Do We Need More Escalators?
I should say, that I don’t consider myself disabled, but I do have various disabilities.
- The school bully, broke my left humerus, so now sixty-two years later, my left hand and arm isn’t as dextrous as the right. This means that when I’m going up or down a set of stairs I tend to keep on the right.
- My left knee has suffered through being a father three times in too short a time, As at the time we lived in a fifth floor flat without a lift, I had to carry a heavy double-pushchair up the stairs too many times.
- My GP at the time was all for an operation, which I have avoided for fifty years or so.
- My stroke nearly twelve years ago, left me with slightly dodgy vision on my left side.
Luckily the stroke didn’t affect my balance, so if I miss a step, it usually doesn’t result in a fall. In fact since the stroke I’ve only tripped and fallen four twice. Once going down the steps at Dalston Junction station, once in my bedroom, when a mat slipped and twice on Islington’s dreadful pavements.
This morning I have been up and down a lot of escalators.
I rarely have any problems, although once when I was about thirty, I feel down the escalator at Oxford Circus and went to the A & E at the Middlesex Hospital for a check-up.
I certainly wouldn’t mind a few more escalators to ease me on my way!
The Anonymous Widower 
It would be good if we had more of ones without steps – for instance the tilted travelators, with something to hold a person using a wheelchair or mobility scooter in place to stop them slipping back downwards. I rarely use escalators upwards because my balance is poor, and I don’t use the downwards ones because of my balance – afraid to step onto those, because my hands are so dodgy I can’t just cling on for dear life! So I have to rely on lifts.
Comment by nosnikrapzil | February 27, 2023 |