Wheeling around Chinatown

Assessed Chinatown with some friends today. Boy it was great fun! And heartening to see that most Singaporeans do lend a willing helping hand. As I wheeled myself to the bus stop (w frens helping along the way and looking out for traffic), it started to rain. Within minutes, it was pouring. I was quite embarassed at first bcos pple looked at me. And then I was embarassed for the bus driver-tt he would have to come down, put the ramp down, so I could get on the wc accessible bus. And he did! He asked if I had an umbrella so I wouldn't get wet, put down the ramp, wheeled me onto the bus. And he did the same when I alighted. And with a genuine smile on his face! He was drenched,a little. I shone a bright smile at him and said thank you too! :) At the bus stop which I alighted, I was still...stuck. There was no ramp to the shopping malls (none tt we could see cos it was raining real heavily), and only a flight of stairs of abt 6 steps to the malls. A nice young man suggested to my frens to lift me+the wc up the flight of stairs. Oh gosh, was really afraid tt I would fall! Thank God, no. There are still real nice pple when you need them. Bless em!

We swapped 'seats' throughout the day (discretly though) and assessed quite a lotta stuff. Went to quite some places too! We went into shopping malls, tried out the lifts, ramps, took stuff to try out in the changing rooms, tried out shoes (w the sales person putting the shoe on !), toilets, services, food courts, nel stations... lotta work, but lotta fun! :) it's really v interesting, to explore a place from a disabled person's perspective. I thought Chinatown would score real lousy in accessibility, but well...it's not perfect, still a lotta stuff to improve on, but it's a gd start, the things they've done! :)

A tired but fulfilling day:)