Nervous, Joseph rode the elevator up to the rooftop floor of the L’Arche office. Still in his first months in L’Arche as a new core member, Joseph was here to have a portrait photo taken of him to hang in his home.  Stepping off the elevator and onto the roof, Joseph squeezed the hand of Meredith. Unbeknownst to her and other L’Arche assistants, Joseph was scared of heights.

Joseph’s journey in L’Arche is one of many fears faced. In his first months & years as a Euclid House Core Member in 2019, Joseph did not voice a desire to travel. But slowly, over time, he began to joke about the possibility of taking a trip. Then, one day, to the surprise of Euclid assistants, Joseph said yes to take a dream trip to the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Before long, he was crossing state lines with his friend and faithful Euclid assistant, Charles Wood. 

Still, the idea of taking more distant trips seemed remote. Euclid Home Life Leader, Crisely Melecio-Zambrano, could not believe what Joseph said when she posed the far-fetched idea of flying to Florida for a vacation. “I’ll do it.” Shocked, she gave it a week and then returned to Joseph again, and again, he said, “I’ll do it.”

The two set off to plan the trip of a lifetime, but the accessibility hurdles to a smooth trip were countless. Joseph had never flown in his life, and Crisely and Joseph had never traveled together. Finding the right airline with seating options, acquiring the right-sized airport wheelchair, traversing longer walks than ever before, scouting the true accessibility of hotels, researching how to travel with multiple pieces of adaptive equipment, confirming rental vehicles, hotel beds & hotel showers in Florida were as accessible as advertised– the to-dos were endless. 

“It’s not magic,” Crisely explained, “and it’s important that people know that. If we can communicate all the hurdles that we overcame, then we can face them, together, again.”

After a challenging passage through the airport security, Joseph made it to his seat on the airplane. He had charged his headphones and made a special Motown playlist for the flight. Holding his breath, the plane took off safely. Partway through, it felt safe enough to open the blind and to take in the expanse of clouds. 

With the support of some of her extended family, Crisely and Joseph made it safely to Fort Walton Beach Airport and then his hotel room, where he had a view of the Gulf of Mexico. 

A couple of days later, after the intensity of airport travel and beyond all the planning and preparatory work, Crisely and Joseph sat by the beach. With nowhere else to be and nothing to do, Crisely asked Joseph if he’d like to take another trip like this in the future. Joseph replied, “Uh-huh,” and then added,  “I’m not scared anymore.”