Sir, – I have a vision impairment, and, like the person featured in your article (Life, February 27th), I often find myself tired and exhausted at the end of a day in Dublin city centre.
There are everywhere obstacles on the pavements and footpaths.
There are parts of Dublin which are almost impossible to get through around lunchtime, where pavements are narrow, shops display their products on the streets and people are waiting at busstops. It takes a lot of concentration not to walk into people or obstacles on the path.
But sometimes people make it difficult as well. I know they mean well when they offer help, and there are situations when I am really grateful to be asked if I want to cross the road or if I need to get directions. But sometimes this question alone can be a huge distraction: I might stop at a corner and listen to the traffic, because this will give me an idea where to go, and somebody comes along, takes my arm and asks me where I want to go; in such a situation this can be hugely distracting, and I can only say I need some time to figure it out myself.
I personally don’t like to be touched by people. When somebody approaches me and wants to offer help, the nicest approach is to simply say: “Excuse me, do you need help?”. Then I can decide whether I want help or not, instead of help being forced on me. A couple of times people just take my arm and drag me across the road – without even asking if I want to cross.
I do think that people are not to blame for their behaviour. They want to help. But I do feel that we desperately need disability-awareness training: in schools, in companies and organisations. It would be ideal if that disability-awareness training could be delivered by disabled people themselves – as only they know about their difficulties and how to address them. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I refer to an article titled “A disability for a day: ‘I felt like a hindrance’ (Life, February 27th). While it is an admirable attempt to understand how disabled or deaf people function in society, I am afraid that this attempt misses the whole point.
To be a person in any capacity, you require epistemological (nature of knowledge) and ontological development (nature of being). To put it simply, you cannot learn what it is like to be a woman (if you are a man), or a black woman (if you are a white man) (and converse) in a day. Plenty of disabled and deaf people are well able to function in society. What really need to be changed are societal attitudes towards them as well as the inaccessible infrastructure.
Such attempts like that only heighten pity and fear, which would not be helpful for the like of disabled and deaf people. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – Great idea in giving people the opportunity to experience disability for a day (Life, February 27th). Could I suggest you ask Ministers responsible for the obscene cut in the mobility allowance to do likewise for a week? – Is mise,