Blog Bio: Finally, a doctor helps me, a maskless patient

Has fear erased the need to accommodate those with disabilities?

Those who know me, know I am put together with artificial joints, metal, plastic, glue, and screws. I have lots of limitations. My throat is compromised. I can only touch my face with one hand. I also have any number of allergies and sensitivities to medications and food.

In this era of masks, I am part of a subset of persons who cannot safely wear a mask—and that’s according to both ADA and CDC. As long as everyone was masking. it meant I pretty much stayed home.

However, I still had doctor appointments. I needed to see my regular doctor at Family Practice and have my yearly labs. I called my doctor’s nurse and, talked to her about my problem. My doctor said to come in.

When Keith took me in, a couple of ladies in the entry let us know we needed masks (Keith already had one on) and to use the hand sanitizer. I said I could not do either, but that I’d already called. They checked and let me go in. Not one person stopped me or even glared at me during my appointment. They made a reasonable accommodation.

More recently, I tried to set up an appointment with a podiatrist at Platte Valley Medical Group. However, when I let them know I couldn’t wear a mask, you would have thought they’d never heard of such a thing. After 15 or more minutes, I was passed onto another person who asked why? I explained. I was treated with politeness, but nothing I said mattered. No mask. No seeing a doctor.

The next day someone else called and, nicely but firmly, grilled me as to why. It didn’t matter. They made absolutely no accommodations for people who like me can’t wear a mask but who wish to see a doctor.

Yet, not being able to wear a mask is very real. According to this Disability Issues Brief Developed by the Southeast ADA Center and Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at Syracuse University entitled The ADA and Face Mask Policies, “The CDC states that a person who has trouble breathing, is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove the face mask without assistance should not wear a face mask or cloth face covering.”

Other reasons include claustrophobia, PSTD, and severe anxiety. What about businesses? According to the above article: If a person with a disability is not able to wear a face mask, state and local government agencies and private businesses must consider reasonable modifications to a face mask policy so that the person with the disability can participate in, or benefit from, the programs offered or goods and services that are provided.

Platte Valley Medical Group offered no accommodations, which means they were not ADA nor CDC compliant. This medical establishment made no way for me to see the doctor. No mask. No medical care. No accommodations for those who require medical treatment.

I tried another clinic in Kearney with a podiatrist. The woman at the front desk who answered my call took my information, but before we settled on an appointment I explained I couldn’t wear a mask.

She reiterated what became the party line. “Everyone has to wear a mask.”

However, she offered to have the manager call, which she did. She offered a semi-reasonable alternative—to stay in the car until called. I accepted and made the appointment. Since the appointment was in early March, I hoped for a day that wasn’t freezing cold.

Still, though I still felt like a second-class citizen again, I am thankful this medical establishment was willing to follow ADA guidelines to make reasonable accommodations. Let’s hope others, medical establishments as well as stores and other businesses, start doing the same.

© 2021 Carolyn R Scheidies
Published 3/15/2021 Kearney Hub Column
Feel free to share

Blog Bio Before the KSC/UNK campus was accessible

Recently my oldest grandson and I exchanged emails. I asked him if he would be able to attend his college courses in person this fall or still have to attend online. He answered that he would be able to physically attend classes, but he preferred online.

I told him I hadn’t had such choices which led to some interesting stories. He wanted to hear them and that got me remembering. Back in the early 1970s, my parents were looking for a college for me to attend. At the time, my father had no church so we were free to move to any place with a suitable college, one with a journalistic program and one where I could get around on campus. (I had one year at a community college all on flat ground.)

Getting around to classes was no small thing as I was in a wheelchair I couldn’t even wheel myself, though I could peddle a bit with my feet. Also, there were no ADA laws making it clear that colleges and businesses needed to accommodate those with disabilities.

After visiting what was then KSC (UNK), we were told they would help me get to my classes. Obviously, no one really considered what this meant. Nevertheless, my parents, my younger brother Paul and I moved to Kearney, which felt like home right away. (My older sister was married and lived in Kansas.)

After we settled in Kearney, my pastor father was once more called to serve a church—this one in Canada. Since we all loved Kearney and Dad would soon retire, Mom and Dad decided only Dad would leave to serve the church, while the rest of us stayed here in Kearney.

That created an interesting problem since my mother did not drive, leaving my high school brother as our only driver. He took me to college on my first day and got me to my first class. Somehow, I did get from class to class that day. At the end of the day the person wheeling my chair left me outside a building that is no longer on campus. I wore a warm cape, but the skies were threatening and mist threatened to become rain.

Paul was supposed to pick me up, but he didn’t. I tried to turn around. I saw he and two friends entering a building too far away to hear if I called. Obviously, they were looking for me. I was getting cold, praying, and wondering what to do. A woman saw me out of the window and took me back inside.

We tried to call my home but got no one. There were no cell phones. She knew who I was from church and decided to take me home. I was so grateful. On the way home we passed Paul who’d gone home to check if I were there. When I wasn’t, he headed back to the college.

He saw us and, thanks to the kindness of a stranger I was OK. When he got home, Paul added to the story. After unsuccessfully searching, he contacted the security office—campus cops.

He explained the situation. “My sister’s in a wheelchair and I need to find her.”

The officer on duty appeared bored. He glanced at his watch. “I’m going off duty now. If you haven’t found her by morning, let us know.”

Thankfully, unlike Campus Security, a stranger cared enough to get me home.

The old administration building consisted of three or four floors with no elevator. When I had classes in the ad building, I’d call my professor and explain I was in a wheelchair and couldn’t do stairs. Most professors assigned young men to wait at the bottom of the stairs and carry me up chair and all. Those were some wild rides.

These guys were kind and treated me with respect.The problem came during test time. As soon as someone finished the test they were to leave. No one thought—including the teacher—how that affected me. It left me at the end of the day stuck on a top floor of the ad building, mostly emptied of teachers, students and almost everyone else.

Paul would never find me, though by then he pretty much knew where I’d usually be for pickup. I had one option—prayer. It was frightening to be stuck with no options. Suddenly, up the stairs came someone I knew.

For some reason, she had business up there that afternoon. She was surprised to see me and shocked at my situation. It didn’t take her long to find some strong arms to carry me back downstairs. I was so grateful!

I can’t say how many times I needed a ride and how thankful I was for the kindness of complete strangers who helped me get around when I “got stuck.”. That was especially true in Winter when sidewalks were cleared with only a narrow path for walking.

I graduated with many good and some scary memories and a heart of gratitude that I would remain in the town that, for the most part, welcomed me—Kearney NE.

© 2020 Carolyn R Scheidies
Published in Kearney Hub 8/31/2020
Read my autobiography The Day Secretariat Won the Triple Crown