This man's epic quest for a rainbow bagel makes a crucial point about accessibility
If you're in New York City, you could get your hands on a coveted rainbow bagel pretty easily. Only a MetroCard fare and a few subway stops are between you and the copious amounts of dyed dough.
But if you have a mobility-related disability, public transportation — and navigating a city overall — isn't exactly bagel quest-friendly.
Just ask Zach Anner.
To mark Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month this March, the popular YouTuber, who lives with cerebral palsy, collaborated with the Cerebral Palsy Foundation to release a hilarious and illuminating video on the lack of accessibility in cities.
"I need a rainbow bagel ... [and] a ramp."
Anner is tasked with traveling round-trip from Manhattan to Brooklyn with one goal: get a colorfully swirled bagel for his new friend, Judd, in under six hours. Spoiler alert: Anner fails to complete his journey in the allotted time — and it's all due to the inaccessibility of public transit and walkways in New York City.
In just three days, the video collaboration, which centers around an epic "Rainbow Bagel Quest," has racked up just under 1 million views on Facebook and YouTube.
Google Maps estimates a trip from Anner's hotel in Manhattan to the rainbow bagel paradise — a.k.a. The Bagel Store — in Brooklyn should take a mere 28 minutes, one way.
His journey should be no problem then, right? Very, very wrong. Just getting to the lobby of his hotel, for instance, takes Anner an hour. His wheelchair's wheels then lose traction in water-filled curb cuts, and then he gets lost.
Finding an accessible train to Brooklyn, Anner finds, is just impossible. No wheelchair friendly trains run to the rainbow bagel region of Brooklyn. So, Anner and his film crew have to take a mass transit ferry they dub the "Bagel Ferry" to get there.
Finally, Anner arrives — only to be blocked from entering the home of the famed fluorescent bagel. There are two stairs leading up to the door of the restaurant. But an employee takes Anner's order from outside, just to ensure Judd gets the fruity flavored bagel he deserves.
"How can I help you today?" the employee asks.
"I need a rainbow bagel," Anner replies.
"Anything else?" the employee asks.
"Umm, no," Anner says. "Just a ramp."
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About 764,000 children and adults in the U.S. live with cerebral palsy, a physical disability that impacts movement and posture. Globally, more than 17 million people live with the motor condition.
New York, which Anner says prides itself on being one of the most accessible cities in the country, obviously still has a long way to go toward inclusion of people with disabilities. While there are nearly 500 subway stations in the city, for example, barely 100 are accessible by elevator. That means people like Anner are blocked from accessing colorful bagels — and a whole lot more — until accessibility of public transit and city walkways improves.
"New York," Anner says in the video, "the city that never stops fucking with you."
Yep, that about sums it up.
Topics Social Good
Katie Dupere was a Social Good reporter at Mashable from May 2015 to July 2017, covering activism, identities and social impact. Prior to her work with Mashable, Katie penned pieces about queerness, body positivity, sex and relationships for Gurl. She also previously contributed LGBTQ news coverage to PinkNews.
