“Please don’t carry me. Clear the ramp.”
The girl spoke before the adults could decide for her.
I had come to the robotics competition to watch my son. My motorcycle jacket was still zipped when I saw her stopped beside the delivery van.
Her name was Maya.
Her team waited with a robot balanced carefully between two children.
An organizer suggested the stairs.
Maya shook her head.
“I registered for an accessible entrance.”
She was right.
I helped locate the delivery driver while the organizer checked the competition schedule.
Inside, someone called the team’s name.
Maya’s teammate, Lucas, held up the controller.
“We’re not starting without her.”
The driver returned and moved the van once everyone was clear. He apologized. The organizer placed someone at the entrance to keep the route available.
Maya rolled inside under her own control.
Her robot failed its first attempt.
A wheel caught the edge of an obstacle.
Nobody knew whether to speak.
Maya studied the controller, adjusted the program, and told Lucas where to reset it.
The second attempt worked.
They didn’t win the whole competition.
They won a smaller award for solving a problem during the event.
Afterward, Maya’s father thanked me.
She interrupted.
“He helped find the driver. We all got me inside.”
I nodded.
“That’s accurate.”
At the next competition, the organizer sent access information to every registered team and kept the ramp clear.
I saw Maya near the entrance.
“Any trouble today?”
“Only with the robot.”
She grinned.
“Much more interesting trouble.”
Then she turned toward her teammates, who were waiting for her instructions.
For more stories about people standing up for the access and tools others need, read the volunteer who took a boy’s only voice and the man who refused to leave without his wife’s wheelchair. There’s also the donation truck stopped by a wooden box holding someone’s voice.
