I have been known to have a rant or two on this blog although more recently my rants about So Called Judgemental Parenting Posts and Baby Experts have been hosted on other lovely blogs! So here is another rant for Lauren to host whilst she’s busy having another baby! The one thing that winds me up every time I go into town, every time I go shopping or any time I go for a wander with the children…
Lifts and automatic doors are provided to make the lives of those less able to use stairs and standard doors just a little bit easier. Walking along, pushing a double pushchair, I am not able to easily open normal doors and I am definitely not able to use the stairs. But I often have to stand and wait whilst a whole stream of people walk through the automatic doors. Why is this a problem? If the stream of people were all wheelchair users, pushchair pushers or anyone else that wasn’t able to push open a normal door I would wait patiently. The issue is that the stream of people are all able bodied people, not pushing anything or even holding shopping bags. They are people too lazy to push open a standard door.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s down to those people if they want to be lazy and not really anything to do with me. But it starts to be my issue when they stop me from using that automatic door, when I have to wait for the stream of lazy people to pass or more annoyingly when I am queuing for a lift and the lift keeps being filled by people who are capable of walking down the stairs. Lifts only usually accommodate one or two pushchairs so having to wait for the lift to come back two or three times whilst people that could use the stairs keep getting in and out of the lift is nothing less than infuriating!
Now that I’ve had literally years of pushing a pushchair around it is a novelty to be able to use stairs, not have to wait for a lift and walk through doors without anything getting in my way. Unfortunately most people use lifts and automatic doors without thinking about anyone else, with no care for the queue of pushchairs and wheelchairs that can’t go any other way, that have to use the lift or automatic door.
Next time you’re out and about, and able to, go and push open a door or walk up the stairs. Even go on an escalator! Think of it as your good deed for the day and as you climb the stairs think of all those extra calories you’ll be burning!
Mega thanks to Donna for letting me share her rant! I wholeheartedly agree! Use the manual doors and the stairs! Donna blogs at What the Redhead said, and you can find her on twitter and facebook too, she’s lovely so go and say hello!
I agree too. Although don’t be too quick to judge a person as able bodied. Some people get out of breath easily from conditions you wouldn’t see from just looking at them, like kidney failure or hypermobility.
Yay, thanks for having me lovely! x