5K Weekend

I don't know how almost a month has passed since we walked in the 5K for AbilityFirst! It was such an crazy whirlwind of a weekend. I set us up to stay at a Residence Inn not far from the Santa Anita Race Track where the event was held, so it would be an easy morning the day of the event. We had the wheelchair accessible room at the hotel, which was just lovely, and I had rented a wheelchair van, which made life so-o-o easy that weekend. (More about that later in another post.)

Kevin was a bit edgy the morning of the 5K. It was hard to get him moving. I think he was a little nervous at the thought of all of the people and negotiating his electric wheelchair among them. We got out a bit later than I had planned, so we were cutting it awfully close getting to the race track, but that's also why I had us stay where we did.

The weather that day was perfect. There were maybe 300-400 people - many in wheelchairs and walkers - all milling around in the blue AbilityFirst team shirts before the start of the race, plus all of the other 5K participants. There were 7 of us in Kevin's team, Blue Wheels, and we walked as part of the Camp Paivika team. One of the gals at AbilityFirst made us a special sign with Kevin's picture on it to carry in the walk. This was the first year that anyone other than the camp director and her family walked representing the camp. And there were two other families in the Camp team as well. We would walk together, split up and come back together off and on through the course, which was partially in the LA County Arboretum (Beautiful!). Throughout the course were AbilityFirst volunteers and staff cheering us all on. After the walk, during the AbilityFirst awards ceremony, our team won the "Small, but Mighty" Award. We were one of the smallest teams, but we raised over $11,000! Our team's total was $3440 of that amount!

We stayed afterwards to have some lunch and to watch some of the horse races, which was so much fun! And at the running of the Santa Anita Derby, which is a precursor to the Kentucky Derby, Kevin picked the Derby winner - Sidney's Candy!

The night of the 5K, when we were back at the hotel I "interviewed" Kevin for his thoughts on the 5K day. I tried not to edit his responses too much. I've put a few explanations in brackets.

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Laura: So what did you think about the race today?
Kevin: It was excellent that there were so many people there. It was nice to see Kelly and Ken and Sydney [the Camp Paivika director and her family]. I was happy that so many of my family members were walking with me. It was great to see my old Camp Joan Mier camp director, Kelly Privett.

Laura: How did you feel when we first started out, when there were so many people around?
Kevin: I guess I am also working on my electric skills. I was relaxed, but it was not good when we first started because there were so many people and little kids around. That's why I wanted Dad behind me, so he could grab hold of the chair if I had to stop fast.

Laura: When did you start to relax?
Kevin: When it opened up and we were able to spread out a little more.

Laura: How about at the Arboretum - you started to really take off on your own.
Kevin: I just followed the blue shirts. I didn't want to be in the way if there were any other electrics. I didn't want to get rear-ended by another chair - that's when somebody accidentally runs into the battery in the back. And the battery is the strongest part of the chair - if you don't tip it over. [He chuckles: heh-heh.]

Laura: Were you ever worried about tipping over?
Kevin: Nope - because my staff worked with me to not do that again after the last time I tipped in that chair. I guess you could say that I had my official team spotters.

Laura: What did you think of that peacock? [The arboretum has peacocks and geese that live on the property. One approached Kevin when we had stopped to take pictures.]
Kevin: If I moved, it would have scared it and all heck would have broken loose [heh-heh].

Laura: Did you have any trouble while we walked?
Kevin: It was one of the most easiest courses in the world.

Laura: Once we got back into the race track area - what did you think?
Kevin: The hills and the tunnels - it was honestly like the Pirates of the Caribbean. Uncle Greg was teasing me that the tunnels got smaller and darker, but it was easier to manuver because I was in control of driving the chair. If I didn't like it, I could slow down.

Laura: How did it feel when you crossed the finish line?
Kevin: Good. It was very nice - thrilling. It was good, people were cheering me on.

Laura: What did you like about that?
Kevin: They had horns and flags and pom poms. They were saying things like "Go, Kevin" and "Good job!" They were shaking my hands and doing high-fives, but it's hard for me to do high-five when I'm driving because I can only use one hand. It was a little hard once we crossed the finish line. [There were a lot of people stopping to get free drinks and snack bars.] I didn't like the crowd because I had to slow down.

Laura: What about when we got the medals?
Kevin: That was excellent, emotional a little bit. I was proud of myself. I want to get this all on DVD so I can show my workshop. They are partly responsible for me doing so well. My family and your friends were a big help, too.

Laura: So you were really proud of yourself?
Kevin: Yes, I was. Special people can do anything that they want to do. And let's face it, I run the risk of next year not going to camp if I didn't do this.

Laura: Why did you want to do this?
Kevin: Because it's basically fun. And it was easy because we had the wheelchair van for the weekend to get me over there.

Laura: Will you do this again?
Kevin: Yeah. I would. I think that personally I could have handled the other course, because my chair goes fast down hills, but when you go uphill, it controls it automatically.

Laura: Would you encourage others to do this?
Kevin: Yes. I would. Because it will help other families go to camp and it will make them feel good.

Laura: How would you describe the day?
Kevin: Nervewracking, tiring in a good way, and exciting [with a nod of the head and a big smile].

Uncle Walt's Magic Kingdom by the Freeway

I can't believe I've actually gone over a week in this blog without addressing Disneyland. Kevin really loves going to Disneyland. So do I (for those who know me -- shocker, huh?). It's usually one of the first trips we have to plan when I'm home for a visit. When I was a kid, our grandfather, Popeye (long story explaining that; just go with it), worked for a company that would rent Disneyland for a five-hour private party once a year -- a "Family Fun Night". Our whole family would go every Fall, for 20+ years I would guess. I was an infant the first time I went, and so was Kevin. I didn't actually go to Disneyland in the daytime until I was 11 or 12 years old.

Now Kevin and I go when I come home for my longer visits, so usually twice a year. That's really all he and I need. We have a pretty regular routine when we go due to some access issues...and some Kevin issues.

Don't get me wrong, Disneyland is great for wheelchairs as far as I'm concerned. They were one of the first theme parks to make an effort to work out an alternate entrance for wheelchairs, before the ADA laws even went into effect, I believe. Usually we'd just go in through the exit of a ride bypassing the long lines, but in the past we've gone through janitor's side entrances/closets, service elevators, and kitchens. Some of the alternate entrances weren't necessarily up to the Disneyland standard of the facade they usually maintained for guests, but if it would help get someone in a wheelchair into an attraction, they did it. Plus for regular Disnoids like us, it was fun to go where the regular public wouldn't see.

Because of the Park's age, there are some attractions that just can't be adapted, and that's OK as far as I'm concerned. But over time, they've added special boats to it's a small world and the Jungle Cruise. And special seats and ramps for the Carousel and the trains, things like that. Now, they've designed so many of the new attractions to have special wheelchair accessible cars in neat little special loading areas. The only bummer is that newer queue areas have to be built to be accessible, so we have to wait in lines again! If we go on those rides, anyway.

We tend to stick to the classics, so we have our own entrances and special lines to wait in, so we can usually do what we want easily in a day's time. We're in no hurry, so we'll go to shows and we'll visit with people waiting in line with us. And there's an instant rapport with the other groups who have family member in a wheelchair, particularly because you will run into each other a lot during the course of a day: in lines, in the special areas along the parade routes, or the wheelchair seating at Fantasmic.

If we're talking with other regular visitors, we'll exchange notes on recent or upcoming adaptations, and swap little tips such as making sure that the line attendant at small world knows if you can transfer or if you need to stay in the wheelchair and use the special ADA boats. On that ride the special boats (nicknamed the Yellow Submarine and the Pink Cadillac) move with the flow of all the others, so if you miss one, you have to wait the full length of the ride for it to come around again. So, in our already short line -- which has gotten longer in recent years -- Kevin and I will still often get to cut ahead.

If we chat with tourists, we'll point out the other adapted rides and tell them about the "secret" bathrooms, as Kevin calls them. We'll chat about wheelchairs and the best times to hit an attraction when you're in one. Or when to stay away because the pedestrian traffic will be so crowded, it would be too hard to negotiate a chair.

Several years back, we discovered, quite accidentally, the specially equipped boat for wheelchairs to ride on the Jungle Cruise. Kevin hadn't been on that ride in probably 15 years. When he was younger, we could carry him down into the boat pretty easily, but as he got older, he just would spaz out (literally), and it became way too difficult to get him in and out of the boat. But we rode the Jungle Cruise that day, and although Kev was a little shaky and clutched the bar of the ramp with all of the strength that left arm would muster, he had a nice time. And he wanted to tell someone official that he liked it. So on our way out, we went to Disneyland City Hall, so Kevin could let them know. I told him that he was the one who had to talk. There was a brief wait, but when it was our turn Kevin rolled right up to the counter and told the host that it was "really, really good" that there now was a wheelchair boat for him to use.

As we headed out to get back to the car, Kevin said to me, "I think they were glad I told them that."

A JC Penney Portrait

Who doesn't have at least one of these photos? In Monrovia, there was a free-standing JC Penney on Myrtle Ave. Our dad worked there when I was little. It had a main floor and a basement. I can still see how the staircase wound downstairs in the middle of the store. The photos were taken down on the lower level.

My mom would get us matching outfits, and our cousins would generally get their photos taken at the same time. Often these photo outfits were our Christmas outfits as well.

This one was taken probably in late 1972 judging by my haircut. Kevin would be about 19-20 months old, so his cerebral palsy was probably just diagnosed in the few months before this photo was taken.

A Kid's Eye View

Little kids have always been drawn to Kevin. They like his wheelchair and going for rides in it. They like it when he sits on the floor playing with them, and they like to climb on him. He's down on their level. And Kevin still genuinely likes to play with cars or blocks once in a while.

I have five teenaged cousins who came along when Kevin was in his early to mid 20s. What's been interesting to me is watching as the kids grow from toddlers to teens and they really begin to observe Kevin. As they get to be around 4 or 5, they start to question why Kevin doesn't walk. The simple explanation is that Kevin's legs don't work like ours. And a 5 year old will accept that and move on. That's just how Kevin is.

By about 8 or 9, you can see them watching Kevin, seeing him playing a card game on his own with the other adults, but then needing someone to help him read directions for a board game that the whole family is playing, or maybe he needs help cutting the meat on his dinner plate. Kids get that Kevin is a "grown-up," but something isn't quite the same as with the other adults. As they reach 11 or 12, you see them starting to make little offers of help (maybe with a little prompting), particularly at the dinner table, offering to pour Kevin a drink or helping to serve him some food. They're OK when someone gives Kevin a little extra help playing a game.

Then by 14 and 15, the kids just seem to get it. They start to take a different interest in Kevin, ask how his wheelchair comes apart, watch as I help him transfer into the car things like that. They help bring Kevin in and out of the house, hold his wheelchair if he needs it, move pieces of furniture out of the way so Kevin can get through a narrow space, offer to get him a drink, assist with a game, all the things that he needs a little extra help with, but they understand that Kevin fits in a special category, and they never treat him condescendingly.

What I wonder, sometime, is what Kevin thinks as he sees babies who crawl grow into toddlers who can walk, then run, then drive and such when he can't. I should ask him sometime.