Yesterday we took Auntie Daphne to the National Botanical Garden for an outing, as the weather was reasonable. As she can't walk far, Clare booked a wheelchair for taking her around. It was waiting for us when we arrived and we made good use of it.
Wheelchair access is pretty good throughout the public domain, and there was a shuttle linking the main entrance and restaurant . The challenge for both Clare and I was pushing it. She had less problems than I did as the height of the pushing handles was just right for her, but after a while I found it quite a strain on the back because it was too low for me. Now here's a problem I'd never even thought of before. The usability of wheelchairs from the carer's standpoint, as well as the user.
Giving disabled people full access to everything society has to offer is quite a challenge to designers and architects, and much more complex than anyone can have imagined before we started rising to it. It's worth the hassle though. Everyone benefits all round from elegant user friendly solutions.
We went to the Cathedral Sung Eucharist this morning. It's just as well that there is level access from the east end of the building, when the main west end approach is down a steep hill. It's a very special setting, rivalled only by St David's in Pembrokeshire, but I think Llandaff has less accessability issues, perhaps thanks to its post-war makeover in Glyn Simon's days as Dean, when I was a boy.
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