The handicapped. The crippled. Those with learning disabilities. The disabled. The visually impaired. The mentally challenged... and more.

I prefer to refer to those as ‘less able’.  ‘Less able’ does not necessarily mean you are in a wheelchair. The European wide ‘blue badge’ shows a graphic including a wheelchair but it is a universal signal that someone in a vehicle is ‘less able’. If you are less able you may have serious heart or lung issues, you may have vision problems or you may require walking aids or, indeed, a wheelchair or mobility scooter. You, or a loved one, may have mental health issues.

Despite our anti-discrimination laws being 25 years old, we really have failed to move forward much. A suggestion would be a sign, maybe showing the blue badge image saying: “Ask us for help.” What an accolade for a restaurant or bar if a nominated member of staff appears and opens doors, parks a wheelchair and asks if there is anything else they can do. A simple step but it would make life so much easier.

A theatre in Gozo claims to be “Disabled Friendly”. So long as you appear before the doors open and are prepared to sit for who knows how long. The untrained staff do not take into account that a less able individual may wish to eat first. Just don’t try it, for the service is so poor you’ll miss the start of the show in the queue for the lift... where chaos ensues as the ‘able’ fail to make way for the ‘less able’.

Nevertheless, the theatre in question actually sought legal advice on the matter before replying to the customer, rather than score a PR victory by perhaps giving a seat for a future show. They scored an own goal instead. Interestingly, another entertainment establishment a stone’s throw away has a “chaperone” at the front door to escort anyone less able to the bar, the toilet or their seat. Exemplary service indeed, great PR and it costs nothing. When I asked this customer – a former writer and journalist – of the way she had been treated, she replied: “This theatre could bring Pavarotti back from the dead to perform... I would never return.”

The most blatant examples of abuse are there for all to see. Illegal parking in blue badge spaces, lack of understanding of people’s needs and, of course, our pavements, most of which show a complete disregard for the less able. Our pavements. The elephant in the room, for the pavements of Gozo are legendary indeed. A fit person can be walking purposefully along and he or she notices the road appears to drop away from them. As we Gozitans are aware, the road dips, but the pavement does not, to facilitate entry to a front door or a garage.

In parts of our capital, there are streets galore where you find yourself perched at the end of a stretch of pavement... and are faced with a step akin to Mont Blanc to negotiate downwards to ground level... but only until the next stretch of wonky pavement leads us to a garage entry and up we go again, via Kilimanjaro this time to link with our next piece of elevated concrete. Never mind the ‘less able’, our national football side could do worse than use these streets as a training facility to build leg muscles. Our ‘less able’ mostly resort to walking or being wheeled on the road as an alternative, although that is not necessarily safer.

There are 23,000 people on our islands who are registered as disabled- Tom Welch

The basic design and fabric of much of our network of pavements needs to be addressed. People are stranded in their homes, prevented from attending the everyday activities enjoyed by most of us because of treacherous pavements.

Ellie, from Xagħra, Gozo pushes her father regularly in his wheelchair so he might take some air and meet a friend or two. “Anyone who pushes an adult in a wheelchair already knows how difficult this is. It is heavy, cumbersome and we are met with uneven, broken and poorly maintained pavements, which makes it almost impossible.

“Using the road is dangerous even when crossing, as we are regularly greeted with raised ironmongery such as poorly fitting drain covers which, when caught by a wheel, can see my father almost fly out of his chair.”

We experience unwelcome establishments, selfish parking in spaces reserved for people with real mobility issues and serious injury on pavements. There are 23,000 people on our islands registered as disabled and over 1,000 official complaints have been raised about access, parking abuse and more, according to the latest figures available. *

Our cyclists are better treated by way of cycle paths and lanes whereas our ‘less able’ often struggle to take a stroll, if they can. I witnessed a gentleman pulling up alongside a blue badge space recently. He checked if the driver of the car had in fact, displayed such a badge. There was no badge. He spoke with his wife who got out of his vehicle and slipped a piece of paper under the wiper of the parked car.

Impossible for anyone with a disabilty to use this pavement.

As I walked alongside the parked car, my curiosity was pricked and I sneaked a look. A neatly printed slip read: “You are parked in blue badge space without a blue badge. This has caused my wife inconvenience. I am big Gozitan man. Do not do this again!”

Funny? Cheeky? Will it make a difference? I think not but I am sure it makes the gentleman feel just a bit better. In his own way, he is enforcing what our police and LESA officers should be doing, for there is a predictable lack of enthusiasm on the other end of the line if an attempt is made to report these frequent abuses of our law. And that’s exactly what they are.

There are, of course, examples of places which shine as beacons for those with issues and thank goodness for the majority of our people who ask “Can I help you?”

Those four words. The ‘unusual kindness’ that still exists in our land. Let those of us fortunate to be healthy, those who operate commercial premises or our places of entertainment and, indeed, lawmakers  give people a break by making life just a bit easier... for our ‘less able’.

*Commission for the Rights of Disabled People (CRPD) 2023

Tom Welch is a former UK newspaper publisher, living in Gozo.