AFTER reading the article “wheelchair humiliation” (News, 26 January) I had to write this letter.
I have spent 26 years in and out of a wheelchair since I was involved in a motorcycle accident in 1980 in which I received multiple injuries, including being left blind and on dialysis due to a shattered kidney (I have since had a transplant).
Due to complications I’ve since had a below-knee amputation (right leg) and forefoot amputation (left leg).
In the mid-1990s, I wrote a letter to Westfield (Southland) asking if it could have a yellow line painted on the front of the escalator steps to show where the edge was.
The reply was “use the lift”. I did not want to as I was on dialysis and (due to medication) if I was hit by a pram, trolley or scratched by a child’s toy I would not stop bleeding.
My request was not just for me, it was for everyone, the aged, children and the vision-impaired.
It certainly looks like nothing has changed with regard to Westfield.
Several years ago a group of vision-impaired people arranged to go and speak to centre management and the disability carer.
Guess what?
Everything was arranged, we turned up on the day but the manager did not. I call that being duck-shoved. If this was not sending us a message, I don’t know what else would.
We had only asked for a few things on our list to be remedied.
Out of these, only one out of six has been completed. The rest we were told would need to go to head office.
Shame on Westfield.
We, the disabled, are a large part of the community. We are not asking for sympathy or special treatment, we are asking for consideration, respect, support and maybe a little assistance from big business and the public in general to make our day-to-day lives easier.
Gillian Varker,
Narre Warren.
I AM having great difficulty with all the flak Westfield is receiving over people with disabilities and their claim of inhuman treatment by staff at Fountain Gate.
There are many questions that need to be answered on this one.
For a start, how did the people get to their cars at their homes and again into the shopping centre?
I do not think the guard would have stood over any person and made them crawl to their car.
It sounds like a lot of grandstanding. Does it give disabled people a good name?
Furthermore, I have used this service myself on more that one occasion, both for my 94-year-old mum and for my cancer-stricken mother-in-law, and I have not encountered any problems.
D.Moseley,
Beaconsfield.
not users’ fault
I REFER to the story Blown Fuse Cuts Power (News, 26 January).
Talk about blaming the victims!
AusNet has effectively blamed its customers for using their fans and air-conditioners on a 40-degrees-plus day, thereby blowing a fuse.
We don’t live in the 1950s any more (when, by the way, we received a far superior service from the SEC). It is up to AusNet to provide a network that can cope with today’s demands.
Russell Blyth,
Berwick.
“ENOUGH is enough!”
That is what we commonly say to express our impatience, dissatisfaction or frustration.
This is how I personally feel, and others in Casey may feel, with regard to the harassment of new councillor Paul Richardson by some other councillors.
Cr Richardson has been the only one to date to appeal to ratepayers and other members of the community to attend council meetings.
Why? Simply because he has nothing to hide.
He favours more transparency in the conduct of council discussions.
Unlike some other councillors, who want almost every issue discussed in camera, Cr Richardson openly rejects junkets, sister cities, a salary of $93,000 and a new V6 car at the expense of ratepayers.
He should therefore be congratulated by his colleagues.
The remark of Casey mayor Kevin Bradford that “Cr Richardson has not yet come to terms with his role as councillor” is pedantic, unwarranted and repugnant.
Eliezer Franzoir,
Endeavour Hills.
