Sometimes, from the tranquility of the rehabilitation center, I had to visit UZ Gasthuisberg, where it was always very busy. I went on the internal bus service, and as soon as I arrived at the big hospital, I was immersed in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.
It was the first time that I really felt myself to be a disabled person.
UZ Pellenberg, April 2017
Today I take the shuttle bus to the big hospital. Another examination.
“Mr Williamson?” Shouts the lady.
I can’t see her, but I move cautiously in the direction of her voice.
“You can wait in waiting room A and B,” she says.
A and B.
I can hardly imagine how I can wait in two waiting rooms at the same time, but I choose not to say this out loud.
“If you just go around that corner you can wait halfway down that corridor.”
She makes a movement with her hand, but it’s too fast and I can’t follow it.
“OK, thank you,” I say, and I go to the corner at the end of the room, where I now see a large orange sign with white letters: “Waiting room A and B”, together with an arrow to the right.
That explains a lot.
Carefully I look around the corner, but then InI have to stop for a moment. Waiting room A and B appears to be one long corridor. There are people sitting on boththe right and left. It’s difficult to estimate how many people there are, or the length of the corridor.
There is just enough space to pass between the people sitting left and right, to look for an empty seat. At least that’s what I would have said a month ago. Now, I’m not at all sure.
I move very carefully between the people, and I feel how they see my uncertainty but don’t understand it. I’m visually scanning, right and especially left, but now, for the first time, I’m aware of justhow far my head is moving from left to right. I wonder what that looks like.
If a foot sticks out a little further on the left or right it looks to me like a huge obstacle.
I’m a few metres along the waiting room, when I remember I still have to find an empty seat. But because there are so many people close together, everything is confused and I can’t see if there is a seat available.
For a moment I think I have found one, but when I get closer, I see that someone is wearing trousers with the same green color as the chairs. I carry on looking.
About halfway down the corridor I see a space on the left, which turns out to be three empty seats next to each other. I aim for the right-hand seat – why the right-hand one? – and I feel behind me with my right hand towards the seat.
“Well, that could have turned out worse,” I think, as I lower my rear end towards the seat. Or, more precisely, and much to my dismay, on to the unnoticed armrest!
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