Perhaps your readers would like to know how much I continue to enjoy
the museums despite the fact that multiple sclerosis has now confined me
to a wheelchair.
There was a time when many of the museums’ services were denied to me,
because everything was not accessible.
Now I go again to look and listen, to learn and participate in virtually
everything. It’s like a visit to a French pastry shop and being told to
take my choice after being restricted to a diet. What a feast of entertainments!
The museums are easy for me to visit now. What I need is in place — handicapped
parking space, ramps, elevators, accessible restrooms, wheelchair locations
and helpful people. Best of all, I have a feeling of belonging. Because
my wheelchair is uncomfortable for lengthy stays, I sit in my own collapsible
chair. I can do this in the grand old Carnegie Music Hall where I first
attended Pittsburgh Symphony concerts 60 years ago. I can do this in the
Carnegie Lecture Hall and The Museum of Art Theater. In all three I can
see and hear everything and do not disrupt the enjoyment of others. It’s
good to know that all museum and library facilities are accessible now.
There are ramps and elevators where long flights of stairs faced me before.
Since the Americans With Disabilities Act was signed into law by President
Bush on July 26, 1990, our nation’s minds and hearts have turned to helping
the “physically challenged.” I felt proud and patriotic when my wife and
I visited the massive Capitol of the United States in Washington. It is
the capitol of my country and I was as welcome there as anybody. Now Pittsburgh’s
grandest and most monumental building, the century-old Carnegie, is again
“mine”ùto enjoy and share. Never again will I be impeded and left
out by narrow doors, broken pavement, steps and stairs, high thresholds,
abrupt turn angles or parking spaces too far away to be practical.
At the Carnegie Museums people with disabilities are welcome and are
received courteously. We have a lot for which to be grateful.
Hax McCullough
Fox Chapel
