It was G’s 40th birthday a few days ago. After much effort, G found a restaurant that was
wheelchair accessible. One of G’s
friends coming to the meal has been in a wheelchair for about a year and has had a few bad
experiences. A lot of restaurants that are
listed as wheelchair accessible have self-declared themselves as such. Whilst it would perhaps be harsh to say that
they have lied, it might be fair to say that they don’t actually know what “wheelchair
accessible” actually means. Let’s consider
further:
Q: Are you wheelchair accessible?
Restaurant: Yes.
Woo-hoo! Job done. But hang on… you might just want to ask a
couple more questions…
Q: So is there easy access for a wheelchair user to get into the restaurant?
Restaurant: Yes. Apart from the steps to get through the front
door. But there are only a couple of
them.
Er… right… I wasn’t aware that wheelchairs and steps are actually compatible. Maybe it might be worth a couple more
questions.
Q: So, is there disabled toilet on the ground floor?
This often elicits one of two answers.
Answer 1:
Restaurant: No, it’s in the
basement/ mezzanine floor/ some other inaccessible part of the restaurant for
someone in a wheelchair
Answer 2:
Restaurant: No. But the pub next
door does, and they won’t mind them using it.
G phoned about 10 restaurants and got these types of answers from all
of them – and they had all declared themselves as wheelchair accessible. However, there was a restaurant that, after a
long conversation, was definitely wheelchair accessible. All the answers were as hoped for and the owner
was very reassuring. G then phoned on
the day to confirm that all was ok for the booking. A slight alarm bell went off when one of the
staff said “I see you have an invalid in your party”. Seriously??
An invalid??? And then, for some unknown
reason, wanted to know how old the person was (about 35 incidentally…).
When we arrived at the restaurant, we found there was actually a step
that was about six inches high at the entrance.
But the owner said it was all fine because he would have people standing
by the door to lift the wheelchair in. To
clarify, THAT IS NOT WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE.
I am able-bodied and if you had burly men lift me into a restaurant, I would
not be impressed. This is no less the
case if you are in a wheelchair.
I am so unimpressed by people’s understanding of wheelchair accessibility. I totally get that not everywhere can be
accessible, but don’t say that you are if you’re not. Being able to get through the door and to go
the toilet in the restaurant are really basic things and if you are not able to
provide those you are not properly accessible.
And don’t even start me on the restaurant that had a disabled toilet,
but had a table right up against the door.
When G asked them about why they blocked the disabled toilet door, the
reply was “we never get disabled people in here”…
It’s my sister’s 40th birthday this week and I have got her
an iPad. I was talking to mum today and
telling her what I had got (and that I had got 20% off it as HMV have massively
discounted their stock. Marvellous!). We were discussing what my nephew was getting
my sister, and mum said he had told her that he and I were getting her an
iPad. Oh right… that was news to me, but
a nice healthy contribution toward its cost would be most welcome (he is seven
years old incidentally…). So I thought I’d
better phone my nephew to check what he thought was going on. I asked him what he was doing about a present
for his mum and he somewhat sheepishly said that he thought we were both
getting her an iPad. I said that was
fine, but that maybe he might want to give her something on the day, as she
wouldn’t be getting the present until Saturday.
We then discussed some ideas, and what was happening about him getting a
card for her. Anyway, I am having lunch
with my sister on Wednesday and it now turns out that I will be giving her a
sealed package of goods to take home with her – being a birthday present and a
card for my nephew to wrap/ write so that he can give them to my sister on
Thursday. Plus we’ll both be giving her
the Ipad on Saturday. I think my nephew
might have done quite well out of this deal…
