Listening and Learning
Today whilst door knocking for the Green Party I met two individuals from whom I have learnt a great deal.
The first, a pensioner, doesn’t go out much these days because she is confined to a wheelchair. She told me that when she has been out to a social event at the community centre she has always felt in the way and that people literally talk down from their standing position to her sitting in her chair. It seems that her world is getting ever smaller and narrower as the effort and strength to get out of her bungalow seems out of proportion to her feeling of being ignored and in the way. I’ve learnt that it is a good idea to get physically down to a wheelchair users level and in so doing you can take away a barrier even for that short time having a conversation.
The second was a mother with a physically handicapped child. We take our mobility for granted and it is certainly sobering hearing about the little things that can make their lives easier or harder. Tricia gave me a tiny insight into what it is like when you are using the buses and they don’t have a ramp for wheel chairs or when the bus goes past because they can only take one wheel chair passenger and there is already a wheel chair user on the bus. I have learnt just a little bit more about what it must be like to care for a handicapped child.
Generally these people go un-noticed and ignored. Today I have learnt a little bit more about the people in our city.