We had a false alarm go off in the building where I work last week. The elevators automatically shut down forcing the use of the fire escapes. The building is 22 floors. I was lucky in that I’d just taken the elevator to the first floor to step outside on a break. When they finally let us back in, I wondered what someone with mobility issues is expected to do had the building been on fire. Just die? Have a kind soul carry them? With most people wfh at least a couple of days per week, this seems really dangerous for anyone who might get stranded.
Similar question I’ve wondered about… If you truly need one of those powered rideable shopping carts how do you get from your car to the cart and how do you return the cart?
My mom uses those.
Answer: they’re not for fully disabled people. A fully disabled person will have their own. The type of person who needs one can walk for a little bit, stand up sit down, all that; but staying on their feet for the time it takes to grocery shop would be either extremely painful or maybe they’d get really weak and eventually collapse.
As for returning it — either somebody with you returns it or you leave it in the cart corral like any other and the store employees get it later.
You’re not really supposed to take them outside.
You are supposed to leave them in the area they charge in and then walk to your car.
Otherwise people like my grandpa who needed one have to wait for a parking lot to be searched and have one driven in
They’re used by people with limited mobility - elderly, obese, bad back, bad knees. Walking is possible, it just hurts. A lot of the people I see using those have a cane or walker in the buggy.
As far as the cart return, it seems like the kids wrangling carts in the lot absolutely love retrieving those buggies. Wouldn’t you?
Some of those people might be able to walk for short periods of time. From the handicap spot, its at most 2 minutes to the cart. Maybe after 5 minutes of walking, they could be anogonizing pain. So they ride around do shopping and just have to suffer through a short walk to/from the cart.
If they completely can’t walk, I guess they have to get someone to bring them the cart. Depending on the disability, you may still be able to drive, but not walk. Could be modified controls for the car or something.
Maybe you can move your legs just fine but standing on them is a problem (it’s hard to push a cart and use a cane or walker)
Maybe they can walk just fine, but can’t push the weight of a full cart, so they ride.
And finally, there just the lazy ones that don’t really need them.