The indoor critic relies on a wheelchair to get around.
Think of it as an aid to mobility the doctor said.
And it is.
And around we have got.
About a year or so ago we got around to shopping in Carlisle, the Great Border City.
We parked the car and visited the indoor Market and picked up some essentials and then on our way to Boots we passed the street where the car was parked, so leaving my partner sitting in the sunshine in her chariot, I popped down to the car and unloaded the various purchases that we had made.
When I got back I found her looking extremely distressed and being comforted by a passer-by.
What happened? I asked.
It turned out that three youths had happened by and one of them had grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and violently swung the wheelchair around almost but not quite tipping her out of it.
She had screamed and tried to use the brakes to no great effect, by the time I got back there were no signs of the youths, who proud of themselves and their actions frightening an older lady half to death, had run off laughing.
Later I learned that in fact they were still around but the indoor critic was concerned about what I might have done, knowing that in fact if I had in any way injured them I could (as the police later confirmed) become the guilty party.
Well I guess that boys (or as Cyndi Lauper had it) Girls Just Wanna have Fun?
But getting your kicks from bullying a disabled wheelchair user doesn't seem like fun to me.
But this story took a turn for the worse when we reported the incident to the Police.
The first response we got was in fact complete lack of interest, persistence however meant that we did get a call back and were told that the incident had been filmed on CCTV but that it was impossible to identify the culprits and that there would be no further investigation because, apparently, spinning an unwilling victim around in a wheelchair was not a crime, not an assault, nor an invasion of privacy.
Well it certainly felt like all three of those things and since then I have been unwilling to leave the wheelchair and its occupant unattended.
This was an isolated incident and thankfully it has not been repeated.
But it has been interesting to notice how, as the Con-Dems have continued their subtle and persistent attack on the disabled by reducing benefits, exchanging DLA for PIP, cutting the Welfare Bill whilst raising taxes for those in work, attitudes have continued to worsen.
When we walk down the street the looks which can be interpreted as sympathetic have decreased to be replaced by looks that somehow imply that with a bit more effort you wouldn't need to be taking up space that could be better used by others.
Recent articles in the Guardian have raised the issue of reducing public sympathy and tolerance for the disabled and linking it with public statements made by ministers and it is hard from our perspective not to see this as a right reading of the situation.
There are of course exceptions and it is true that we continue to be shown both sympathy and support, people do, as the law requires try to make reasonable provision for access and that is appreciated.
We have been assisted in Restaurants, on Airlines, on Trains, in Hotels and such assistance is appreciated, but in announcing the Big Society the Government presumably meant it to be a BIG Tent under which all can shelter?
So why insist on the poorest in that society being constantly held to be responsible by insisting again and again that society cannot afford the costs of welfare and by implication making victims of those whose needs should be a touchstone for what kind of society we want to become?
Think of it as an aid to mobility the doctor said.
And it is.
And around we have got.
About a year or so ago we got around to shopping in Carlisle, the Great Border City.
We parked the car and visited the indoor Market and picked up some essentials and then on our way to Boots we passed the street where the car was parked, so leaving my partner sitting in the sunshine in her chariot, I popped down to the car and unloaded the various purchases that we had made.
When I got back I found her looking extremely distressed and being comforted by a passer-by.
What happened? I asked.
It turned out that three youths had happened by and one of them had grabbed the handles of the wheelchair and violently swung the wheelchair around almost but not quite tipping her out of it.
She had screamed and tried to use the brakes to no great effect, by the time I got back there were no signs of the youths, who proud of themselves and their actions frightening an older lady half to death, had run off laughing.
Later I learned that in fact they were still around but the indoor critic was concerned about what I might have done, knowing that in fact if I had in any way injured them I could (as the police later confirmed) become the guilty party.
Well I guess that boys (or as Cyndi Lauper had it) Girls Just Wanna have Fun?
But getting your kicks from bullying a disabled wheelchair user doesn't seem like fun to me.
But this story took a turn for the worse when we reported the incident to the Police.
The first response we got was in fact complete lack of interest, persistence however meant that we did get a call back and were told that the incident had been filmed on CCTV but that it was impossible to identify the culprits and that there would be no further investigation because, apparently, spinning an unwilling victim around in a wheelchair was not a crime, not an assault, nor an invasion of privacy.
Well it certainly felt like all three of those things and since then I have been unwilling to leave the wheelchair and its occupant unattended.
This was an isolated incident and thankfully it has not been repeated.
But it has been interesting to notice how, as the Con-Dems have continued their subtle and persistent attack on the disabled by reducing benefits, exchanging DLA for PIP, cutting the Welfare Bill whilst raising taxes for those in work, attitudes have continued to worsen.
When we walk down the street the looks which can be interpreted as sympathetic have decreased to be replaced by looks that somehow imply that with a bit more effort you wouldn't need to be taking up space that could be better used by others.
Recent articles in the Guardian have raised the issue of reducing public sympathy and tolerance for the disabled and linking it with public statements made by ministers and it is hard from our perspective not to see this as a right reading of the situation.
There are of course exceptions and it is true that we continue to be shown both sympathy and support, people do, as the law requires try to make reasonable provision for access and that is appreciated.
We have been assisted in Restaurants, on Airlines, on Trains, in Hotels and such assistance is appreciated, but in announcing the Big Society the Government presumably meant it to be a BIG Tent under which all can shelter?
So why insist on the poorest in that society being constantly held to be responsible by insisting again and again that society cannot afford the costs of welfare and by implication making victims of those whose needs should be a touchstone for what kind of society we want to become?
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