So I haven’t been able to get to the mall and Christmas shop due to my foot surgery. My daughter had a day off and she offered to take me and push me in a wheelchair. I discovered a few things while being rolled through the mall. One, I felt like I had to tell people I was in the chai
r because of foot surgery, not because I was paralyzed. Two, the Boise Towne Square Mall is not handicap friendly.
In the main mall area, excluding department stores, there are two stairways and four escalators. The able-bodied can go up and down between the t
wo floors at their leisure without having to go out of their way to get from the first floor to second floor. In the main mall area–there is only one elevator for the disabled. If you’re toward the end of floor two and want something on floor one, you have to go all the way back to the middle area of the mall and get on the elevator. Or, you can go out of your way inside a department store and use their elevator.
I realize there are more people who can walk, but those who can’t, this has been another eye-opener. I feel bad those in wheelchairs have to make extra effort to get between floors to shop.
Kudos, however, to the mall itself. Wheelchairs are free to anyone who needs one. That made shopping easier (and doable) for me. My daughter did a good job wheeling me around accept for the time she shoved me in the elevator and it was too short (another complaint I have about the mall) and my foot crashed into the wall. Also, something else we don’t think about as walking people . . . we can move through racks of clothing no problem. When you’re in a wheelchair, the areas are too tight and my wheels wouldn’t fit through. I missed a lot of shopping due to this fact. Also, clothing on high racks on the walls are impossible for me to look at without help getting the items down from the rack. And in the Macy’s housewares department, my daughter almost wiped out the Lennox China display with my chair when she was trying to get me into a tight spot by the holiday linens. We gave up.
And yes . . . sadly . . . I felt compelled to mention to people I wasn’t wheelchair bound, but rather, recovering from surgery. What does that say? Shame on me.