Leaving Treadmarkz Across the Universe

by Treadmarkz

About a week ago I wrote that I had applied for a position at my company which would be a promotion for me. Well I am happy to announce that I have been extended an offer and I have accepted.

I am definitely the only person in the building with a visible disability (aside from those who wear glasses - some consider that a disability). It never came up in my interview, as it has not come up since my first day there almost three years ago. The supervisors at that time were worried about my ability to get around the office, fit in the stations, etc., with my wheelchair. Which is understandable. They wanted to be sure that I would be comfortable in my workplace.

In my almost three years there, I only recall having two conversations with co-workers regarding my disability, and both conversations are recounted within this blog. I am glad those are the only two conversations I have ever had there starring my wheelchair. I feel that is the best way to success, to make the wheelchair a non-issue from the start.

by Treadmarkz

Normally on Earth Day I won’t go any further out of my way to pick up a piece of garbage laying on the ground than I would on any other day. That was the purpose of Earth Day to begin with, right? To raise awareness that we need to take care of the planet all of the time? It was not an end unto itself. It was a starting point.

Today though, I found myself rolling down a stretch of road that has always been particularly well studded with cans, bottles, cigarette butts, sandwich wrappers, etc. This is probably so because it is also a well traveled stretch of road. So today I thought why not take advantage of this situation.

Because I have found that when able bodied people are driving along and they see a dude in a wheelchair rolling down the highway picking up garbage that for all they know, they could have left there themselves, it tends to raise eyebrows. And I hoped they were thinking:

“My God, I never realized what a pig I am until now!”

All kidding aside, I would never suggest that people in wheelchairs are any less sloppy than anyone else in their habits in the proper disposal of garbage. I am in no way any more “Green” than the next guy. But it is fun to use the disability you have been given to make a point. For instance, if I wasn’t in a wheelchair, I might be seen as just another tree-hugger trying to look environmentally conscious for at least one day (which, today, was pretty close to the truth). But because I am in a chair, I get…that look. You know the look that says “Wow, look at him go, even he’s getting into the act! Well, shoot, I’d better get out my celly and buy me a windmill to put in my yard right this instant to catch up!”
I didn’t get anyone to abandon their SUV in the middle of the road and walk to work instead. Maybe next year.