I shall have to read the article again and possibly again, as I had a bad night and am not fully cognitive. I have had experience in a blood lab waiting room that was wheelchair inaccessible to the section where blood was drawn, being told I was a
“fire hazzard”. I refused to leave until someone came down the steps to take my blood, but I didn’t go back (which was their goal). The city human rights commission did a lukewarm job of it, a letter was posted that we’d get service, and my name which was supposed to be “secret”, somehow resulted in my getting a letter from the near-monopoly private company….

“Crippen’s Blog” (google) had an entry last month on “making the disabled the problem”.

We aren’t going to disappear, although there’s a nagging movement of
“assisted suicide” for those of us who could be persuaded… See http://www.notdeadyet.org which is a great website.

There was a mag called “Disability Rag”, now mo rphed into “Ragged Edge” and online, in the 1980s that used the term “supercrip” about folks who can “do” mountains, and other achievements. Of course, there have been times that I have sat in my wheelchair estimating the physical cost of crawling up some steps of a public building, with spouse taking photos, but others have done it and I don’t have the stamina. I smile as I prepare to type, “We’re not going to take this stuff lying down.”. Humor goes a long way with this screwed up society/societies and messed up values (as in, we aren’t valued much)…

Thanks Mindy, you’ve just given me the biggest laugh I’ve had for ages. I am a young British PWD and scooter user who has just such a flat. I was an “urgent” case on multiple waiting lists for years waiting for something to come up that was better than my then inaccessible and scooter-hostile flat and the only reason it took less than five years for me to be rehomed was because I was willing to a) take the first vacancy that came and b) move the length of the country from South Wales to central Scotland in order to take up the place and c) accept accommodation in a sheltered scheme meant for the elderly. There is a severe shortage of social housing in the UK which tends to be allocated and managed on a “beggars can’t be choosers” system.

“It was a bit mean of them to leave him there while they carried on to the top. “

No it wasn’t. It was totally f*cking unconscionable. First of all, if you’re climbing rough terrain in a wheelchair, you’re not sitting back idly being carried up, you’re forcing those wheels around yourself as well with considerable effort (obviously the commenter never watched Beyond Boundaries). Secondly, no-one in a wheelchair would even consider attempting this unless they thought they had the assurance of assistance not only helping them up but helping them down again. It must have been hideously embarrassing to be so let down by these inconsiderate wankers who decided their personal challenge was more important that someone’s personal safety.

We can do better than that. Mountain rescue comes under the heading of emergency services – and thus under the laws regarding frivolous call-outs. Since these six’s reasons amount to an inability to be arsed with the job they’d agreed to do (since they obviously weren’t too tired to climb a mountain), they’ve quite possibly broken those laws.

Also, I’d say leaving someone exposed on a mountainside is at least potentially a matter of criminal negligence, especially since it’s someone toward whom they had specifically accepted a responsibility.

If it’s such an OH&S risk, find her a ground floor unit with scooter access. Problem solved.

Precisely. Or install a lift that can do the job it ought to.