Accessibility When Shopping

I wrote a blog post on 'Rolling Through Life' for Faith:

Hello everyone, I’m Ailsa. I am a friend of Faith’s. I am delighted to be writing for Faith’s Rolling Through Life! Today, I’m going to be talking about the access in shops (or lack of access, as the case may be). I find it extremely frustrating when I go into a shop and I can’t get around the shop floors. I have gone into shops, and my carers have had to pick the stock up off the floor before I could proceed further into the shop.

I go into well-known clothes retailers frequently, it would help people who use mobility aids if shops would stop filling the store floor with clothes racks because when you use a wheelchair, it can be very difficult to manoeuvre around the shops. Your wheelchair gets caught up in the things on the floor, or the racks are so close together that you knock things off by accident anyway.

I don’t have a large wheelchair, but I still find it difficult to get around these shops… If you read my blog, you may know that I have Athetoid Cerebral Palsy, meaning that I have involuntary movements. I am constantly thinking about what would happen if my arms fly out at completely the wrong moment (there is never a right moment, but you know what I mean), that could be a catastrophe if I’m in a crowded shop like this because I don’t want to throw things around!

I have similar problems in a shop that sells stationery and books. This shop sells everything from reading books to arts and crafts. I went into this shop in Gosport High Street a few weeks ago, to buy some things for my memory books that I’m putting together. There are tables with lots of books balanced on top of one another, these tables are set out in a square, you have a little walkway in-between. Again, I could end up knocking them over.

Thank you to Faith for inviting me to write this blog post on Rolling Through Life, I hope you have enjoyed it, and I hope it gave you more of an idea about my life and my views about access in shops.

I have my own blog, which is called Brains on Wheels, where I write about my personal experiences surrounding disability. My blog posts vary, depending on what mood I’m in.

You can read my blog at: http://ailsas.wixsite.com/brainsonwheels