Shopping is an everyday activity that can become more difficult if you have a disability. We shop for a range of things from food to clothes, school uniforms to stationary, books to dvds. We often browse shops when we don’t know what to buy, say for example, when searching for that perfect Christmas present.
However, while most of us are able to stand in a queue, stick our card into the checkout machine, and then walk away, not everyone can.
My friend, Sophie, asked me to write this a while ago and I nearly forgot. Thankfully, as I sat here, trying to think what to write, Sophie’s request shot back to mind.
We were out shopping in the Bullring, Birmingham. Sophie needed to find a birthday present for one of her cousins, around 3 or 4 years old. The one thing we can all be certain about is kids love Disney, right? So we went to the Disney store.
Disney Store, Birmingham
Sophie knew her cousin was a fan of Minnie Mouse. So we browsed, looking at toys suitable for that age group, clothes, cups, bags—you name it.
It wasn’t long until we found the perfect present. Minnie Mouse dressing gown and pyjamas. Success!
So we browsed the shop and found the perfect present. Then we joined the queue. Not bad, nothing wrong here. 5 minutes pass and we finally get to the front and to the tills. This is when things become difficult.
Sophie hands the pajamas to the man at the tills and for the first time, I notice something I never thought about before. The chip and pin machine rests on a shelf that is at my chest height. I’m a 5 foot, 1-inch woman who can stand.
Sophie is a wheelchair user and as I see Sophie as a capable person, I always wait until she asks for help. So I let the scenario play out. The man looks at me. I don’t do anything. He unattached the chip and pin from the machine, and tries to lower it but it is on a wire and still not able to reach Sophie.
Eventually, Sophie asks for help but another issue happens here. The amount she spent is over the £30 contactless limit, so we cannot use contactless. Sophie cannot reach the chip and pin to enter her pin, so we had to come up with a solution. I paid on my card and Sophie paid me back when she got to the cashpoint but that shouldn’t have to be the case.
I’m not saying I minded paying with my card, because what are friends for? But Sophie shouldn’t have to rely on me to pay.
Morrisons
A few weeks back, we had a similar issue at Morrisons. This one could reach Sophie but the look of confusion on the staffs face when I asked them to detach it was… odd to say the least. They tried to explain to me how to detach it but I still wasn’t able to do it, eventually someone did detach it, but by that point there were three members of staff trying to help us pay.
Not all shops are bad
In December 2018, I went Christmas Shopping in an electric wheelchair for hire. It was the first time I used a chair and as I zoomed around Derby City Centre and their version of the Bullring, I found the staff couldn’t be more helpful. Without asking, the Debenhams staff gave me the chip and pin.
I went to other shops in Derby, and they were all very helpful and wanted to do the best but I think Debenhams was the only one I bought from when I was Christmas Shopping.
What can be done?
I’m not sure if it was because I was clearly by myself, I have definitely been to places with Sophie where people have looked to me or her carer without looking at her when she is in the queue.
I usually make a note of ignoring them until they ask Sophie. So the first thing that needs to be done is for staff to realise that someone in a wheelchair has their own mind on what they want to order or what they want to buy.
The next thing is to make tills that can easily be accessed by a wheelchair. The one in Disney store was ridiculous. Must have been at least 4 1/2 foot. I’ve seen counters that are wheelchair level at university pubs so why don’t shops have this?
But until that happens, you might find this link helpful.
AccessAble is a website that provides accessibility ratings and photographs of a large number of shops, restaurants, hotels and other places you might wish to go.
I have also created a discord server for people with disabilities. Do feel free to join here.
That seems so ridiculous! I work in a dog grooming shop that has a high counter for safety reasons (our dogs hang out rather than go in crates). It doesn’t mean there’s any trouble, we have a very portable cc machine. It only makes sense to have something that important accessible to all. I bet it’s just aesthetics stopping store owners. All the extra cables & wires can look sloppy but do you want your store to be pretty or accessible? Sorry your friend has to deal with this issue.
I totally agree, no reason for it nowadays
Being disabled, but still able to walk with a walker, this hadn’t occurred to me. What gets me though is how many places don’t have ramps for wheelchairs and/or walkers. I go to a pain management doctor and he has lots of patients that are either wheel chair bound or use walkers, but he doesn’t have a ramp for access up the curb from the parking lot. I have to lift my walker up and then step up. Sometimes opening doors with a walker can be difficult and there are lots of helpful people out there, but sometimes people just sit and watch you struggle with the door and the walker. I can’t imagine being in a chair and having to open the door and wheel myself in. There are still many places that aren’t set up for those of us with disabilities.
Sometimes just the simplest things can make a huge difference in inclusivity. We can do this, people. If we can build skyscrapers, space stations and satellites, we can make accessible “x”, fill in the blank. Good read.
Thank you. I agree. If we made everything accessible to those with disabilities, we’d be making it accessible to everyone as a default.