When living in New York City, public transportation is often the lifeblood to accomplishing everyday tasks. One of the most unique and popular forms of transportation is the subway, but what if just getting on and off the train was considered a successful day In a New York Times op-ed piece, Sasha Blair-Goldensohn addresses just this. He accounts his struggles of navigating the outdated and broken down New York transit system.
Blair-Goldensohn began using a wheelchair after a tragic accident in Central Park, and he realized systems that once were benevolent to him now impeded him from living his life to the fullest. Routinely bombarded by broken elevators, he is forced to either extend his ride to the nearest accessible station or rely on the kindness of strangers to carry him and his wheelchair up the stairs.
“New York’s subway is by far the least wheelchair-friendly public transit system of any major American city, with only 92 of the system’s 425 stations accessible. That means fewer than one in four stations can be used by people in wheelchairs when elevators are working — and they frequently are not,” says Blair-Goldensohn.
