This is not going to be an ordinary travel blog. I will be discussing my experience as a Type One Diabetic (Tandem Pump, closed loop with Dexcom) and barefooter, as well as accessibility accommodations.
My findings:
Barefooting is very comfortable at 60-50 degrees, but there is a temperature, somewhere in the 40s, where my body can't handle the cold. While the bottoms of my feet toughen and warm up naturally from ground friction, the tops do not. I imagine early shoes weren't to improve performance for walking on terrain, but to keep the tops of our feet warm from the bitter cold.
A certain amount of activity is required for Tandem's Activity Exercise function to bring sugars down to regular levels. If you turn it on and don't exercise enough, it will cause highs.
The more sugar you eat, the more problems you tend to encounter overall as the dosing needs to be more aggressive to make corrections.
Dealing with stubborn people is never easy. Stubborn people in power will make your life a living hell. But most people are not stubborn.
When I was 5 years old, my doctor blamed my Type One Diabetes on mother giving me M&Ms, and left me for dead. He was the most respected doctor at All Children's Specialty Care, a clinic for children with special needs. Since then, my life has been a constant battle against mainstream thought and science. But there was always one respite from the craziness: Amusement Parks. With tons of walking, my sugars always dropped down, and with tons of sugary and fried foods, and the need to eat them, it was a dream. And the dream gets better knowing how accommodating parks are with Diabetics: many now have sharps containers in the bathrooms for T1Ds still on shots. And while long times would be a showstopper, most have accessibility services and passes to cut wait times from the line to the park itself, allowing things like queuing, then eating, then waiting less than half an hour in line, then a restroom break. Universal's process is a bit more involved, requiring a doctor's note for IBCCES AND a phone call where they try to convince you not to get the service. They said I could take drinks and snacks with me, but when I explained my sugar has and can go AWOL in short order, requiring a full meal, they permitted me the accommodations. With Disney, I attempted registering for DAS online, but that required linking our Disney accounts with all my friends, plus a queue to the video chat to get registered. Trying to figure this out and accomplish this for a month didn't work, but going to guest services in the park was a breeze. Thankfully, the line wasn't that long: about 15 minutes.
At Busche Gardens, during Howl-O-Scream at midnight back in my college days (still on the shots at this time), I was stranded when all my friends pulled out at the last minute. In a flash this trip became solitary. There was no friendly face on the bus, everyone was preoccupied in their own groups. Once I got inside, I just stood there, trying to find someone, anyone that I knew. It took a while, but someone from my speech class found me and 4 of her friends all let me tag along. Now I felt safe. I took some insulin since my sugar was over 200, thinking we can eat after the roller coaster. The wait time posted by the front was only 20 minutes. I figured that'd be enough time for the insulin to start working, then I can have dinner after and it'll be perfect. No extra insulin was given. But when we got to Shi-Kra, the line was 45 minutes long. So, we waited. Knowing my sugar was high, I figured it'll stay that way. But suddenly, my sugar started dropping like a bomb. I ate every snack in my bag: a juice box, a granola bar, and I think some cookies, but even with over 60 grams of carbs I still tested 48 and falling fast, barely able to walk. Exercise won this round, and the 10-minute walk from the front of the park to Shi-kra brought me to my knees, literally. For those who don't know, this was going from over double the recommended blood glucose level to less than half over a 10-20 minute period, which means my brain and body energy was in absolute freefall. The entire group left the line so I can have dinner. One of the bigger guys offered to carry me, but embarrassed and already feeling a burden to them, I chose to hold his hand, instead. and they all left to go back in the line again. I couldn't have that happen again. I went to guest information and requested a disability pass for my Diabetes to bypass lines. She was an elderly woman, not unlike what you'd expect from an administrative assistant or secretary type. She asked how many people in my party. I said "6." She just looked at me wryly, and signed off on it. With that pass, and a belly full of chicken and fries, I ran back to the group and let them know we can all go straight through the ride! The passes worked different in those days. We rode Shikra, Cheetah Hunt, Montu, and went to many of the haunted mansions constructed for the event! What could've been a very horrifying and scary night ended up one of the best nights of my life!
Because of this experience, now, I always get the passes to make sure this never happens again. I keep thinking about how many things could've gone wrong if accommodations weren't made:
Walk the park alone, without friends. Pass out, receive little to no help until it's too late.
The group refuses to leave the line, meaning we can't ride together, and I still end up alone. Which means the above can still happen.
If parks never accommodate, I'd never be able to visit them.
Now, with the accumulation of leg pain and strain over the years, I once again find myself unable to walk long periods without accommodations. But this time, the accommodation isn't shorter waiting queues or waiting outside the queue, this time the only accommodation necessary is... do nothing. Just let me walk barefoot, and I can walk safely pain-free all day. My Diabetes will also be much easier to manage knowing I can walk freely anywhere without issue. Wearing shoes shortens my overall walking distance, the overall time I can walk, and stresses me out, causing my sugar to rise considerably.
I called Disney over the phone, and representatives of the Disability Access team said they can't grant me permission to go barefoot over the phone. But said I could talk with guest relations at the park. But I feared I would get pushback doing so. Very rarely do people give me permission to go barefoot when I request it. I find myself in a much better position just doing it as something I normally do and wait for people to take issue with it before bringing it up. If no one says anything, I can continue to walk pain-free, and without liver-damaging NASIDs (which one of my previous doctors didn't like the thought of me, as a T1D with complications, taking). To my surprise, when I called Universal Studios about this with regards to the ICBSS process, someone on their Disability team got back with
This trip was a special one: one of my friends, Shymatsi, and a few of his friends were all going to share a suite at the Sonesta ES Suites location near Disney property! I'd been friends with Shymatsi for a while, introduced to me through one of my friends, Brad Guy. Hearing some of his foot problems, and researching that barefooting would actually strengthen muscles in his feet and reduce that specific problem, I gave him this special gift as a response. My character, teaching his character how to walk barefoot:
He adored the print! But throughout the trip, seemed uninterested in taking up barefooting, scared of broken glass and the surfaces around New Jersey. You know how I feel about mentioning broken glass - I've seen more quicksand than broken glass in all my years of walking, including 70+ miles walked barefoot.
What was really cool, the Sonesta suites seemed perfectly fine to walk barefoot, and I also went barefoot across the street to Wawa every morning, and the Dollar Store because I forgot a toothbrush. No pushback here. It was a respite every day, even though the asphalt to get there wasn't the easiest or most pleasant surface.
12/17/2023 - Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
Hi: 73°F / 23°F
Lo: 59°F / 15°F
Barefoot: 10%
My life, Diabetes, and barefooting has become an experiment, and I always feel the need to act on my "best behavior" at Disney, so I decided to stick with my shoes the whole way through, hoping my previous 5+ mile barefoot walks on the weekends trained me to be able to do this and I wouldn't need to call attention to my need to barefoot or bother anyone. This is my "neutral" test, doing what people want me to do. I wore my trusty Xero Shoes Z-Trek sandals, the shoes I'd worn for years, and went through the day. Everything was fine until the end when my feet started to get cold, and I felt my muscles straining and pain creeping all over my legs, which tensed up. My only barefooting was in places I could sit stationary, which I did feel relief, just being able to use my muscles helped me, even without the need to walk. But I absolutely had to remove them on the way out, including the monorail ride and tram ride to the car. I figured if anyone was going to kick me out... well, I was already on my way. People saw it, but no one confronted me about it. The pain subsided. It didn't feel worse than my usual outings, but I did get pain as expected from walking in shoes, and I felt terrible most of the day.
I had the Chicken Tamales, a special Christmas Party item at Pecos Bill Tall Tale and Inn Cafe, as well as some hot cocoa, sugary drinks, and one cookie around the park. My sugars were pretty good as I got in some good walking and didn't have more sugar than necessary. But my group was dismayed by the amount of back-and-forth I do in the parks, so my future outings had less of that, and less walking overall. The free food and drinks around the park was nice, and it was evenly spread so I had a small but steady stream of sugar the whole way through. The rides were pretty good. Space Mountain turned into a wild light fest, and we could see the track. It didn't ruin the magic, but it is a different experience.
12/18/2023 - Epcot
Hi: 69°F / 21°C
Lo: 53°F / 12°C
Barefoot: 20%
At Epcot, I attempted the same thing. Walking in with the socks on, however, I felt pain approaching very quickly, so I couldn't do that. I removed the socks and went with the sandals, so the pain slowed down, but still continued. I ate salmon in Canada, then went barefoot in the UK, ordered fish and chips, and ate standing up by the gorgeous lakeside view. I had to get in more barefooting to stave off the pain, but I kept putting on and removing shoes. I watched the fireworks and walked out of the park and to the car barefoot. Epcot's surfaces were very nice to walk on. I wish this was openly permitted at Disney. The good news is I never got harassed.
12/19/2023 - Universal Studios
Hi: 61°F / 16°C
Lo: 47°F / 8°C
Barefoot: 50%
Knowing the weather would cool down, it was a challenge to figure out whether or not I should bring shoes. I ultimately decided to keep the shoes in the car and use the sandals, keeping socks, if necessary. This was interesting: I was absolutely harassed by a middle-aged redhead security guard. Explaining that the person called me from the disability with regards to the card I kept in my bag (the IBCCES). The lady on the phone said I could walk barefoot in the park, but not restaurants or moving walkways. But the security guard insisted that it was not permitted anywhere. Given accessibility and disability accommodations supersede general rules, I put more weight on what the disability representative told me, as she conferred with her manager on the rules for reasonable accommodations. I kept asking her to take my insulin pump so it wouldn't get ruined by the x-ray devices, but she refused to take it and kept asking me to put on shoes. I put the device on her counter and put on shoes and explained the situation to the new person who walked by. I told him they all need to get on the same page. When going to guest services, I spoke with Nic, who said she would make sure the Disability team and security would collaborate and be more accurate. I told her so far, due to the harassment I got before even getting in the park, my experience was 0 (I couldn't say "zero" out loud, I just held up a circle in my hand.
I went barefoot in the park, and didn't receive any pushback in the park itself. I could walk the streets and queue in the lines barefoot without a fuss. But I absolutely needed shoes for the rides. This was not a problem, and one of the rides (Villain-Con Minion Blast) was a moving walkway with platforms that shift and slide, so it was understandable. Plopped them on, and we were good to go! Every time, it didn't matter what the ride was, shoes were required, but I was able to get a lot of barefoot walking done, and my legs and feet were happy. There was a system, here, and it worked. My biggest surprise was the Harry Potter land, the bricks aren't real stone! The stones are molded and feel softer, like playground rubber. This made for a much nicer feeling, and a much better day!
I even met up with Gena, one of my college friends from Ringling! She was the one who introduced me to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic! So... you can blame her! Gena is a full time artist now, go check out her work! She does a lot more anime things than Furry things... but tell her you found her from me!
Despite my bare feet, I still feel like a very orderly person. But the bohemian style is creeping up on me. At the Jurassic Park Tribute Store, I found a really cool bracelet that made a decent anklet, and I love the feeling of the cords against my ankles! I can't explain why it feels good to be barefoot with it... it just feels right. Perhaps I am a bit bohemian with my lifestyle. Not by choice, but by experimenting and stumbling into what seems to work. When the sun went down, it got real cold, so, I wore them with my sandals. The sandals were also on in restaurants, per the requirement from the Disability person I spoke with, even though the ground was warmer and safer in there.
I also rode the Velocicoaster! This is one of the best rides at Universal, and it definitely makes up for not being able to get on the Tron or Guardians Virtual queues at Disney! Overall, it was a great way to end our time in the parks! We walked around City Walk, but after everything was booked, we headed to a burger place offsite for a final meal.
12/20/2023 - Disney Springs
Hi: 65°F / 18°C
Lo: 56°F / 13°C
Barefoot: 95%
Everything culminated to this! Barefooting at Disney Springs! Given my horrific experience with the security guard at Universal Studios, I didn't want a repeat experience, here. I wore shoes past security, then went 100% barefoot inside the "Springs." The ground was not a high-pitted asphalt, and it wasn't a rough eroded concrete, it was perfect! The weather, 56, was perfect, too! While my day started with leg pain from the strain with shoes from the previous days, my leg pain got reduced as I continued to walk barefoot! To my surprise, I believed that pain could only be reduced by not walking. Turns out walking barefoot helps my pain tremendously! Within an hour, I noticed a significant improvement! We shopped and ate lunch at The Edison - a really cool early-1900s-styled dining experience with a very contemporary and beautiful take on classic American fast-food: one of the best chicken sandwiches of my life! This was a third party company in Disney Springs, not Universal. I walked in and remained barefoot for my entire trip, and there was never any problem! I had a great time, tipped the waiter well, and informed the front staff. This is how it should be - no fuss, no problems. For a few moments of my life, I just lived like a normal person. One member of our group also had a nice Nick Wilde tote bag, printed fresh onsite, and I got one made at UNI QLO!
...Unfortunately, that's where the fun ends. I met with my friends at the Art of Disney: a store I lauded for its incredible fine art, and purchased two sketches from their in-house artists. You can find tons of amazing Disney fine art in this place, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of Jim Warren's pieces were sold here as well. A guy walked up and told me I had to wear shoes, for my own safety. Because of what? You guessed it. Broken glass. Before I could respond, one of my own group members next to me looked at me with a scowl and insisted "he said you need to wear shoes." Taken aback, I turned to the man and told him shoes cause me pain, and I had no issue not wearing shoes. Then, an elderly woman named Chris told me she hoped I brought shoes. I told her my story, how shoes cause me pain, but over and over again she kept bringing up the rule, acting with kindness, but at the same time insisting on it. At one point in this exchange the gears started turning: she said the rule was meant to protect me, but realized due to the store's location, I had walked the entire length of Disney Springs barefoot without issue. She asked me, seriously, how long I'd been walking barefoot, and I told her I'd started in the past two months, and walked 70 miles barefoot without issue. It's the only way I can walk without pain, and my Diabetes was acting up, I need to walk, and barefoot is the only way I can do it without pain. She said no where was being barefoot was allowed. I told her I had no issue walking barefoot everywhere, all over Disney Springs. I was never asked to put on shoes, and walked just fine. And I told her I was about to blog about my experience walking in Disney Springs and how good it was for me. The cogs in her mind started turning. She said and she was the one who made that experience terrible for me. I asked if there was someone who specializes with disabilities I could speak with, she recommended guest services. Unfortunately, a security guard came, and rather than continue the conversation, I said "so, I guess I'll just... leave."
It wasn't until later that I realized by promoting Jim Warren, an official Disney Fine Artist in the Virtual Furry Museum, I'd garnered tons of attention from people who love animated art to a fine artist whose work they sell in their galleries. I still would absolutely support all the Disney artists and what they do... but if the rule is to wear shoes, walking in that store will forever cause me pain. Even as I try to adjust for it and reduce the pain, it simply isn't possible.
The person in my group who took the side of the man and said that to me, I asked him why he said that. He said the person was telling me the rules, and I wasn't following them. He said he feels pain with every step he takes, and thought I was being ridiculous. I told him that isn't the support I'm looking for. This person was judging me poorly the entire trip. I was trying to explain how good barefooting was for me, but he never once reciprocated positively. He'd rather I conscript the rest of my life to the pain and suffering of walking incorrectly in shoes. Or perhaps suffer a slow death brought on by insulin resistance from choosing to avoid pain by walking and exercising less. Or liver problems exasperated by the side effects of pain medications on top of already difficult-to-control sugar. None of these options are safer for me than just walking barefoot. I need to walk, and be barefoot while walking, to improve my insulin resistance, eliminate pain, and live the healthiest life I possibly can. I've eaten more sugar in this trip than I ever had in those few days, and while my blood sugar was elevated for some parts of the trip, I'm also managing this with less insulin than I ever had in my entire life.
When my own closest friends say broken glass is an issue and take problem with me barefooting, that tells me something: people trust rules more than they trust genuine experience. 70 miles of barefooting later, I can say that broken glass isn't an issue: it's a logical fallacy, an appeal to authority, driven to force the world into shoes. This love of authority and rules is how we got rules that said it was uncouth to show ankles, or eat pork. It's how people took baths with leeches thinking it would cure them of fatal disease. It's also how women weren't able to vote, and insisted African Americans must never be seated next to White patrons in a restaurant. There were excuses made for all these: ankles, and pigs, are unclean, so we should never show ankles or eat pigs. Women should be at home with children, their say in politics and economics shouldn't matter. African Americans are simple-minded slaves and their voices should be suppressed and their presence must remain as a second-class citizen, because all hell would break loose if we choose instead to treat people with respect. All these rules, including the no shoes policy, only serve to hurt people. And they hold us back until we challenge them. But the power structure favors those already in power: the majority, and whatever they say, however crazy they say it, and however strong they believe it. Witchcraft died in America not after a few little girls accused 200 people in the town of Salem, but only after they accused the governor's wife. He immediately pardoned everyone awaiting trial and on death's row. From that moment forward, Witchcraft didn't exist in America, no matter what the church said. The hunts for witches eventually ended all over the world. This spawned the Age of Enlightenment in America, where people turned to science for answers and technology for solutions rather than blindly following an authority like the church.
So, I want to say my trip barefooting at Disney Springs was absolutely amazing, and I'd walked more than I had since my trip to New York a couple years back in September 2021 with far less pain, and no sore legs. But I also have to post about this, the lady who ruined my time, the security guard who harassed me, the stubborn and stupid people who were not pleasant or accommodating, and all the people who gave them the power to treat me as subhuman. All it takes is one person to transform the incredible experience that is my life into a nightmare. My trust in other people has dissipated tremendously. I now am very cautious of other people when walking, because many people do not want me to walk or be healthy. I hope this blog post enlightens some people.
Bare feet aren't meant to be pretty. For most people, they're pretty disgusting. They get dirty, but they're made for that. They build tougher, thicker skin and calluses against friction, and form muscles that allow us to move over a myriad of different kinds of surfaces. Not with any grace or consistency, like a clean car tire, or a mechanical robot, but with stuff that grows naturally from our biology, with flesh and bone, muscle, nerves, and tissue, and in a form that functions to hold 5 times our weight in force while preventing muscle strain in our legs. Everything that makes our feet more beautiful in function also detracts their appeal. The things we do to make them look beautiful: bathe in hot water, and scrub and scrape calluses, removes protective tissue. Soft feet are more susceptible to injury and prone to pain, which results in either less activity or the need to wear shoes, which then cuts off our nerves and causes more more muscle strain. Highly polished pointed shoes and high-heels look a lot nicer than bare feet with fanned out toes, but this deforms our feet, throws off our balance, and weakens us. Good, healthy feet aren't supposed to look pretty. They're supposed to work well.
Even from someone who loves feet, I wouldn't say this picture of mine after walking barefoot 5 hours in Disney Springs is an appealing one... But this, too, needs to be normalized. Our feet are normal. I slammed my foot into a cabinet when I came home a few hours after taking this pictures: none of my toes hurt, because my toe muscles are strong. They can feel all the little cracks of the texture in the tile grout, but I don't feel the pain of pins and needles because blood is actively flowing through them thanks to the exercise from today. They also don't feel cold for the same reason. I am aware the temperature is low, but it doesn't trouble me, and I don't feel sick. Most dirtiness washes in the shower. Not all, but most. Being barefoot is physically dirty and unattractive, and people judge with their eyes. Considering how terrible we treated people of darker skin color for so many centuries, it's fair to say eyeball-judgements aren't always right. My friend wearing thick-soled sandals, on the other hand, felt legitimate pain from all the walking and actually injured himself.
Believe me, if there was a shoe I could buy that didn't cause me pain, I'd buy it in a heartbeat! I already had! But nothing worked better for me than my own two feet.
A medical study published in the 1905 American Journal of Orthopedic Surgery compares perpetually bare feet studied in African and Philippines to American feet forced in pointed shoes, a popular style for the time. A clear line can be drawn from heel to toe in the bare feet. Shod feed have no such line, leading to awkward balance, thus more strain. Bare toes also fan and spread out more to allow for natural movement. Most doctors have never seen what a "correct" foot is supposed to look like, and this study showed everyone the difference very clearly.
My college friend Gena asked what was new with me. I told her I'm a barefooter now, and for the first time in my life, I'm walking pain-free. She recalled my minimalist shoes in college, and was so happy for me and supported it. We moved on to talking about other things. I wish it was this easy, and this normal, for everyone.
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