entitled
adjective
- believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment.
This is an interesting one from me today. I have come across a couple of different situations that has made me think about what it means to be entitled.
I attended a business expo as a visitor yesterday (Tuesday 7th June). It was a bit of a fact-finding mission really as I will be attending another expo at the same venue later in the year as an exhibitor. I am so glad we made the time to visit. The venue is a beautiful old manor house converted into a hotel years ago and for the best part it is a beautiful venue. It seems to be very busy with various bookings in their many conference and meeting rooms, a popular choice for school proms, weddings, and business events like the one today. The last time I visited this hotel was for a friend’s wedding many, many years ago, way back when I could walk unaided. Today was the first time on my wheels. I would love to say it was a great experience but sadly I encountered several issues. The expo and the hotel are two separate businesses, and I am not sure which one to blame for which issue, and it is at this point that I start to question myself, I am entitled and that is why I feel there were many issues?
Turning up to the event, it was nice to see that signposts in the carpark had been put up showing the way into the expo, signs were also pointing to the disabled parking and my heart sank to see a coffee van parked in one of the bays. Thankfully other bays were available even if they were occupied by badly parked cars. The condition of the car park left a lot to be desired, you can see in my photo that the disabled bays were just blue painted gravel traps with potholes to match. I wouldn’t have been able to walk with my crutches as I would have slipped on the loose stones, it wasn’t much better in my chair as my wheels just skidded and lost traction. I was soon to find that the carpark was the least of my problems.
The entry to the expo was up a flight of stairs. It did look a grand entrance too with some brand-new high-end cars on display either side of the steps. Robin had already worked out we would need to go to the main reception of the hotel as this was accessible. So, we trundled (a technical term for our joint effort of navigating rough and difficult terrain) round the carpark, over several road humps – if you think they are bad when you are in a car, I challenge you to negotiate them in a wheelchair! Finally, we had made it into the building, things like this shouldn’t be that difficult. After asking at the reception desk, we were told the only disabled access was to through two sets of doors and follow round to the “double doors” after what felt like an eternity, we eventually found the hotel bedrooms but no double doors leading to the expo. Robin abandoned me yet again in search of an entrance, by this point I am frustrated, annoyed and feeling like the world really is out to get me. Robin returns and we enter a room set up for a meal, neat tablecloths on big round tables, surrounded by chairs that are so close together that felt like we had to dismantle half the room to make a path through to another corridor. I can hear voices now and not just the voices in my head but the voices of people in the mid-throws of networking. We eventually find the room almost 20 minutes after parking up near the entrance. I am close to tears and ready to go home. Thankfully we find a familiar face and start a conversation with them. Now I just needed to network and check out the stands and collect the freebies on offer.
I did feed back to the hotel that they are not very disabled/wheelchair friendly; lack of signs was just the tip of the iceberg of problems I felt I encountered today.
How much of today was down to me feeling entitled? Should I really expect every event I attend to cater to the needs of a disabled visitor? I know today I was in the minority; I saw no other wheelchair users at the event, maybe they are still trapped in a corridor trying to find the elusive double doors?
