| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Waitrose planning to expand store BUT wants to remove Lacy Rd entrance! | |
| Posted by: | Claire Longworth | |
| Date/Time: | 28/02/11 19:38:00 |
| Rose you are very fortunate if you or your close friends and family have not ever had to deal with the daily problems that people with mobility (or any other type of disability) have to contend with. Where every expedition (often quite rare) has to be planned with military precision. People on this forum have given you a tiny insight into their worlds and you respond with a facetious comment - was that really necessary? And in answer to your question, of course plenty of disabled people do access your aforementioned shops. However for two of the three people in my life with mobility problems, they would struggle to get to them - even if parked in the Lacey Road disabled bays. They would instead “choose” (in a Hobsons Choice sort of way) to go to more accessible retail environments, such as Kew Retail Park - where it’s one or two steps only into the shops and where wheelchairs can be borrowed for a long browse. And you may well ask why they don't use their own wheelchairs if their mobility is so impaired? Well have you tried using one on public transport, or lifted a heavy collapsible one into the back of a small car? Or have you any idea how hard it is to navigate a wheelchair around pavements full of obstacles, holes or a lack of dropped curbs. And that’s all before you even get into the shops themselves - which are overcrowded with clothes rails, display stands and other shoppers, making it a nightmare to manoeuvre a heavy bulky wheelchair! However, I fear we are getting slightly off the subject. Waitrose certainly needs a reorganisation and I am not against expansion. However real consideration should be given to the very real access issues faced by many people. |