The word inclusion is defined as the act of being included

I know in my life I can look back on times when I was outside of the ‘act of being included.’  For instance at 5’5 1/2″ I was not included in very many basketball teams.  Sometimes I was included in a broader sense but not included the way I longed to be included I was on the football team, but being short and relatively slow I was not blessed with the physical requirements required to excel at a sport built on size and speed.  Yet I as a person have never battled inclusion in basic life.  I can traverse most landscapes, I am able to climb or get over any of the obstacles I may run into in my life.

Yet these days I find myself waist deep in this concept of inclusion.  Maddox has a wheel chair that is valued at 2 times the values of my truck, this wheel chair is a hefty 62 pounds and is crash tested.  I know your probably thinking “That’s awesome… I want a personal tank too!!!”  On the flip side Maxs’ wheelchair is not very agile, its wide and bulky.  It does not climb steps well at all, not does it do well on steep downhills.  Some inclusion issues are relative, so I have to find other ways to take Max deep into the woods or out hiking in difficult terrain.  Inclusion also becomes an issue in retail stores, restaurants, and entertainment venues.  Is it enough to get in the building but not be able to experience its contents.  Isle ways are narrow, I have more than once pulled entire sections of retail clothing off the shelves after assuming we could fit, as well I have inadvertently taken chunks out of the interior walls of many stores.  I have felt the awkward looks while waiting for a table at a restaurant in a waiting area that is congested without a wheelchair.  I find myself working to push the inclusion line, I can’t go to the store and buy a bike trailer that Max can sit in nor can I get a child carrier hiking pack that is designed to give him the support he needs.  Inclusion is on my shoulders, it’s up to me to be creative about how to get Max out in the middle of the woods or several miles in to a good bike ride.  We all face issues of inclusion, but usually is decision or preference based and in isolated instances.  Fighting for inclusion as a way of life is a new thing, but the only other option is forcing Max to sit at home… and what kind of life is that.