http://goo.gl/bXsdQe
Following two accidents in my teens and twenties, I live with a serious spinal injury, getting around with the help of a wheelchair or crutches and with pain as a constant companion. When I am on retreat, I need to change position regularly, either by lying down or standing up. I need to do this. And at the places where I teach and practice, I can do this. Taraloka, a U.K. retreat center for women where I often teach, has a dedicated living space for disabled retreatants. There is an accessible bathroom, and the whole venue is wheelchair accessible. I know how lucky I am.
But I worry that others may not be so lucky. In the early days of establishing Buddhism in the West, disabled access was understandably not a priority. Heroic efforts transformed existing buildings into the beautiful Buddhist centers we see today, but often these buildings are multistory and without elevators, meaning that people with mobility impairments are inevitably excluded from encountering the dharma. Now that many of our sanghas have been established for decades, I believe the time is ripe to address accessibility head-on.