Shops and disabled people

Back to my op..

The aisles in the shops are too long. i cant walk all the way down one aisle, let alone a whole shop of them.when aisles had gaps half way where you could cut through to the next aisle, was just about managable for me.

Sadly now i cant walk around a whole shop. i used to love shopping but now i do it all online. its not just seats that are needed but, shorter aisles and yes may be more aisles, but at least i could manage 2 or more aisles and buy more. Whereas now theyre not getting my custom.

 

My mother has a portable seat she calls the bus....

 

Local community bus - she calls up and says she wants to go to X. They say they will pick her up at a time - and they are never more than five minutes out. Small 24 seater bus, or sometimes a minibus comes, drops her off wherever. She does her sitting down on the way there. Bus is usually more than half full of folks going shopping, bingo, swimming baths etc...

 

It's not perfect for everyone, but perhaps looking at the journey for the more senior citizens is worth it rather than add on seating etc for the existing provision?

That sounds fab! Sounds like a good scheme, but surely pretty expensive to run?

All I'm saying is that it wouldn't be beyond the capabilities of a society like ours to put a few seats at the tram stops? They've spent god knows how much on the digital displays (which are still "under testing" and not accurate half the time), so a few benches wouldn't have made much difference.

She pays 50p a trip I think. Way cheaper than a taxi.

I'm not sure how it's funded - it's clearly done at cost as it's not commercial and the driver is in his 70's as well and does it for free. Not sure if it's subsidised by the local authorities or not.

Were I live Tesco shops have seating along the windows not in aisles the only shop I know of has seating between shelving is Windsor shoe shop. In some shops it not practical to place seating every so often due to units size. Shopping malls have seating in their public areas plus under cover like Meadowhall. Some shops do have scooters or wheelchairs to loan for store use .

Back to my op..

The aisles in the shops are too long. i cant walk all the way down one aisle, let alone a whole shop of them.when aisles had gaps half way where you could cut through to the next aisle, was just about managable for me.

Sadly now i cant walk around a whole shop. i used to love shopping but now i do it all online. its not just seats that are needed but, shorter aisles and yes may be more aisles, but at least i could manage 2 or more aisles and buy more. Whereas now theyre not getting my custom.

Go to Tesco, ours have motorised wheelchairs for the infirm.

Ask your store to provided one or two.

I thought I'd write to SYPTE to see what they think about seating at trams stops. I got a really good response:

"I am pleased to be able to tell you that in response to requests from members of the public, seating units will be installed at 26 stops before the end of March this year. Even though the trams run on a 10 minute frequency, the Transport Executive is aware that some senior or mobility impaired passengers find even that relatively short wait difficult and there has been an aspiration to provide seating at tram stops for some time. Unfortunately the funding has not been available until now."

How cool is that?!

It makes a nice change to get a positive response.

Why bother with seating. Just adapt a trolley to incorporate some kind of seat. Plenty of boffins out there. I think this is my Dragons Den moment.

Why bother with seating. Just adapt a trolley to incorporate some kind of seat. Plenty of boffins out there. I think this is my Dragons Den moment.

I'm out.

I dont fancy the already busy supermarket being cluttered up by people having a nice little sit down in the middle of the aisles.

As others have said, there are options available to those with limited mobility. Stores are not going to encourage people to sit down on the shop floor. People sitting there are not making money (unless they are in one of their designated store restaurants).

Supermarkets may offer mobility assistance, they offer in store restaurants for those who need to take a break, they have delivery services, they have advance ordering and collection services.

With some shops I have to just leave the wheelchair (manual) outside as there is no way I can get round e.g. any poundshop without finding stock in baskets on the floors next to shelves, it must mean that the disabled who use scooters or large motorised chairs have to find shops which are wheelchair friendly.

I'm out.

 

I dont fancy the already busy supermarket being cluttered up by people having a nice little sit down in the middle of the aisles.

 

As others have said, there are options available to those with limited mobility. Stores are not going to encourage people to sit down on the shop floor. People sitting there are not making money (unless they are in one of their designated store restaurants).

 

Supermarkets may offer mobility assistance, they offer in store restaurants for those who need to take a break, they have delivery services, they have advance ordering and collection services.

Bit of tongue in cheek from me Ecconoob.

Maybe adapted like a fork lift truck? Seat elevates them 10feet up...out of the way.

I manage services for people with disabilities, nobody has ever complained to me about their shopping experiences. It's not seating that is a problem, it's able bodied folk being damn ignorant and impatient.