How civilised is my country?

It is said an indication of how civilised a country is is by looking at how it treats it's handicapped.

And THIS is how my country fares....

I read it with incredulity - first off, our country doesn't have enough ramp access around the city and buildings (although I'm not wheelchair ridden, but I am a mom who have had to push my baby's stroller around) and badly planned/built sidewalk which are mostly uneven, with gaping holes where covers/grills/concrete blocks have gone missing...or in some cases, there are no sidewalk at all. I can imagine it would be all the more difficult with wheelchairs because with the stroller, at least we have the option of carrying it over the obstacles. I was really happy when pushing my baby stroller around in Shanghai as their wide, even sidewalks make walking from block to block a breeze.

One may think that shopping would be possible as it's all "civilised" in the malls....wellllll....from my experience with our larger baby stroller, you'll be rather limited as to the areas you can go to - sometimes it's because of split levels with stair access only or that the lifts will be so jammed pack that it would take a couple of missed trips till a car miraculously come along with relatively fewer people. Four months since I had the baby and really tired of being limited that I forced myself to learn to use the escalators with a stroller in tow...I know it's illegal but till a better system comes about, I guess this shall be the way it goes.

Also, the shops in the malls themselves are not sensitive to the needs ppl with strollers or wheelchairs. I have trouble getting my stroller through the aisles and cashier counters at some shops as they are just way too narrow ... what more wheelchairs!

Thus these productive handicapped people will be forced to stay at home...don't you think they themselves would welcome the opportunity to be independently out on their own had their surroundings permitted them?