Are we making a difference?

I’ve just spent the last two weeks traveling in the U.K. and Europe for meetings, conferences and visiting friends. It was exciting to see the research that people are doing in other countries pertaining to mobility and improving function for people with spinal cord injuries. However once I got outside  the sheltered world of the research centre, hospital or conference centre the environment that people must negotiate is still challenging. There are many considerations being made such as more lifts (elevators), slopes to curbs, and automatic doors that make life easier but because it is still inconsistent whether an accessible route is available it is always a guessing game how we might get somewhere. Also because the cities are historically old, they keep the old cobblestone look even though they are the most difficult surface to negotiate and are actually painful. It’s painful to be the one in the chair and painful for my husband pushing, if he’s available.

The dichotomy between the precise research that we do both in my lab and in the labs in Europe and the real world leave me to think are we really doing the right research. Yes, I am a biomechanist and forces and angles are what I like to measure, but can I really make a difference when the lab does not reflect the true world? I am so fortunate to have a relatively easy life in Vancouver where accessibility is pretty much expected in almost every public venue so maybe I am only reflecting my work to what I see at home. But, when I travel it is so much different. Even Europe has developed standards for accessibility that have come a long ways. I was able to see a lot compared to what I might have seen 20 years ago, but the developing world has even more barriers  for people with disabilities, not just physical barriers but social and attitudinal barriers. Are we making a difference?