Queen’s Hall disabled

THE EDITOR: I was shocked when I heard a lady ahead of me in the line purchasing tickets for Carnival Messiah at Queens Hall asking if there were any provisions for the physically challenged. She was hoping to bring her mother whom she knew would enjoy the performance and was looking forward to attending the show. Certainly she said there must be an elevator or ramp. The courteous, sympathetic sales person apologised, but that is all she could do to console this patron. Imagine this new redesigned, state of the art, modern facility opened in 2003 without any consideration for the physically challenged? Since I am not physically challenged I was able to attend this outstanding performance, and during the intermission I made a visit to the ladies’ washroom.

Guess what was on the door of the first cubical? The symbol for a wheel chair. Someone was thinking about the physically challenged when designing the female washroom (I don’t know about the male) as the washroom facilities cater to the differently abled, not the theatre, so my guess is that since no one would ever be using the washroom it should be permanently locked. No wonder the protest by the differently abled has made it to the hundred plus days. Maybe the architects and builder of the renowned Queens Hall knew that the physically challenged would not be employed, and therefore did not cater for them in this new facility. What a pity. And we want to achieve developed nation status? Shame on us!

P KING
Port-of-Spain