Remember ages ago when my wheelchair tipped backwards after
going over them ridiculous speed humps in Verulamium Park (which were finally
removed following months of arguing). Everyone was shocked and appalled how a
few onlookers walked on by and it took a while for someone to come to my aid. Anyway, that wasn’t a one off. It turns out
that most of the general public will not offer to help someone who is in
distress and those selfless people who do come forward are in the minority.
‘Wheelchair Boy’ found this out last month when I found myself in a rather
uncompromising situation.
Whenever I visit the Alban Arena, I normally end up writing
a post about parking but it was different this time as my brother and I were
being dropped off. However, it didn’t go according to plan because when I stood
up to transfer, both my legs buckled from beneath me (happens quite a lot with
Friedreich’s Ataxia). That’s not a
problem usually as I’m strong enough to recover and pull my body up using the car
door. I felt weak this time so once I had gone, I thought there was no point in
fighting the inevitable and gently let myself down to the floor.
I told my brother and sister not to panic. I’m sure a couple
of strong men would be able to help…eventually. The amount of passers by who
just ignored the situation was unreal. It wasn’t as if people couldn’t see what
happened; we were right between a busy pub (Waterend Barn) and the theatre so
lots of people were around. I even made eye contact with some but they just looked
away and left the disabled person sitting in the road. I don’t know if they thought I was messing
around or were simply not very nice.
After a while, two men came to the rescue. One person who
was also going to see the show (stand-up from Jon Richardson) and a homeless
beggar. An unlikely combination but I’m immensely grateful for their
assistance. Puts the rest of the onlookers to shame. I naively thought St.
Albans was a pleasant area because, as the name suggests, it’s a city with
strong religious foundations but clearly not. My fellow Albanians obviously hadn’t
heard of the Good Samaritan parable.
Bye for now!
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