Letters - 24 March 2017
From disabled access to prayer
Disabled access
I support and applaud the actions being taken by Esther Leighton (10 March). As a wheelchair user myself, I know how frustrating it can be to be denied lawful access to shops, buses and restaurants.
Of course, it is not just wheelchair users who experience difficulty – people may find their guide dogs are refused admittance, people with learning difficulties may be shunned, other mobility impairments are not catered for. It is shortsighted on the part of any business to refuse disabled people access, after all the disabled pound is just as valuable as the non-disabled pound!
Friends’ commitment to equality is longstanding and we may all support the actions of those who seek to improve equality of access to services for all people.
Erica Thomas
It’s a ‘we’ thing
Ben Pink Dandelion is very perceptive in that Quakerism isn’t an ‘I’ thing but a ‘we’ thing (10 March).
This put me in mind of a saying from Proverbs (Qur’an): ‘Go to the Ant, thou sluggard: Consider her ways, and be wise!’ So that’s what I did. Here’s a thing: Ants have two stomachs. One is for holding food for their own consumption, whilst the other is to hold food to be shared with other ants.
I remember an episode from my time in India in the early 1980s, I saw a little boy and offered him a biscuit which he promptly put in his shirt pocket.
‘Why aren’t you eating it?’ I asked.
‘Because my little sister at home has never tried a biscuit. We’re going to have half each.’
I nearly wept. ‘Little boy’… would you like to advise the UK government on social care?
John Champneys
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