White House Easter Egg Roll
My family was recently invited to the White House Easter Egg Roll the Monday after Easter. I do some advocacy work with the group the Little Lobbyists and they were given tickets for a special sensory-friendly time for the Roll. Unfortunately, the sensory-friendly entry was 7 am and that was way too early for my girls and I to commute into Washington DC from our Virginia suburb.
A friend called in a favor and we were awarded tickets for later in the day. The long trek to DC is only compounded with the fact that my daughter uses a wheelchair and although public transit is supposed to be accessible that doesn’t mean all elevators are in working order. I had tested out the route the week before when I had to go to DC to pick up our tickets so I could problem-solve before venturing into the city with the wheelchair.
We were early for our entry time and hung out briefly. It was a beautiful day so being out and about downtown was nice. We were directed to an ADA-accessible entrance, which was very helpful. My daughter’s wheelchair has small tires in the front that are not all-terrain so going through the grass would have been difficult.
The Egg Roll is a race where children push an egg through the grass with a long-handled spoon. According to tradition, Dolley Madison, the wife of President James Madison began the event in 1814. Rolling Easter eggs was a popular annual custom in Washington DC and Alexandria Virginia as early as the 1850s. Children rolled eggs on Easter Monday (and sometimes Good Friday) at the Capitol, the White House, and other parks and open spaces. After being canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID, the tradition resumed in 2022.
The White House staff has worked to make this event more accessible. There were platforms for us to push the wheelchair and shorter lines at the ADA entrance. Of course, all our bags had to be searched and the generator quit for a bit so there was a delay waiting for the metal detectors to be back up and running.
When we entered the children were given tote bags to hold the goodies they received throughout the events. There were also stations with different sports activities, a snack tent and some good photo spots to mark the event.
At the station, with the actual Easter Egg Roll, the only one who participated was my daughter’s 21-year-old caregiver who came with us to help with travel and participation. She was excited and had the grin of a 5-year-old. Apparently earlier in the day, during the sensory-friendly time period, there were occupational therapy students from a local college to help people with physical disabilities participate in the Egg Roll. They even had hockey sticks for the people in chairs to use to roll the egg. Typically kids use a wooden spoon for the roll.
My younger daughter is diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety so the crowds were a bit overwhelming. She’s also a tall 11-year-old and was a bit frustrated with the Egg Hunt because all the little kids were running around and overexcited.
In big crowds like this people don’t really pay attention to my daughter’s wheelchair and will walk or even stop in front of us. I’m always saying “Excuse me” to be able to travel through the crowds. I joked a bell from a bicycle would be helpful in times like these.
When we were leaving the kids were given a wooden Easter Egg stamped with the date and information about the event with the President and First Lady’s signatures on the back. They were also bombarded with candy as we were leaving with their bags packed with peeps and chocolate. Overall, it was a great experience and we definitely crossed something off the bucket list.
By Jen Reese NOVA Regional Network Coordinator for the Family to Family Network
Categories Disabilities