At the last general election in 2008, I took a relative in a wheelchair to vote. When we entered the room, one of the assistant election commissioners asked him, “Taf tikteb?” (Do you know how to write?)
I wanted to shout back, “He has a Ph.D. in Pure Mathematics, for goodness’ sake!” But he beat me to it and answered with a smile, “Yes, I can.”
So I appeal to all election officials at the referendum on Saturday and to the public in general not to treat anyone in a wheelchair as a child or an idiot. As Vickie Gauci (The Sunday Times, May 15) said, just ask: “Do you need help?” Next Saturday it would probably be me, a senior citizen, who needs help to push him up or down any steep ramp.
This brings up another matter – have the people who design these ramps or the degree of their steepness, ever actually pushed an adult in a wheelchair up one of these ramps?