Catch of the Day

That day Fishy and I were talking about how we don't seem to see that many disabled people in Singapore. The real truth we figured is that Singapore is so disabled people-unfriendly that if you are disabled, you have not much choice but to stay at home.

Today I felt it even more through a personal experience. After seeing a doctor ( I was sick), I heard this ah ma calling for someone to help her and what she wanted to do was to cross the road. As I started pushing the wheelchair she was sitting in, I started to really understand why she needed help.

Firstly, the sides of her wheelchair were hanging with metal cans and many packet of tissue paper. Hence, these added weights were something to reckon with. Next, I realised that there ain't much space to move around, especially when we were passing through a bus-stop. Further, some of the roads were not quite even and some ramps were quite steep. For a healthy person pushing her, I had to spend a considerable amt of energy and vigilance to make sure I don't send her rolling down the too-steep slope and crashing into some obstacles. I could imagine how much effort it would take her to roll wheel herself across. Furthermore, I find that even the 20 seconds given to cross the road hardly suffice for us to cross. I had to trust that the drivers were kind enough to spare me a few seconds to send her over safely (which they did).

Then she told me about how the blind people selling tissue (who are usually accompanied by other people) usually are from a syndicate that exploits their disability. And she also told me that they don't need so much money to survive cox they don't have to go for repeated medicial treatment (since they are already blind), unlike her who has to go every few months (one of her legs is amputated from the knee downwards).

After this incident, I feel even more strongly that more disabled and elderly-friendly features need to be in place in this country with an aging population. The day will soon be when our parents and ourselves need these amenities to help us lead a more dignified life. If you are like me, who might sometimes turn a blind eye to the old ah ma selling tissue, now I say, just buy it. To us, that $2 might be nothing more than small change but to these people, it means a meal, some rental and perhaps savings for medical expenses.