Getting Set Up at My Desk
When I got back to my desk, my office neighbor, Vasanti, was one of the many who immediately wondered just what the hell was going on.
“I’m totally fine. I’m great. There’s nothing wrong with me! I am participating in a fundraiser to raise money for ALS. My friend Sarah spearheaded a #whatwouldyougive campaign with the premise being, what would you give up to help end ALS? There were different challenges – giving up your voice, your arms, your legs…I chose to give up my legs for the day.”
I must have given that elevator pitch about 30 times yesterday. And each time it was received with a bit of awe and admiration – which I wish I could have bottled up and shared with Sarah as she is obviously the one we should be in awe and admiring.
Sidebar: It's also rare that the words "I'm totally fine. I'm great. There's nothing wrong with me!" come out of my mouth. I think i should try that response on another day the next time asks, "How are you?"
Vasanti was so sweet, helping me move my desk chair out of the way and setting up my jacket to the side. My manager Elena also helped reinforce my #whatwouldyougive sign to the back of my chair.
I’ve got one of those sit to stand desks, so it made it very easy to adjust the height of the desk for the wheelchair. In this case, I had to actually move the desk down to make it comfortable.
And as soon as I got myself all set up, I realized I actually needed to go to the bathroom.
It’ll probably come as no surprise that the bathroom door, complete with it’s handicap sign on it, was the greatest challenge of the day. In short, there’s just no way to get that door open while sitting in a wheelchair.
I could reach the handle, but the spring-loaded door was way too heavy to push forward. And the threshold was somewhat elevated, making it hard to get the wheels through the door.
Fortunately, the men’s bathroom is located right next to the lunch room area, and so as soon as anyone saw me struggle, my fellow employees came to hold the door open for me. In fact, in two of at least the four times I had to use the bathroom during the day, it was a woman who helped hold the door.
Once inside, I made a bee line to the handicap stall, feeling a sense of pride that I was indeed using it appropriately!
That pride dissipated fast when I realized I had no idea how to make the transition from the chair to the bowl without killing myself, or touching toilet parts where no man should boldly go. I mean, I know about those bars next to, and behind the bowl, but what am I, a gymnast?
So I had to cheat. I got myself up out of the chair and sat myself down on the bowl. And as I sat there (are you visualizing this? got a good mental picture?), I wondered if there was a YouTube video on how to use a handicap toilet. And of course, there is. In fact, this guy made it look easy.
At Salesforce, like many tech companies, we have free snacks. We don’t have nearly the snack collection or the fine, free dining that Twitter offers, but that’s for another blog entry ;-)
As I wheeled over to our snack area, I was happy to see that I could reach all of our snacks which are housed either on fairly low shelves, inside pullout drawers, or within a sliding door beverage fridge. We also have a water dispenser that I was easily able to access.
What I had failed to realize, though, is that I didn’t have a cup holder, basket, or any other storage device on my wheelchair. So whatever I took, I’d have to carry on my lap somehow.
You absolutely need two hands to move a wheelchair, and with the momentum of your body, it’s not easy to keep anything still on your lap, especially a cup of water. So carrying anything from place to place in the wheelchair was a challenge throughout the day.
I decided to eat my snacks, and drink my water, right there in the snack area.
Most of the hallways at Salesforce are fairly wide and easy to pass through in the wheelchair. The main lunch room area has a lot of chairs, tables, and those giant floor pillows which made it challenging to get through.
The side hallways on the west side of the building are also fairly narrow for a wheelchair. But our main office space areas are pretty spacious, making it quite easy to get where I needed to go.
That being said, it takes twice as long to get from point A to point B. And it’s pretty tiring using your arms to propel you throughout the day. And my hands were getting pretty blistered as well. I did wear gloves, but I did still experience some tenderness.
As I wheeled myself through the hallways, most people greeted me with a smile. There are a lot of people who I don’t know on my floor – scores of recruiters whom I have never met before. And yet so many people greeted me with a smile as I passed by, much more so than when I normally walk on by. This was a really unexpected, and very pleasant surprise.
Later in the afternoon, I wheeled over to a section of the office where our HR business partners sit, many of whom I do know.
So it wasn’t too shocking when I received the requisite “what the hell happened?!”
Interestingly enough, as we started talking, two people mistakenly thought ALS affected the brain. So, this was a great opportunity to do a little education about just what ALS is.
But my favorite comment came from my colleague Wendi, who offered up the opportunity to take the ALS icebucket challenge while I was sitting in the wheelchair!
That would have been great theater! And maybe if I had a change of clothes – and some drop cloths to keep the carpet dry, I just might have done it!
By 3:00pm that day, I pretty much had this down pat. I got much more comfortable learning how to turn, go in reverse, and do a 180 in place.
But what I thought about during the day – and talked about a lot – is that people with ALS don’t use wheelchairs for the most part, if at all.
Most people with ALS, I imagine, by the time they may require assistance getting around, probably do not have the arm strength to move themselves in a traditional wheelchair. They are more likely to use a motorized scooter with a joystick control to get around. This is what Sarah is currently using.
And while a motorized scooter is certainly a lot easier to get around in, I couldn’t help but think that anyone with ALS would probably trade ALS for being paralyzed from the waist down, and using a traditional wheelchair for the rest of their life, if it meant living into old age.
I also thought about how I could use my arms, my voice, and feed myself throughout the day without any assistance – things that a person with later stages of ALS may not be able to do.
By 5:30pm I was ready to head home. It was a long wheel back to the Embarcadero BART elevator, and I had to make a couple of stops as my arms were tired and my hands hurt.
And down on the street, I felt that humbling feeling of being lesser than others, simply from being physically lower down and staring into their butts as I waited to cross the street.
It’s a little unnerving trying to get across a crowded busy street during rush hour. I almost crashed into a few people and had to work hard to make sure I hit and cleared the curb ramps. I really, really wish I had worn a GoPro camera to bring this to light.
But once I got back down onto the BART platform and waited for the train, I knew the hardest part was over. My train arrived, I cleared the gap, found my handicap space, locked the brakes, and was pretty much done.
I am so honored to have done this for my friend Sarah. And have been so appreciative of all the emotional and financial support I have received from people I know from all parts of my life – and people I don’t know who have also supported the campaign!
As of this publication, I have now raised $3,600 standing at number 7 (of 75) on the “leader board.” (I can’t help my competitive streak!)
And the team of 75 fundraisers has now raised a total of $99,030 to date through 1,023 donations. Keep in mind, this is a grassroots campaign that Sarah started herself! I'm sure we'll clear $100K today, especially as Rob Goulding, Sarah's husband, takes on the challenge of using a wheelchair for a day today.
But the campaign is NOT over. It goes through the end of August. And for those of you who were thinking about participating in and/or supporting the ice bucket challenge, I encourage you to dump those buckets of ice . . . and then send your financial support to the #whatwouldyougive campaign!
Thanks again to everyone! And for good fun, because I can't live life without it, check out one of my all time favorite quotes from Seinfeld.