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A day at the Mall
By Anthony Thanasayan, 29 Apr 2004
Used with permission from Star Publications (M) Berhad
IT’S funny how a seemingly uneventful day out at the local mall can sometimes turn into an unexpected adventure, full of thrills and spills – especially when you happen to be in a wheelchair!
A perfect example of such a day would undoubtedly be last Wednesday when I decided to go to my favourite shopping outlet, Mid Valley Megamall in Kuala Lumpur.
Meeting me there for an afternoon tea appointment was my friend Leong Tzu Ann. Tzu Ann and I hadn’t met in a while and decided that it was high time we did at the mall. Several quick SMS messages to each other on our mobile telephones the days before quickly clinched our afternoon get-together date to catch up on things.
As usual just before I drove out of my house, I made my customary call to Mid Valley’s warm and friendly Customer Service, informing them of the approximate time of my arrival at the Mall.
As soon the security guard spotted my disabled-labelled car, he knew exactly what had to be done next.
He promptly removed a couple of the parking barrier poles so that my vehicle could gain access into the parking bay that was reserved for wheelchair-using (at no cost).
The efficiency and speed with which he did this, without any hesitation or lingering – or even consultation through his walkie-talkie as is a common and frustrating scene at other shopping centres – ensured a smooth flow of traffic without the need for any unpleasant honking from behind me from impatient non-disabled drivers.
Minutes later, the mall’s service staff appeared, all-smiles, with one of their wheelchairs and helped me get into it.
I was allowed to use the wheelchair (again free of charge) for the rest of the day throughout my visit at the mall.
As a customer with physical limitations, it was certainly exhilarating for me to be treated this way, giving me a sense of freedom, independence and accomplishment to be able to shop on my own despite being handicapped.
I know of no other shopping centre that goes to such extremes in ensuring that their disabled and elderly patrons are treated this way; and Mid Valley Megamall certainly deserves our respect as disabled shoppers for this.
Inside, I noticed that the Mall had continued to improve its disabled and people-friendly features by lowering its telephone booths for the convenience and usability of little people (persons of short stature), wheelchair users and of course, young children.
Restrooms for the disabled, I understand, also undergo periodic renovations and ergonomic fittings which I think is a good practice in keeping the mall constantly updated and abreast of all the latest technological advancements for the needs of special customers.
Having noted all these wonderful changes though, it didn’t take very long before Tzu Ann and I came across some serious obstacles when we decided to stop by at the Swensen’s Ice-Cream restaurant in Mid Valley’s boulevard for our chat.
We had to go outside the building to get into the ice-cream bar that was literally “paved in peril” for anyone and anything that came in its way with wheels and other contraptions: wheelchairs, baby strollers, trolleys, walking aids with wheels, etc.
The dessert outlet that we tried to get to was separated from the Mall with chunky islands of pavements with raised platforms and steps that didn’t have kerb cuts or ramps. And as if these weren’t daunting or hazardous enough, poor ol’ Tzu Ann and I were plunged into even scarier situations that caused our hearts to occasionally skip a beat or two.
We had to attempt the daring stunt of trying to dodge through speeding cars that zipped passed us as if wheelchairs and women trying to push people in them didn’t exist!
And had it not been for a young male stranger’s kind intervention in the nick of time to offer help amidst already threatening dark skies, God knows how we would’ve managed!
With strong arms, he manoeuvred and snaked my wheelchair through some of those ironically distasteful pathways, that seemed to be a real life obstacle course, that lead to the ice-cream bar where I even had to cross – wheelchair and all – under a long stretch of plastic chain barriers that was meant to keep cars from parking there.
Talk about having to do the limbo rock!
I just about managed to duck my head low enough through under the shackles that grazed through my hair.
There was nothing remotely “sweet” about the whole experience, I can assure you, except to say that it was rather humiliating that a customer in a wheelchair – and a PR person accompanying her disabled friend – should have to put up with this.
All this was enough for the both of us to finally decide that it was time to switch to another ice-cream shop.
This time we discovered a safer one inside the friendly mall that was easily accessible to us where – now famished and exhausted – we wolfed downed chunks of thick chocolate and heavenly strawberry pink globs of cream into our mouths to try and forget our “pre-dessert” episode earlier on.
But everything wasn’t quite over yet – at least not on my side.
After saying goodbye to Tzu Ann, I encountered some difficulty as I struggled to open a particularly heavy door in the lift area.
A young man in his early 20s from behind me, however, just sailed through it with no problems.
But instead of kindly sparing a moment to hold the door open for me until I got out safely, he suddenly and quite discourteously let go of the door as it swivelled and shut back into its original position, hitting me rather hard on my elbow and caused me to wince in pain.
The young man was indifferent and simply walked away. Another male shopper about his age, however, seeing what had happened, ran up to the first guy and sharply reprimanded him for his insensitivity to a disabled fellow Malaysian.
His rebuke left the offender rather stunned and shaken. Perhaps he would be more considerate the next time he was around disabled people who could well be a child or an elderly person, I thought with my fingers crossed, as I reached out to shake the hand of the second guy – obviously a perfect gentleman – in total appreciation of what he had done.
Suddenly the pain in my arm didn’t feel so bad.
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