‘Spend A Day In My Wheels’ Challenge Helps People Understand What It’s Really Like To Use A Wheelchair (+podcast)

Sunday, April 28 2024 by Rafael Sierra, Jr.

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Alex Johnson (center)
Aaron Sain/Friendship Christian School
Alex Johnson (center) & people taking the challenge

K-LOVE’s Positive People – by Rafael Sierra, Jr. (complete podcast available) (more Positive People stories)

Nathan Johnson from Lebanon, Tennessee, wanted his son Alex who uses a wheelchair, to feel comfortable and have equal access to facilities in public places – just like others do. To help people relate, the Lebanon, Tennessee, family came up with the Spend a day in My Wheels, Wheelchair Challenge, showing people what it’s really like to use a wheelchair.

“The majority of people will come up and say how eye opening it was. How they’re going to try and be more accommodating. How they’re going to try and help in some way.”

Student navigating vending machine
[Photo Credit: Nathan Johnson] Spend A Day In My Wheels

“He came to me when he was in fourth of fifth grade wanting others to experience what he had to deal with every day as a wheelchair user,” says Nathan, who helped Alex create the challenge. He says it’s a way to give non-wheelchair users a chance to attempt to do their normal tasks in a wheelchair. But Alex says, using a wheelchair is not that easy.

Teacher helping student
[Photo Credit: Nathan Johnson] Spend A Day In My Wheels

“They had to go to the bathroom and go the water fountain. They had to go to the football field and back. They had to do just things that seems simple, until you’re in a wheelchair in which those things become more difficult.”  Alex says, despite the difficulty, the majority of participants come up to him after the challenge and tell him how eye opening the experience was.

Alex’s principal talking with teacher at school
[Photo Credit: Aaron Sain/Friendship Christian School] Spend A Day In My Wheels

“I’d like people to learn that it’s a way to help, it’s a way to advocate for those who felt that this was just the way things are.” Alex says the wheelchair challenge is a way to help people get their voices heard and understand the difficulties people have so that change can happen.

Alex & Nathan Johnson, Ashley Davis Exec. Dir. Permobil Foundation, Kathy Edson Asst. Dir. Permobil Foundation, November 2021
[Photo Credit: Jon Cornelius] Spend A Day In My Wheels

Listen to full interview below:

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