was going to go,” Rivera said. “When they told me I was not going, I just cried. I just stayed in the classroom alone.”
Martinez is glad she does not have a more serious injury although she cannot play soccer, her passion, until she fully recovers.
“[It has been] five months now not playing soccer and I miss it,” Martinez said.
Both Rivera and Martinez are glad when classmates consider their situation and help them around. Rivera is glad she does not have to be bound to her wheelchair anymore, since she says people would stare at her and make her feel uncomfortable.
“It was embarrassing being in a wheelchair,” Rivera said. “I would have people slam the door on my face. I think people should be more considerate [and] make sure they’re not in anyone else’s way.”
Martinez says she feels a little anxious about her recovery but knows she will get back to playing soccer again.
“I feel happy [but] at the same time I haven’t put weight on this leg,” Martinez said. “And it has gotten weak, and I’m afraid it might hurt a little bit. But I know I’m going to get through it.”
Despite the school’s accommodations for handicap accessibility, Rivera says she will still have difficulty getting to her classes until she is completely healed.
“A lot of people think it’s really easy to get around [in a wheelchair],” Rivera said. “I used to think it was really easy until I fell. I feel like they need to experience it first before ever judging how it would feel like.”