A level playing field

Is it ok to park in a disabled space for two minutes while you get some cash from the supermarket?
 
What about if you’re popping up the High Street for twenty minutes or you’re late for a two hour meeting?
 
It all depends on your awareness and sensitivity to disability.
 
Then there is the more general question of accessibility.
 
How many shops in Town are easy to get into and then move around if you’re disabled?
 
How many restaurants?
 
This is assuming of course that you can actually get into Town at all.
 
The thing is that disability covers a very wide spectrum. It could range from a temporary broken ankle, through restricted eyesight or hearing, or being stuck in a wheelchair 24/7 with limited movement.
 
The issue is also about something that we all take for granted until we don’t have it. Oh, I’ll just pop to the library and see what’s new and get a Press on the way back to the car. So easy when you’ve full mobility but a mountain for some people.
 
Library; let’s see. Might be able to park by the church if there’s a space (unlikely) or maybe in that one space at the top of the market which is beautifully placed for anyone wishing to nip up Mill Street. After all, five minutes in a disabled spot won’t upset anyone will it?
 
I use disabled spaces all the time; they’re so convenient and it saves having to walk too far which is just as well because I can’t. If Town parking was a problem I used to go down by the model yacht pond and walk in; but no more. Now it’s a problem getting in even from Albert, although the new slope by the church should help.
 
You see, you never notice these things until you have to.
 
Just like nipping into a disabled parking spot; you don’t see it as a problem until it’s you who needs that spot just to help get where you need to go and because you no longer have the luxury of being able to walk that extra eternity from the car park.
 
At a personal level I have met nothing but kindness when I’ve been bumbling about or occasionally losing my balance. But as an Island I now see the corporate indifference to helping those who need that little extra and it’s not good enough.
 
Perhaps we should break a few political and influential legs. Being wheelchair bound for a while might just focus a few minds about disabled access in this Island.