As a wheelchair user I face a range of obstacles on daily basis no matter where I go. In fact its rare to actually visit somewhere and not face a challenge in one way or another. It's highly frustrating when a large franchise advertise themselves as being completely accessible and yet you arrive and are unable to access a particular part of the building.
I don't want to come across as a complainer but at the same time I don't want to sit back and let these problems continue to arise. I am extremely fortunate to live in a day and age where I can access platforms such as this and my intentions are to make good use of them by using my writing skills to produce pieces on subjects that matter to me. There is no point in sitting around waiting for someone else to do something about it. If I want to see changes I need to use the skills and knowledge that I'm blessed with to contribute to raising awareness for issues I'm passionate about. Hence, one of the very reasons I started this blog.
I am unable to speak on behalf of everyone but I'm pretty sure that there are many people out there who share the same opinions as me and want to see the changes that will make life easier for them. I hope that through my writing I can find those people and inspire them to do the same.
In my local town we are very fortunate to have places of leisure such as a cinema and bowling alley. The downside for me and so many others out there is that due to our health/disabilities we are unable to access these places.
Our local cinema for example, has a small step up into the building.Yes, some people are able to access the cinema using a walking aid however, there are others who aren't as fortunate and need to use their wheelchair at all times.
Inside the building there are two levels; on the ground floor there are handful of small cinema screens and on the upper level there are as far as I know two main screens. Unfortunately, the second level cannot be accessed by those with mobility problems as it requires to climb a large flight of stairs. All of the new releases are shown upstairs which means that we A)wait for an airing of the movie downstairs to happen whenever that might happen or B)travel to the nearest cinema which is about a fifteen to twenty minutes drive away.
For younger people like myself it makes it difficult to be a part of cinema trips with our friends. Teenagers like the freedom of being able to meet up at the cinema; they can catch a bus or even walk there from where they live. No one wants to have to rely on somebody's parent to give everyone a lift to a cinema outwith town. All in all it makes everyone less independent and isn't part of being a teenager about becoming your own person and living more of an independent life?
Then there's the bowling alley which someone like myself who has a disability cannot access. Again, in order to enter the building climbing a large flight of stairs is required. There is no lift, nothing. Had I'd been able to access the bowling alley I know for sure that I would visit it as much as I possibly could. Just like the cinema situation, the nearest bowling alley is in another town around a fifteen to twenty minute drive away.
The local high-street has it's own set of problems for a wheelchair user to overcome. Fortunately, I always have someone with me to push my wheelchair and help me access where I need to go. However, there will be many wheelchair users who don't necessarily have someone accompanying them. Or just like any abled bodied person they want to be independent and go places by themselves.
What would make accessing the high-street independently possible for so many disabled would require just small changes implemented by the popular franchises that create our high-street.
It would seriously surprise you just how many times I've asked to use a variety of different store's wheelchair accessible changing rooms and they have been filled up with cardboard boxes and clothing rails. I must however, add that there has been one major high street store's changing room that I was extremely impressed with. Immediately, I was able to access it without having to ask a member of staff if they'd assist me in removing empty boxes and clothing rails. The changing room was extremely spacious meaning that I was able to manoeuvre my chair without any difficulty. Where as in many other shops I've visited over the years the disabled changing room was a small space that was practically impossible to turn around in. This meant I had to reverse my chair and rely on someone to help me with the door and warn me of any potential hazards that I may crash into behind me. The particular store that I was impressed with had evidently looked at the smaller details and designed the room to suit a wheelchair user's needs. For example; the mirrors had been designed to sit at specific angles to allow the person to see what their potential purchase looks like on themselves without having to twist their bodies in potentially straining positions whilst sitting in their wheelchair. This design really impressed me!
Inside shops I've noticed that it's increasingly becoming more and more difficult to actually manoeuvre myself around in my wheelchair. If you cannot get around a shop without some sort of walking aid; some shops become a big no no. In my local high street I can think of a few stores that are already a prime example to this. Of course I understand that the spaces inside a shop are small and limited to how products can be displayed but due to that very reason shops can also minimise their potential client base and loose out on business.
In comparison there are also stores much larger in size that literally cram displays into every single empty space within the building. Not only does this create challenges for people like myself, it also makes it difficult for those who are abled bodied. It's like going through a maze trying to avoid obstacles at ever corner you come to. When it comes to shops like the one I'm describing we usually avoid them at weekends whilst it is at it's busiest and instead we pop in on weekdays.
There are so many things I could list about the challenges that me alongside so many others face on daily basis as a wheelchair/mobility aid user. I completely understand that a lot of people won't realise that what seems like a little thing to them actually has such a big impact on so many lives. But that is why I'm here writing this today; if I don't who will? What a lot of people forget is that they don't know what tomorrow might bring and just how drastically what tomorrow brings could affect their lives.
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