A blind man is brought to tears when NO ONE allows him to sit in the seats reserved for the disabled!
Our cities are full of architectural barriers, and we do not understand just how dangerous and humiliating they are for those who have to deal with them.
In fact, a person who, in addition to his or her handicap, is unable to cross the road safely, to walk on a sidewalk without stepping into a hole or to use the public means of transportation, naturally feels forgotten by society.
Furthermore, when to architectural barriers, the general indifference of people is also added, then you lose all hope of living in a civilized world.
Amit Patel documents his adventures in the London underground on his Twitter profile. Almost every day he and Kika, the seeing-eye dog that guides him, experience surreal situations.
Amit Patel is a London citizen who lost his sight five years ago due to Keratoconus, a disease which deforms the cornea and causes blindness. Thus, the 37-year-old found himself having to abandon his fledgling career as a doctor and deal with the architectural barriers of his city. However, what has deeply wounded him has been the behavior of his fellow citizens.
On one of the many rainy days that characterize the city of London, Amit found himself having to take the subway (the underground) after dealing with all the difficulties involved with rainy weather. After finally, getting on a subway car with seats reserved for the disabled, he experienced something that he would never have expected to happen.
Amit commanded Kika "to find a seat" and usually anyone who hears these words anticipates and facilitates Kika search by giving up a reserved disabled seat to Amit. However, on that day this is not what happened at all.
The subway car was filled with commuters and passengers, it was impossible that no one had heard his command to Kika to search for a place to sit, yet no one moved, not even those who were sitting in the seats specifically reserved for the disabled!
So, Amit was forced to stand for 30 minutes with his back leaning against the wall of the subway car to keep from falling because the floor was completely wet and slippery due to the rain and the risk of slipping and falling was very high.
When similar situations occur, Amit suffers mostly for Kika because, besides himself, a seeing-eye dog and service dogs, in general, must also endure situations that can be very stressful.
"She takes care of me every day, and I couldn't do anything for her", Amit wrote: "It is in these situations that it possible to see me cry."
Kika, that day, had to remain surrounded by a crowd, with dozens of people who were constantly moving around her. For a service dog, it is very difficult to remain calm under such conditions, especially because the dog knows it should never cease to protect and serve its blind owner.
This is not the first time that Amit has made a complaint about this situation in the London underground! In addition to the common architectural barriers, there is the general indifference and selfishness of the people in London.
For a while now, Amit has kept a camera attached to Kika's back to show to everyone what at first seemed like only his impressions, instead, the captured images clearly show that people really do not care about the fact that Amit is blind and is accompanied by a service dog. "They pretend not hear or see me", he said.
