All the Unused Spaces

The wheelchair closet full of a flight attendant’s luggage.

The ramp with boxes stacked in front of it.

The accessible parking spot occupied by a delivery van.

The ADA apartments occupied by able‐bodied people.

The curb cuts blocked by cars.

Disabled‐seating forever occupied by late‐comers.

All the places, all the spaces made accessible but forever marked as unused and available because we’re never there to need them. We can’t afford to be. We don’t have the resources to fly to, park at, or live in the places specifically built for us because they removed the barriers but failed to fix the system that allowed those barriers to be built in the first place.