Beautiful life with little ones, but also “spectacular” when you live in the 21st century, especially in our beloved little country.
“Shall we go to store X?” a friend asks me.
With this opportunity, I’ll also take the little one out for a walk, he’ll get his dose of very pure and clean air, as we know it is in our Bucharest. 😊)
I accept, I had no business at the store, but as always, I can make some, 😊 you don’t do as I do. We do not encourage consumerism. 😊
I thought I’d also spend time with the little one, recharging with tons of energy from his smile.
All wonderful, I take a taxi to her, because it’s a long process for her to get to me, my friend.
From her area, we would have had to take the subway to get where we were headed.
And only now does the adventure and challenges begin.
To reach the subway, we would have had to go down about 20 steps. Surprise, no escalators, and no lift to speak of.
The big questions: Do we carry the child up? Do you carry him and I take the stroller? Do we wait for someone to help us?
And with these worries, we spent about 5 minutes, during which no one passed by who was willing and in the right shape to help us…
To be safe for myself, the little one, and everyone, I carried the stroller up.
Lucky for the kind-hearted Romanian who, on the second-to-last step, asks us, “Do you need help?” 😊
We, thank you, we’ve managed, we are independent women, not that it wouldn’t be fashionable. 😊
I have the impression that this concept of “independent woman” has left Romania.
To be more dramatic, left the Romanian subway. 😊
A bit misunderstood, but what doesn’t a person adapt to, especially a Romanian person?… 😊
Let’s continue, it would have been nice if the adventure ended, but no…
At the subway exit, the same story, but I asked a guy, who was nice and helped my friend.
Well, for her, kind of a double effort because she had me by the arm too.
And you’ll tell me, why didn’t you go alone, with a white cane, maybe with a guide dog.
Well, hold on, because in the Bucharest subway, you can hardly orient yourself even if you have all your senses intact, let alone if you are blind.
- Handrail for support, in my case for orientation on stairs, none.
- Escalators for a person carrying a small child, none.
- Not even a ramp, which would allow descending or ascending without the risk of injury because it is steep and, moreover, made of a material that favors slipping.
Accessible signage, a dream. Many don’t even know what that is. There’s nothing to eat or drink :-))
Accessible signage = *a mix of indications that everyone can use, regardless of potential disabilities (visual, locomotor, auditory, etc).
And so we reached the store, where, again, stairs, not 20, but enough to once again lift the stroller up.
And slowly, our enthusiasm turned into frustration.
And now I was thinking, it’s said to be discrimination to select your customers, but if you make or make access difficult for potential customers into the store / subway (in the presented case) impossible – it can be discrimination, more indirect, but it is.
And so, in a few lines, you understood how useful a ramp and a handrail are, both for me who cannot see, and for my friend who has a baby, and for several million other people who are in special conditions (parents of small children, people carrying heavy luggage), people with disabilities and to push it a bit to the extreme, the woman in 15cm heels, would also find an escalator / lift more useful instead of those 20 steps.
So:
#Accessibility_is_not_a_whim
It is a necessity, at different times, for everyone!
I don’t even know what else I did then, in that store, but I remember perfectly that I got my dose of tension and frustration for that day.
Beautiful Romania, lovely Bucharest, too bad they have accessibility, almost none, to be a bit lenient.
Have you had a similar experience?
Tell me about it in the comments!
Until we have better conditions, at least let’s laugh at our misfortune 😊
