Shopping While Disabled
- Jun 14, 2018
- 3 min read
In theory, shopping while disabled should be easy. In a perfect world stores would have spaces to sit down, a wide open layout with ample space, accessible fitting rooms, and products within reach. Those of us who are disabled are more than aware that we do not live in a perfect world, and that going anywhere while disabled is an artform that takes careful preparation, lots of practice, and recovery time.
Whether the store is so big and so obviously lacking in seating options and you find yourself resting on the floor to avoid falls, or you can't fit your wheelchair in the "accessible" fitting room, shopping can be a hassle for us. Not to mention the separate struggle of finding clothes that work for our bodies. Maybe you need magnetic closures as a result of losing fine motor skills, maybe you need an odd size to accommodate awkward weight gain or weight loss thanks to an illness, maybe you need specific fabrics due to allergies or discomfort. There are a lot of factors that go into finding clothes before the store itself even comes into play.
Online shopping is a godsend, sure, but what do you do when the shape of your body changes and you have no idea what size you are anymore? Do you trust the sizing charts and your own measuring abilities, or do you go into a few stores to gage your new personal range of sizes? Personally, I don't trust myself with a measuring tape (I don't even own one), so now that I've started losing major weight due to health issues, I had to go into the physical store in order to find what fits me.
On a day like today (or rather a month like this month), an outing means bringing my wheelchair. I don't have a custom chair yet, and the chair I have now is big and heavy and clunky; meaning all the inaccessible stores are just that harder to maneuver through (without dragging down clothing racks). So I taped up my knees to avoid pulling braces on and off all day, and we hit the road.
The first store we went to was the Urban Outfitters where I work, and thankfully I had no issue. I also understand that since I work there and am familiar with the layout, it might not be the best store to base my comparisons off of. All I will say is that I had no issue with getting my chair around the store, and the accessible fitting room had ample space for me plus my chair plus another person if I required help transferring (as some people do).
Our next store was H&M, which went fairly well. The space was a bit tight, and some of the product was slightly out of reach, but it was fairly okay. The accessible fitting room was large enough, but it had been blocked off with a clothes rack because obviously disabled people don't actually go outside and shop.... I had some luck there finding clothes that fit my body and my needs, so not a bad trip over all.
The last store was a nightmare, hence the reason it ended up being the last store - we had one more on our list that we had to skip. Forever 21. Oh Lord, Forever 21. The one I usually go to isn't laid out the same (though I've never taken my chair there), and this one was a shit show. A good 75% of the merchandise was hung either higher up on a wall or on these really tall Frankenstein like clothing racks. I couldn't reach almost any of it on my own. The store layout was bulky and crowded, and it was hell on earth. I ripped a stack of pants off of a shelf trying, almost knocked over at least four racks, moved another two racks with my chair, and actually got stuck three separate times. Their "accessible" fitting room had a sign on it stating "NO ENTRY - USE OTHER ROOMS" and we had to go hunt down an employee which was humiliating. Not to mention the fact that it was tiny! I could barely fit my chair in there, and there was no way I could see the mirror if I was unable to get myself out of the chair on my own, and forget fitting someone else in there to help with transfers - they could fit tightly on the bench and nowhere else.
Stores that are laid out and run under the assumption that they aren't actually going to have any disabled customers are a nightmare that can ruin the day of plenty of potential customers.
And people wonder why we shop online so much...
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