By Amy Saffell
We’ve all dealt with people who struggle to see past our disabilities to the true core of who we are: our capabilities, our ambitions, and our passions. Sometimes when I’m being treated with a lack of understanding and respect, I retreat from the situation as quickly as possible, but I often wonder if those people ever do come around in their thinking or if possibly a lack of people with disabilities in their lives leads to continued ignorance. After all, these kinds of lessons are usually learned from a personal connection with someone, not from far-reaching media stories, particularly since there hasn’t been as much media coverage on disability awareness on a large scale basis...until now!
ABC’s show “What Would You Do?” puts actors in morally compromising or discriminatory situations and shows if the public around them comes to the aid of those in the situation. Hosted by ABC News veteran John Quinones, the show sheds light on many of modern society’s injustices. When they hosted a contest to find a new scenario to film, I jumped at the chance to tell them about experiences that I’ve had relating to my disability. I had only seen one scenario with a person in a wheelchair before, and while I can’t claim to have seen every episode, I do try to catch it whenever I can. With that episode featuring accessible parking, I wanted to bring to light some other attitudinal barriers that people with disabilities face. As time went by, I honestly forgot all about my submission, so imagine my surprise several months later when someone from the show called to tell me that I had been selected out of 12,000 applicants to fly to New York for the taping of the show. I was so excited that not only would I be going to get to experience the sights of The Big Apple for the first time, but also, and most importantly, that viewers would get the chance to hear my story.
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With only 9 days to plan my trip, the call from the producers set off a whirlwind of activity getting ready for the trip, from working with the show flushing out the scenario to planning sightseeing to beefing up my collection of winter gear since I live in Tennessee where, even though we have snow, we’re much more of an indoor culture. Thanks to Big Apple Greeter, a volunteer service that pairs native New Yorkers with visitors, many of their clients encompassing special populations such having a disability like myself, we were paired with a wonderful guide, Sami, who made sure that we saw as much of the city as we possibly could during our short visit. It was amazing to experience a city with such a rich culture.
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You’ll have to watch on Tuesday night, February 22nd to see how the show pans out, but I was so grateful to the producers for taking such care in making sure that these issues were handled with accuracy and respect. Everyone took a genuine interest in making this episode a success, and it was an honor to be involved, to meet everyone, and to see how it was all done. It was the experience of a lifetime that I’ll never forget. I hope that, because of this show, we all have a little easier time with those who don’t truly know us for who we are.
