Tourism in a Wheelchair

For as long as I can remember, I've always loved active leisure and exploring interesting tourist destinations. Backpacking was a staple of every vacation. Everything changed after I fractured my cervical spine. After such a serious injury, I thought I would never have the chance to visit the places I hadn't managed to see before that fateful dive.
Over the years, I began hearing more and more that various attractions were being adapted for people with mobility disabilities. I hesitated for a long time, but one day, I gently mentioned to my friends that I dreamed of going back to my beloved mountains in Świeradów Zdrój, where a new gondola lift had just opened. My friends reacted very positively, and soon, I went on my first long tourist trip.

Another step in my journey towards living life fully and not closing myself off from the world around me was attending a camp organized by the Active Rehabilitation Foundation. Despite my doubts about whether such workshops would be beneficial, the 10 days I spent in Zielona Góra gave me even stronger motivation to fight for myself and my dreams. As a result, I became much more open to extreme sports and tourist trips to places like Zakopane, Kraków, Wieliczka, and many other fascinating destinations.

I'm glad I've reached a point in my personal development and approach to life where I can pursue my dreams. Of course, I'm very grateful to my friends for helping me along the way, as many tourist attractions would be impossible for me to experience without their assistance. I used to be embarrassed to accept help from others, but now it doesn't bother me as much, and I often even see joy and satisfaction in my friends, or even strangers, when they can help fulfill my dreams. A testament to this is a text message from an instructor at the wind tunnel, sent to my friend who organized the whole trip: "Thank you as well, it was an amazing experience for us. I'm glad your friend got what he was hoping for :) It's a huge motivational boost for us!"

I regret not making better use of the first years of my life in a wheelchair, and I hope that others won't make the same mistake. I encourage everyone who cannot independently access and enjoy tourist attractions to seek help from family and friends. There is truly a large group of people in the world who are happy to spend their time helping us, and they'll enjoy it just as much. Sometimes, all it takes is opening your mind, and you can experience something truly amazing. We don't have many opportunities to break the monotony of our lives, so if the chance arises, don't resist it. Sometimes our loved ones don't know what we want or how to make us happy, so gently suggesting that we'd like to see something with our own eyes can set things in motion and make our dreams come true—and then new, bigger, and bolder dreams will follow.

On my website, I present a list of tourist attractions in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany, along with detailed descriptions of those I've managed to visit and that I highly recommend to wheelchair users.