In October and November 2014, I blogged from New York City and conducted wheeling interviews with disabled New Yorkers. Our conversations in the city taught me more about what it means to wheel New York City. I made eight video blogs to share these experiences and also to document my research methods. Wheeling NYC Video Blog: […]
Continue reading Wheeling NYC Video BlogWheeling NY City, the blog
During October and November 2014, Laurence Parent will be blogging from New York City, where she will be conducting interviews with disabled New Yorkers and learning about what it means to wheel New York City.
Inaugural flight
29th November 2014I am leaving New York in a few hours. I will be flying alone for the first time in my life. I will be braving an inaccessible plane and inaccessible bathrooms (here’s hoping that my flight will not be delayed and that my bladder will cooperate). Air travel is not exactly known for its accessibility […]
Continue reading Inaugural flightAlejandra and Nick
28th November 2014
Last week, I met Alejandra Ospina and Nick Dupree at their apartment in Tribeca, Lower Manhattan. It was the second time I had visited them. Alejandra and Nick are partners and disability rights activists. Nick has complex care needs and is vent-dependant. After years of fighting to get 24/7 home care, Nick moved to New […]
Continue reading Alejandra and NickLast interview
26th November 2014I was supposed to go to Long Island today to meet the last person I was going to interview before I go back to Montréal on Saturday. But… winter. The roads were slippery because of a mix of rain, freezing rain and melting snow, and the person I was supposed to interview cancelled. At the […]
Continue reading Last interviewWe are the danger
24th November 2014
My new friend Andrew and I decided to visit the MOMA today. The museum is busy but we still enjoy our visit. We find and create holes in the crowded galleries. Our wheelchairs are incredibly helpful in making up the space we need to move. The negotiation of space is happening without a hitch until […]
Continue reading We are the dangerLe grand écart
22nd November 2014
Au cours des 24 dernières heures, j’ai appris deux choses en me promenant à New York. En faisant la file à une caisse d’une épicerie de Brooklyn, j’ai appris qu’un-e new yorkais-e sur cinq a recours aux banques alimentaires pour se nourrir. Source: Food Bank for New York City En me promenant sur l’avenue Madison […]
Continue reading Le grand écartWho does winter belong to?
21st November 2014One of the great things about spending fall in NYC, besides meeting amazing people and having the time to wheel around the city, has been the warm weather. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t happy every day that the weather was significantly warmer in NYC than in Montréal. NYC extended my summer […]
Continue reading Who does winter belong to?Unusual
20th November 2014
The gap between the platform and the train is a different height every time I get on the subway at Bleecker Street station. Sometimes there is almost no gap at all and I get on the train smoothly. Sometimes the gap is high and I doubt I will be able to make it. I have […]
Continue reading UnusualWheeling with Sunaura Taylor: From the Bay Area to NYC
18th November 2014
Sunaura Taylor is an artist, writer and activist. She lives in New York and is currently doing her PhD in American Studies at NYU. Beasts of Burden, her forthcoming book, explores the intersections of animal ethics and disability studies. I met Sunaura Taylor in Washington Square Park on one of the first cold mornings of […]
Continue reading Wheeling with Sunaura Taylor: From the Bay Area to NYCMy twins
16th November 2014I am wheeling on Mulberry Street to go back to my apartment. It is another beautiful fall day in New York. There is a woman with a dog talking to another woman. As I pass by her, she asks me: “Where’s your dog?” “I don’t have a dog.” “Ah sorry, I thought you were that […]
Continue reading My twins