Wheelchair access in shops

Lum

charleyzee wrote: »

The best lesson re the moving thing is the sketch from The Office, where Ricky Gervais moves his colleague, who is in a wheelchair, as if she is a bag of bones.

Unfortunately I just can't watch that show. I have nothing against Ricky Gervais, it just brings back too many bad memories of an old job.

I can't believe what you just said about your former carer, I'm guessing this is one you paid for too, I guess they can't tell the difference between an adult in a wheelchair and a child in a pushchair.

The other one that drives us both nutty is when my partner is shopping and is after advice or needs to speak to a member of staff about something, they end up talking to me because I'm at their height when I'm not the one after the information.

There are exceptions mind, but they're rare, have to give a shout out to the guy at Skechers in the outlet village in Bridgend who as well as having the decency to talk to her properly like a human being, went way beyond the call of duty in helping her find a suitable pair of shoes given that one of her feet is swollen by 2 shoe sizes and pretty much impossible to touch without causing pain. It took about half an hour to find a pair she could put on and take off reasonably easy, and he even recommended that we then go to Clarks for some insoles to pad out the other shoe that is too big.

Also that shop has aisles wide enough to get a chair through easily and their layout is damn good too. All the shoes are are on displays at eye level for a wheelchair user, with the space above and below them just boxed shoes of various sizes, which the staff will get for you as they don't like you using the ladder anyway. So yes, if you're a wheelchair user and you want a pair of trainers, give Skechers a try.

*Chattie*

Lum wrote: »

Going a bit OT here, but funnily enough, my partner keeps suggesting I do this while out shopping with her, using the free wheelchairs that Tesco provide.

I'm really not sure how I feel about the idea, given I'll be taking a chair that I don't need, potentially depriving the use of a chair from someone who actually needs it.

Then again, from our brief experiences with a Tesco chair before she got her own, most of them seem to be poorly maintained death traps anyway. They're about as well maintained as those other 4 wheeled metal transportation devices you find in Tescos.

I'd be inclined to ask for the manager of any store you have problems with to come and actually shop with/behind you and let them experience the problems someone in a wheelchair has. I'm sure there will be a lot who have never even given it a thought how aisles being blocked cause bother, rails being too high and even the paying counter being too high. Start with New Look and the poster's SIL and let her bang on about how she has targets to beat and that she couldn't care less about how unwelcoming her shop is to disabled shoppers.

then shop her to HO

Lum

Actually, apart from the badly maintained chairs, our Tesco isn't too bad. The aisles are nice and wide and they're usually not cluttered up.

The biggest problem is douchebags who stand there staring at the shelves with their trolley held out at a 45 degree angle touching a pillar, when there isn't enough room to get a chair or a trolley around the other side of the pillar. Not much the store management can do about that.

Of course, all the above goes out the window when it's shelf stacking time. Loading cages abandoned all over the place, and the floor covered in random chunks of cardboard, plastic film and those annoying woven plastic tape things used to hold parcels together, lurking around a corner waiting to get tangled in your wheels.

*Chattie*

See its those sort of things I think management don't think about if they have no direct experience of it. I'm sure my local Tesco manager would be horrified if his staff's actions impeded someone doing their shopping.

Lum

To be honest, they block able bodied people from getting trollies through too, surely even a manager can see why this is a problem.

Therefore the conclusion I come to is that they simply don't give a damn.

formaldehyde_perfume

It's amazing what having a disabled member of staff can do to a store. Our local Tesco has a manager (or other high up position but still on the shop floor) who is in a wheelchair and I've never had problems with accessing the store in the way of distribution cages/wrapping etc. I don't think that's a coincidence as I have had trouble in other Tesco stores. It's usually the bloody idiot members of the public which cause most problems though!

JethroUK

OneYorkshireLass wrote: »

I'm having a battle with people who don't look where they are going when they are walking because they are staring at their mobile and rapidly texting. I had a rare shopping outing last week and spent most of the time trying to avoid people who weren't looking where they were going before they ran me down.

It always saddens me when people stare when I'm walking with a stick. Mostly it's young children whose parents just ignore what they are doing, and those who are just plain ignorant and spent their waking hours looking people up and down to see what label they are/aren't wearing.

It seems people are damned for looking and damned for not looking - now that is really sad

OneYorkshireLass

JethroUK wrote: »

It seems people are damned for looking and damned for not looking - now that is really sad

Nope, there's looking and there's staring.

Anubis_2

Lum wrote: »

Unfortunately I just can't watch that show. I have nothing against Ricky Gervais, it just brings back too many bad memories of an old job.

I can't believe what you just said about your former carer, I'm guessing this is one you paid for too, I guess they can't tell the difference between an adult in a wheelchair and a child in a pushchair.

The other one that drives us both nutty is when my partner is shopping and is after advice or needs to speak to a member of staff about something, they end up talking to me because I'm at their height when I'm not the one after the information.

There are exceptions mind, but they're rare, have to give a shout out to the guy at Skechers in the outlet village in Bridgend who as well as having the decency to talk to her properly like a human being, went way beyond the call of duty in helping her find a suitable pair of shoes given that one of her feet is swollen by 2 shoe sizes and pretty much impossible to touch without causing pain. It took about half an hour to find a pair she could put on and take off reasonably easy, and he even recommended that we then go to Clarks for some insoles to pad out the other shoe that is too big.

Also that shop has aisles wide enough to get a chair through easily and their layout is damn good too. All the shoes are are on displays at eye level for a wheelchair user, with the space above and below them just boxed shoes of various sizes, which the staff will get for you as they don't like you using the ladder anyway. So yes, if you're a wheelchair user and you want a pair of trainers, give Skechers a try.

Oh..... That one! Yes, come across it many times when out with carer who is my husband! They either talk to him or speak to me like I have no brain - very slowly and loudly! :mad:

Lum

Anubis wrote: »

Oh..... That one! Yes, come across it many times when out with carer who is my husband! They either talk to him or speak to me like I have no brain - very slowly and loudly! :mad:

It's always amusing when I tell them "speak to her, not me. She's the one spending the money". They tend to go all :eek: for just a moment.