CORONA-INSPIRED EMPATHY

Ever since a serious car accident 21 years ago left me as a permanent powered wheelchair user, I have become accustomed to not being able to go where I want, when I want, on a daily basis.

Tragically, following all the lockdowns, everyone in the whole world, can relate to this.

A few months of being cooped up, has been mentally uncomfortable for most of us, and it has revealed a really positive side to human nature; engendering a spirit of solidarity.

To cope, with everyone in a similar boat, there has been a lot of camaraderie.

Some people have helped others get through this awful situation, together.

Now just imagine though, if you could see no end to those few months? JUST A LONG NEVER ENDING ROAD.

People with mobility needs, face a lockdown of sorts, on their own, every day of their lives; often excluded, at every turn, from work and from leisure.

Lockdown has got quite close to replicating this drip; drip; drip effect. The effect of not being able to go places time after time, day after day.

Lack of access, on any individual occasion is no big deal. But it’s when it happens repeatedly — that is when it begins to really wear.

I want to stress the words ON THEIR OWN — in their lockdown, the mobility-impaired are often marooned, in a boat, all alone, with less of that accompanying camaraderie or blitz spirit.

And, this isn’t just something that applies to wheelchair users.

Of course, they do undoubtedly represent the most extreme example of being barred from everyday life, at every turn, wherever they want to go, and regularly, but there are plenty of others with mobility needs, who are equally affected: on an occasional basis.

Many of you reading will have parents: they might not be able to manage stairs any more. Some of us will have an uncle who has dodgy knees. Others will have a friend who just underwent a hip replacement.

The physical environment places barriers, and poses challenges for all these people, in exactly the same way as it does for wheelchair users.

Quite a bit has been written about the new normal, and how it is so much more mobility friendly: there are no physical limitations with zoom meetings, or with online education.

Virtual drama, even online clubbing, and skype socialising, are currently not poor cousins of their originals.

This is great news for news for people with mobility needs…but that IS RIGHT NOW.

What happens in the post corona world, if things begin to creep back to the way they were?

This is already happening, in some parts of the world.

Greater levels of EMPATHY, are key to improving the situation for people with mobility needs.

Empathy is most easily generated when you see someone else’s situation from their, usually different, perspective.

Now that covid has happened, everyone can understand what it’s like to be stuck, through no fault of your own.

I am sure that, to some extent, things will continue to revert back, but I really hope that, by having been forced to put itself in the mobility impaired’s place, for a few months, the public, will now have an empathy which positively affects the ways in which it is structured to include those with mobility needs.

Now that we’ve all been through this, I’m calling for people to join us here at WheelEasy, .register, and help to create a new more inclusive normal