Wheelchair user takes TikTok by storm as he’s forced to climb stairs for 8 weeks

A Canadian TikTok user by the name of RJ is being forced to scoot up 48 stairs for eight weeks as the elevator in his apartment building is out of order, and he’s documenting the whole thing on the app to a growing audience.

As the world slowly is getting more accessible for people with disabilities, sometimes it feels like society takes one step forward only to take two steps back.

This is how you could describe the situation Canadian TikToker named RJ has found himself in, as the elevator in his apartment suddenly got turned off for eight weeks.

Going by the name RJ Adapted on TikTok and other social media sites, he often talks about his experience of becoming a wheelchair user after an accident in 2021.

However, after coming home to a sign saying the elevator in his apartment building would be out of service for eight weeks, RJ started a new series showing how he gets up the 48 stairs to get to his apartment.

Wheelchair user forced to scoot up 48 stairs to get home

In the first video, RJ shared that he’d come home to a sign in the elevator saying that it would be out of order for eight weeks as it was getting serviced. Having received no notice about this, RJ had no choice but to scoot up the 48 stairs to his apartment.

He then put up his camera to show how he, for the next eight weeks, will have to scoot himself up the stairs while also bringing his crutches with him.

“I do use crutches. I know y’all don’t see those often, but I am lucky that I can still walk a little bit. But my legs spasm and they like to hyperextend and don’t bend when I walk. It’s a fun time,” RJ explained in his first video of him scooting up the stairs.

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“A side of disability we don’t talk about”

Even though he finds it hard to walk, he said he will continue to make the journey with his crutches as they’re easier to bring up the stairs with him compared to his wheelchair.

Since then, RJ has filmed himself climbing up the stairs every day after coming home from university and then posted it on TikTok.

“I think this is a side of disability that we just don’t talk about often, is what do we do when the world isn’t accessible? Cause often people say ‘oh I just can’t go there’, but what do we do when we have to go there, such as I have to get into my apartment cause I don’t wanna sleep in my car. So this is what you do, you adapt,” he said as the video continued to show him scooting up the stairs.

He went on to say that he wasn’t sure how legal it was for the maintenance to turn off the elevator and asked for advice from the viewers who might know more.

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Viewers are shocked to see what RJ has to do

RJ first video of him scooting up the stairs has gained over 164,500 views in just four days. And it also came with hundreds of comments both giving him advice and sending him their support.

One person wrote: “I will forever argue that a building is not fully accessible until it has more than one elevator for this very reason.”

A second person said: “So you went up all of those stairs just to come down and grab your phone? You’re more perseverant than I am. Please report them. That’s very illegal.”

“I had to do stairs in this fashion. I find that it gives my back too much pains though, so I can’t do it regularly,” a third person added.

“Wow, that note sounds like they wrote it like ppl had a choice just not to use it… That’s RIDICULOUS. I’m sorry u have to go through that,” a fourth person wrote.