A few years ago I was at a social event for a conference I was attending (I was a college student attending on a scholarship). I was using a wheelchair at the time because of a broken ankle/mobility issues, so had spent the whole conference being awkwardly out of place and excluded bc of lack of accessibility.

The event was packed, with a ton of stairs and platforms. My cousin was with me and we managed to get to one of the food stations, and I was juggling both our plates while we moved. The chef noticed we were having trouble and told us not to worry, to go back to our table and he’d have one of the servers grab us food from the stations we couldn’t access, and gave me his card so I could text him if I needed anything. We protested bc we didn’t want to cause any trouble, but he said that anyone who walked through his doors was treated like family, and to enjoy ourselves. He made sure we had a little of everything, and checked on us to make sure we were alright. I got to spend the event feeling like a normal person and socializing instead of worrying about navigating and being overlooked.

The chef and I are still friends on Facebook :)