Current times more difficult for people with disabilities

Including group with elderly for special shopping time helps

Makawao resident Mahealani Bettencourt said that shopping, basic traveling and doing other essential activities have become a little more “stressful and overwhelming” for people with disabilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a paraplegic, Bettencourt hopes to spread awareness to the community about being a little more caring to one another during these uncertain times.

“Right now, I think we all feel overwhelmed, and I talked to other people in wheelchairs, and they feel overwhelmed,” Bettencourt said in a phone interview Tuesday. “This is a time that the community should come together and check on their neighbors and ask if they need help, and just make some form of contact.”

Most grocery stores and supermarkets recently have implemented special shopping hours for the elderly and highrisk shoppers (those with serious preexisting conditions). Bettencourt said that most stores have “exemptions for people with disabilities or a handicap” to use the special shopping time but one store denied her early access.

Bettencourt explained that she was told by a staff member at that store to return during normal shopping hours. A corporate official told her that extending the hour to those with disabilities would be too difficult to regulate, fearing that people might abuse the accommodation, she said.

Maneuvering through the store when the aisles are full of people is a challenge on its own, and “a lot of us in wheelchairs have underlying health issues,” she said, noting that they are at greater risk with COVID-19.

Just going shopping is a challenge using the Maui Bus paratransit system, which requires spending more time at bus stops and traveling — and possibly being exposed to the coronavirus, she said.

“I’m not here to grumble or make something big out of something that some people might think is just manini, but you know, we’re in a wheelchair, and we need accommodations to be able to shop during those hours,” she said.

Bettencourt is grateful that Target, Foodland, Safeway and other retailers and markets do include people with disabilities in the kupuna shopping hours, which makes things “less stressful and overwhelming.”

Costco also reserves the first hour of business, but the lines “are ridiculous,” she said.

Bettencourt is a member of Maui Wheelers, a support group and resource for people who use a wheelchair, walker, scooter or any other assistive mobility device. She expressed hope that more stores would take people with disabilities into consideration.

During these stressful times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, people with disabilities, and especially those without family support, look to the general public for help and understanding.

“With people in wheelchairs, I kind of feel like we are on our own and kind of get lost in the shuffle,” she said. “I understand that there is something much greater than what’s happening. You know, that takes precedence over everything.

“The doctors, the nurses, thank God they’re out there working for everybody.”