Hey :) I'm visually impaired, and also use a wheelchair

Jules_H

Sparklebright63 said:

Hi Jules_H

Sorry you R having so many problems I am partially sighted in 1 eye and very poor sight in the other eye I was born with retrolentalfibroplasia I am very good at walking into door handles walking into things so I find it hard to get about sometimes.

I loose my balance to happened earlier a good job I was sat down or I would have been on the floor broke my wrist in April last year after loosing my balance.

I hope you get your problems sorted out soon would luv to chat if you do let me know.

Sparklebright63.

I can empathise with this. I lost my balance while I was out. I only went to the end of the street but walked down and up the dip where a car drives over the lowered curb into his driveway. I fell forward and broke my nose.  You were really lucky not to have broken your wrist though,
 While I do tend to walk into door handles, I think some in town think I'm some kind of mime act, as I'm feeling for a door handle on an automatic door. I recently had the ball of my cane run along a wall edge so I didn't go past the side entrance to a shop. The door was meant to be automatic but it wouldn't open. I didn't know that automatic doors only open if you walk straight toward them! If you approach from the side, they don't open.. so I was there ages feeling for door handles that weren't there, I tried pushing the doors, with no luck, till someone walked toward the doors, then opened, I fell straight through landing on the floor. Luckily I didn't break anything. But like you, I don't have much luck with door handles either.

Alex_Alumni

Hello again @Jules_H and thanks for sharing your experiences of being a wheelchair user and being visually impaired, I'm sure many of our members can relate to the frustrations and the barriers you face.

For those who might lack some awareness of understanding, it might be difficult to see the extra layers of prejudice and discrimination you have to deal with when you live with multiple conditions, but they do exist, and they're not acceptable.

I'm sorry for the language of the person you spoke to in the shop about coffee, there really is no call for using an ableist slur like that. If you do want to report it, there's information on Victim Support about how to do this.

I'm glad to hear that you didn't hurt yourself too badly when you fell at the shop doors, are you doing okay now? I do agree that poor building design like this is a real danger. Did you raise your concerns about accessibility with the shop staff? Perhaps getting in touch with your local authority or local MP might help to raise their awareness of this.

Jules_H

Hi  @Alex_Scope
Thank you for your reply and concern. I did go past the shope that had the door issue and noticed there are large fluorescent orange plastic barriers either side of the door, so hopefully this means it is being fixed now.

I won't go into detail, sadly I'm one of the disabled who was a victim of domestic abuse. I know the police are on my side and did go out of their way to keep me safe,  but the first time I saw two police officers in town, I went into a full panic mode where I struggled to breathe. I've never had a panic attack before so it scared me even more.  (I think the panic attack was just because it brought up all of the awful recent events, and I freaked out a lot more that I ever thought).


Apart from the fact I have no idea how to report victim abuse and know nothing about victim support. Thank you for the link on this, I will read through it.

  After the police removed my husband from the house, I did get daily, then twice weekly, then once a month calls from a victim support service working in conjunction with the police in my area, that was all mainly to make sure I was safe and alive. As far as I know, that is what victim support is. I'm not aware of any other kind.

From victim abuse/asking for some, any kind of support previously, except one person, everyone involved with and who work within the health and care capacity let me down. I got offered no support at all.    - I was told by an officer with  a local 'womens victim support' system "It's a low level risk and we can't do anything for you unless you're physically hit".   After being told that, why would I add insult to injury by reporting ableist abusive people, even to the shop security.