That’s the literal shock Tapia encounters in every single step, and at times, it’s far more painful. He lives that pain every day as a quadriplegic, but that does not stop him from feeling “the rush of the wind.”
Tapia is a Long Beach resident who in mid-October will open his restaurant 4th and Olive that will strive to be accommodating and non-discriminatory toward individuals with disabilities.
The restaurant aims to fill three quarters of its staff with veterans in an attempt to provide jobs for those who struggle to find work, and to also give opportunities to the disabled who wish to contribute.
Tapia said that the restaurant is already hiring one individual who has lost complete use of his arms.
“When I bring these guys in, I’m not going to bring them in with kid gloves,” he said. “I’m going to ask them what they need, and if they don’t tell me, they don’t get it. If you tell me, we’ll find a way to make it happen, and in that way, nobody is looking at them like a weak person or a crippled [person]. If you can’t do this, then there’s 11 million things that you can do, so do those things.”
Tapia has broken his neck twice. A former Navy veteran, he broke it once during his tenure, and then aggravated it even further in a cross-country bike ride when he was hit by a truck that was going about 55 miles.
“I wouldn’t recommend it,” he said.
Tapia had bone spurs and pressure on his spinal cord. Waking up from the surgery, he couldn’t use his arms or legs and had become a quadriplegic.
“Things that are sometimes painful don’t hurt at all,” he said, “and things that shouldn’t hurt at all can be incredibly painful, like the wind.”
Coming to grips with the situation slowly started to sink in for Tapia after the surgery.
“It took me about a week after the surgery to really grasp that this is a permanent issue and that this is a complete change in my life,” he said. “I went through a period of, I wouldn’t say a full depression, but definitely a downer.”
Tapia willed himself through the support of his wife and friends, but the hardest part was dealing with people who had little patience for the situation. His previous job let him go because of his disability and was invasive when it came to medical information, according to Tapia.
“At that point, you start to think that these people are just looking at me like a cripple and not seeing me as the productive employee that I am,” he said. “The hardest part is the social part of it. It’s convincing people that while, yes, I’m disabled, it doesn’t mean I’m not capable of doing things that need to be done. I just need people to be patient with me, or to just let me do it and go my way.”
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Screen-Shot-2015-09-21-at-10.54.14-AM.png” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Dan Tapia” captionposition=”right”] Tapia’s experience with discrimination eventually led him to begin the groundwork on 4th and Olive, a place where “he can’t discriminate himself,” and it’s the kind of atmosphere he hopes to present to others.
“We started looking at the social consequences of being marginalized by everybody around them,” he said. “They are not able to see the abilities through the disabilities. And these guys want to contribute to society. They want to work.”
What positions Tapia doesn’t fill with veterans and disabled individuals will be staffed by others with the experience and the commitment.
The restaurant’s funding is coming from private investors and donations from a GoFundMe account. 4th and Olive has raised half the amount needed to open its doors, and it’s expected to open in time for its October opening date.
Going through the motions at the Long Beach Summer Fiesta Half Marathon a few weeks ago, Tapia reminded himself how fortunate he is to be able to perform in the way that he does.
Every step was incredibly painful, but he remembered that there are individuals out there who go through that kind of pain all the time.
“I just started going through my head how fortunate I am that I can walk 13 miles, and some of these vets will never be able to even think about a gesture or a process like this,” Tapia said. “As I was walking around, it hurt. It was incredibly painful. It just kind of reminded me that even though I am disabled, I’m not as in pain as other people are. Some guys feel like this every freaking day of their life, not just when they’re doing a half marathon.”
And that thought reminded Tapia as to why it’s so important that his restaurant exists.
“An unintended consequence of it is that it really rejuvenated my understanding of why getting this project going is so important,” he said. “As this project develops, as I get less and less in control of it, and I don’t mean that in a bad way, but almost like you’re raising a child, and that child gets a mind of its own and you just end up watching it and seeing it manifest into itself, and I just feel the same way about this business. I’m just here to guide it and mentor it, not control it and curate it. It’s just become almost like a painting and a sculpture for an artist for me. As we’re just moving along, that’s just how it organically came into existence.”
4th and Olive is located at 743 E 4th St. in the East Village neighborhood of Long Beach. It is expected to open between mid October and early November. Visit gofundme.com/vetsdish to make a donation.
