Living Handicapped in Hawaii

Living in Hawaii is GREAT, right? Well, it can be, but there can be some negatives too.

So let's look at the positives:

1. Great weather almost all of the time.
2. Friendly people (it's called the Aloha Spirit)
3. Interesting places to see and things to do

Those are the main things that make it a great place to live.


The negatives:

1. If you live on certain islands, in certain places on the islands (the windward side of most islands for example), the weather is not always great. For instance, The local tourist industry of Waialeale (in Kauai) has promoted it as the wettest spot on earth (sometimes the second wettest).
2. Like anywhere else, people in Hawaii can be rude. I'm in a wheelchair and I remember a shopper in the local Walmart telling me to "move that thing out of the way". She was referring to my wheelchair. Just today, I parked in a handicapped spot in another location and as I was trying to get out of the car, another car pulled up along side of me in the only other handicapped parking space in the parking lot. A middle aged couple hopped out and went into the Subway shop. They didn't have a temporary handicapped sign hanging from their rear view mirror nor did they have a handicapped license plate. They also pulled the front end of their car up over the wheelchair ramp I was about to use. (Check out the photo)

3. Some places are NOT handicapped accessible. Most beaches are not accessible if you 

must use a wheelchair.

But, I still enjoy the islands. I feel it's a LOT easier to be in a wheelchair here than on the mainland. That's especially true in the winter!