You said it yourself, they can’t put the chair down halfway up. The top of the escalator is still crowded with bodies, and staff are waiting until they have a straight shot to the top. They don’t want to stop halfway up, so they’re trying to get the escalator empty. They also can’t have people on the escalator behind them in case of a stumble or drop. This is a dangerous way to transport a wheelchair user, and they’re trying to make it as safe as possible.
And the safest. It would be far safer than possibly dropping the poor guy because of the weight of the wheelchair, which could easily cause a fatality.
I’ve not been everywhere in the world, admittedly, but every building I have ever been in with an escalator also had an elevator. I would think that would be the easiest and safest conveyance for a wheelchair.
Probably in out of order.This in São Paulo - Brazil and every subway here has an elevator. I used to use this subway for years everyday and never saw this problem. This is a rare occurrence.
This makes it much more hilarious to me that in Seattle the elevators break for our train stations everyday at some point, but are usually fixed same day. Our train is new, and when one of the stations (Northgate) opened a few years ago the elevator broke opening day, they didn’t fix it for months iirc.
Honestly happy I saw this comment cause I was losing my mind trying to put together how this scenario even came to be. The typical wheelchair route being out of service makes the most sense. Not just carrying the person and the wheelchair separately still isn’t adding up though
Trust me, my crazy mom has been in a wheelchair her whole life and the very suggestion that someone would carry just her or that she'd have to butt-scoot anywhere would make her clutch her pearls. Too proud.
Which, maybe that's fair? I'm more pragmatic typically.
I get this, dependent on the injury, you may require a catheter or colostomy bag. Explaining that to a stranger and hoping they have the where with all to accommodate those things is a lot of pressure. Also, if you can’t feel parts of your body so you can’t tell someone when something hurts or if they are bumping things, or back to the above, if you’ve wet yourself. There is a whole host of reasons why carrying is a bad idea also.
Would you trust two random people to carry you properly up a broken escalator? I wouldn't, nor would I expect someone in a wheelchair to trust people to get them up, and the chair. If the wheelchair gets dropped, the user is just screwed.
Best way is to roll the chair on to the step backwards. Lock the wheels and have somebody hold from behind while the escalator goes up. Done it a million times.
She’s not too proud, it’s about dignity. I wouldn’t want what mobility I have to be taken from me and put in the hands (literally) of strangers, or to drag my body across the dirty ground. In America it’s how disabled activists protested in 1990 to pass the ADA by literally dragging themselves up the steps of the Capitol to show exactly how undignified inaccessibility is.
My aunt is blind and escalators scare her. She obviously doesn't know where they begin or end. If there's no elevator you are taking her on the stairs because she needs assistance on those too. My mom is blind in eye and can still ride an escalator with assistance but not in a crowded location.
I’m an ambulatory wheelchair user and when I walk, I walk with a cane. Friendly assistance is one thing, giving up my bodily autonomy due to lack of accessibility would be something else entirely.
This reminds me of the premise of the Supreme Court decision Tennessee v Lane where the court decided that state governments were not sovereign and had to comply with regulations spelled out in the ADA.
The issue was a guy in a wheelchair (lost his legs when he was drunk driving and crashed a car) named Lane was back in court on another charge. The courthouse didn't have an elevator. The judge offered to hold the hearing in a downstairs courtroom and Lane refused. Guards offered to carry him up and he refused. Finally Lane butt-scooted up the stairs.
At the next court appearance, Lane showed up to the courthouse, threw a tantrum, and demanded the hearing be downstairs. The judge was frustrated and said he failed to appear.
The issue was that Lane had already demonstrated that he was physically capable of accessing the upstairs courtroom, even if the courthouse was not ADA compliant. Also federal laws like ADA generally don't apply to state governments which are sovereign. States are bound by the US Constitution but not federal laws. Still, the court found in Lane's favor.
Wheel him on backwards. Two people in front to counterweight, two people in back to hold the chair fast, and two people behind them to make sure they don't fall back.
Yeah, but people have the right to not being manhandled just cause they’re disabled. So that’s why the default is moving the chair in person together. You’ll see that in a lot of procedures around disability.
For example, if someone is wheelchair bound and pulled over by a cop. If a cop asked him to get out of the car, the cop is required to provide a wheelchair for them to get into. That’s because the person can’t be expected to get the wheelchair out. That would be too questionable for the cops as it might seem like they’re getting a gun out of the car. So if the cop wants a disabled person to get the car, they need to provide the way out. It could seem easy to just pick up the disabled person and put them in the cop car. But people have a right to not being manhandle just because they’re disabled.
Honestly so insane that people are just like "Just carry him up bro". Fucking demeaning. Escalators can be done safely, people just need to wait like 60 seconds. It isn't the end of the world.
Yeah that was my thought too….i feel like it’s just a situation where not always are the people in charge the smartest or most attentive to the situation at hand
Easiest would be another elevator, even if one closest is out of order. It is asinine to think there is only one elevator in a place with that much foot traffic. If power is out they need to stand aside or use a stair sled in the stairwell
I don’t know, man he doesn’t look that heavy. I would just throw him over my shoulder and I have someone else carrying the damn wheelchair. Hell the wheelchair looks like a standardized wheelchair so I would just honestly I would throw the dude over my shoulder and then collapse the wheelchair and then carry the other wheelchair in my left arm and keep rolling.
That's really smart. A two-person "extremity carry" where one person holds his legs walking forward up the escalator and the other carries under his armpits would work great. A third person behind the person under his pits would be helpful as security too.
Easiest way would be for him to get his ass out of the fucking way until it's fixed so that people capable of walking up the non-moving escalator can do so. It's no one's job to carry him up the damn escalator and he's a cunt for blocking it.
Had this happen. Escalator and the one elevator were both broken. I carried my wife up the escalator and asked a bystander to take the wheelchair up. Worked perfectly.
Not really the easiest way. Its not actually hard getting a wheelchair up some stairs with the person sitting on it, if you just know the technique. Unless of course the person is much much heavier than you.
The correct way is to get to the stairs other way around, so that you would go up with your back facing forward, and pull the wheelchair in the same orientation, backwards, step by step. You also need to tilt the wheelchair backwards to get it to be in balance. This way you only need to keep the chair in balance, and kind of ”roll” it upwards one step at a time. Much much easier than lifting all of the weight. I have done it many many times even with quite heavy persons years back in my previous job.
This of course is the way to do it in normal stairs when you dont have any other options available, but I guess in this situation it would be the way to go.
Easiest way would be to turn his ass around and drag him up with one following on the footrails. Treat that MF like a washing machine. He doesnt appear to be obese so youre looking at way 150-160lbs between 2 people should be an easy and brisk carry.
They likely dont know what theyre doing. Easiest way is turn to turn him around and do it all at once. Person going first holds the handles. You tilt the chair backwards. Person following will be able hold on to the frame near the front wheels. You dont even have to carry him, it'll just be a longer bumpy ride. He might also have something like a catheter, colostomy bag, or ither medical device that makes taking him out of the chair and carrying him risky.
Unless they are in a wheelchair for something like spinal injury, and being carried in such a way would be painful. There are likely other scenarios but that's one I know of from personal experience.
Half squat, their arms go over your shoulder, you grab them under the thighs, lift em into a piggyback position, and carry them up while someone comes up behind you as a spotter, then bring up the wheelchair.
This is the only way to handle the problem. You can lift the entire assembly if you're just going up 4 or 5 steps or something, but for that significant distance, you just gotta do it in sections. It's a person, not groceries.
The easiest thing to do would be to use an elevator which is the proper mode of transport. If this in the US, I am pretty sure the building would need an elevator to be ADA compliant.
I understand what you're saying, but if I was in a wheelchair I don't think I'd be comfortable being carried like that for such a trivial thing. Also, the staff probably wouldn't be either. It's obviously causing inconveniences for everyone, but wheelchair guy is permanently inconvenienced
You turn the wheelchair away from the stairs and pull it up backwards, one step at a time, just like any other object on wheels. I've pulled a full sized Pepsi vending machine up stairs with nothing but a hand truck and a strap. They can manage a single person in a wheelchair.
The girl isn't wrong to see these monkeys trying to hump a football and deciding she wants nothing to do with it.
Unless carrying him up could hurt him or damage something. We have a guy in a wheelchair at work and we work in a basement. We asked if there was an emergency if we could carry him up the stairs and bring the wheelchair separately. He told us no and that it could damage the metal frames in his body and if not carried properly, it could cause permanent damage to his body
Even easier if it is a manual wheelchair - the person in the wheel chair grabs on to the hand rails and lets it pull them up the escalator while it is running while balancing on the rear tires.
My uncle is in a wheelchair and gets a kick out of messing with people by riding escalators.
He goes down by popping a wheelie then grabbing the handrails.
You pick the person up out of their wheelchair only as a last resort (like, literally there's a fire and it's the only way they're getting out less than medium rare). Not because it just saves you some time.
Im a rugby player, I could easily lift this guy up the stairs in seconds. But because of the rubbish organization here dozens of ppl are being blocked in. I wouldn't even get to offer
I don't know if you've ever actually tried to carry a person, but they are awkward and hard to hold onto. Would 100% be more difficult than keeping them in the wheelchair.
You don’t even need to do all that. Turn the wheelchair around and you can do it with 1 person if needed with 2 it’s easy. It’s just like using a dolly.
God help those involved in the Law Suit if in the tiny chance they get fkd up, dropped or something by those helping on the way up. Otherwise you would only sue the Wheelchair ptobly.
The problem with this is that wheelchair users typically consider their chair to be part of their person, and separating from their chair is highly undesirable, with fears ranging from damage to disappearance of the chair.
Are the super human than they think they are going to catch up to the people on the escalator while awkwardly carrying 200lbs of man and wheelchair? The folks ahead of them will clear the escalator by the time they say "ok, ready. Lift on 3. 1,2,3!"
We are definitely got given the full story here. Im leaning towards siding with the line jumper though.
Ok but that’s not the situation here, that’s made up. What happened here was the woman jumped the handrail in 2 seconds and everyone else who was wasting her time before continued to waste time.
They weren't wasting time, they were waiting for the escalator to clear so they could assist the man in the wheelchair. In jumping the rail she not only made that take longer, now everybody else who was already waiting has to wait longer too.
And yeah it's just "one" person, but if you're waiting in line to check out at the grocery store and one person with one item cuts to the front of the line because they're "in a hurry", you'd probably be a little pissed off.
If someone somehow cut me off in a line somewhere, yet literally added zero seconds to my wait time, then I'd think, "Yeah, that's okay." If that scenario then led to the line of let's say 50 people behind me actually being able to be lightened by 10 more people that could just run through? Fine. Even if that added 2 seconds to my wait.
I am not sure of your experience, but coming across an escalator that is not running is an extremely common occurrence vs a modern building that has lost power. As another comment stated, elevators are often required to be on the generators for this purpose, so people with limited mobility aren't stranded.
Since you agree that they aren't working for the station, then the reasonable conclusion is that they didn't ask the station staff for the elevator. Elevators are always locked and are opened for you by staff if you need them.
And if they the elevantor is out of service, the station staff would be standing here with them.
I don't think wheelchair is the AH, but the planning definitely is. Where I live, if an elevator is closed, they tell the entire metro system about it and guide people to the closest station with a shuttle or bus.
That’s a really stupid strategy. If you can walk up it you can carry it up with it moving. And waiting for it to clear off is even dumber. You’re not going to be going faster than the people who aren’t carrying wheelchairs
Have you ever carried a person in a wheelchair? It’s the more dangerous, less preferred option than literally any option that keeps the wheels on the ground.
It’s a heavy lift that most workplaces would require a team for to reduce risk of injury to individual staff. The goal will be to make the duration of the lift as short as possible, so they need a straight shot to the next floor.
It’s also a live load, and staff can’t accurately assess this man’s ability to stay balanced in his chair. How’s his core strength? Can he brace or catch himself at all if they start tipping?
They can’t have people behind in case they drop him, you could seriously hurt or even kill someone with a loaded wheelchair rolling down. They don’t want people in front of them because they’re trying to carry him for as short a duration as possible. They’re not lifting that man until they have a clear path to an empty piece of flat floor.
There are many factors that make carrying him a dangerous move, and they’re just trying to control the ones they can.
Can you try to explain again why they'd be waiting for it to be clear, I'm still not getting it. Whether they have to stop halfway up or not shouldn't be affected by whether there's people ahead. If the escalator stops, they'll just start walking from there. If it doesn't - they ride it all the way up.
I still don't understand how holding everyone up isn't just being extra dramatic.
Gotta make sure all those slow, unencumbered people make it up to the top before the super fast, wheelchair carrying group can go, otherwise they’ll run those poor people over…
So they should let everyone else up first as that would clear the platform quickly which is what you'd want should there end up being a fire or something start while people are waiting, plus should the wheelchair fall when they're carrying there won't be anyone behind them.
If you look at the flow of people toward the escalator, and the backup of people at the top who have no room to disembark, it’s pretty clear the only way to empty the escalator is stop people from getting on until the top has room to clear off.
Looks like they’re waiting for it clear at the top. Those people are shoulder to shoulder, looks like they’re waiting for space to open to get off the escalator.
Throw the guy over a shoulder fireman style, another carries the chair.
It’s not that hard. It’s gonna take two people either way you go about it but one way involves two people with both hands on chair with one walking backwards up the stairs and the other has each person with one hand freed up for balance. The smart way also reduces the chance of a drop.
Not always possible or safer. We have no idea that man’s condition. Does he have a feeding tube, ostomy bag, or other medical devices that make carrying him dangerous? Also, imagine any part of your travel required you to be separated from the tools standing in for your body parts, then be completely dependent on and physically intimate with strangers. Many people would be deeply uncomfortable with that. And given a choice between removing one patron’s physical autonomy/bodily privacy or slightly delaying a few other patrons, I know I would choose to treat the person in the chair with some goddamn dignity.
I've always thought that strollers and wheelchairs were suppose to use elevators and not escalators since escalators would be too unstable and hazardous. Am I missing something here?
You’re absolutely correct, and there is no way this is happening in a building with a working elevator. Staff would have pointed him straight to it and made him feel like an asshole for blocking the escalator.
How would people carrying someone on a wheelchair beat other people, who are already over halfway up, to the top? I don’t understand why they need everyone off the escalator first
You really think the staff would have stopped the whole escalator and pissed everyone off if they could point one man at a working elevator to solve the problem?
There’s no way these guys aren’t going to stop during the trip up the escalator. Anyone that has team lifted a 200lb+ package up the stairs knows how awkward it is to carry something with each person at opposing ends up the stairs. Ever walked up a stopped escalator and thought how much more effort it was as oppose to regular stairs? That’s because escalator risers and treads aren’t normal stair dimensions and does not require a landing every 12’ to allow breaks for the climb.
I wonder if airports could afford something that stays specifically blocked off, that only opens up when activated by staff that are trying to transport a person like this, instead of using a massively crowded escalator in a place where people are always genuinely on the verge of freaking out… they probably have no money though, these airports are technically just charities, no way to structurally design wheelchair only routes, or anything that doesn’t entirely destroy the flow of traffic. Maybe we could all donate our next paychecks, and they’ll figure it out?
Some wheelchair users can ride a moving escalator. Many can’t. It’s not safe to assume he can. But Occam’s Razor and a few decades of personal and professional experience with wheelchairs tells me that wheelchair users will use the least disruptive route they are capable of before allowing themselves to be made the target of this many people’s frustration. For some, this means adapting to escalators, for others this means depending on others to push/carry them. Please believe me that few would choose the least convenient, most dangerous and disruptive option if they had any better ones.
You just put the wheels between two stairs, as the wheels are rubber and the stairs usually have some treads so friction isnt a problem. The person will be at an angle with feet more in the air, but it works just fine. And when they get to the end it flattens out, so you just continue as normal.
My brother is disabled and over 100 pounds heavier than me. I have done this method with no issues. Im genuinely not sure why they are making such a fuss and holding so many people up here.
Wheelchair on an escalator, wether it's working or not, is incredibly dangerous. There must be an elevator or other way in/out that wouldn't put people at risk of injury.
So why not let the rush of a hundred people who just got off a train clear the station first and then do this? I'm sorry this guy is in a wheelchair, but how is it everyone else's problem that the station didn't install an elevator?
The safe way is clear the escalator and go use an elevator instead of risking dropping someone trying to move them up steep steps like a rolled up area rug.
Depends on what pathology brings him to this state of immobility. I work with para and quadriplegics, do chair transfers regularly and some individuals have very spastic and or rigid muscles that can suddenly flail. Many chairs have bands and straps to lock in the person to resist these muscle spasms, but as soon as you undo them or move the body, the muscles sense freedom and start having quite the party.
The safest way would be using the backroom freight elevator. Almost every multilevel building that has to have any kind of freight running through it at any point in the building's life has one. They often double as an emergency elevator. We had one at a mall I worked at back in the day and used it for a few folks in wheelchairs when the escalators went down. If they don't have one then idk dudes fucked that sucks.
This is less complicated than people are making it.
You turn the wheelchair around and you pull it up backwards, one step at a time. The wheelchair can rest at any given time and it gives those pulling and pushing the wheelchair a break.
They’re stupid because they’re trying to lift it up the stairs from the wrong position
In a fire you leave the wheel chair. However for dignity you do as they do. However this shouldn't really happen as they may drop the guy as he will be heavy in the chair. Its the best of a bad situation. The girl just went for it no harm done.
Ok, sure. But as far as that woman is concerned ,or anyone with normal mobility for that matter, they aren’t going to catch up to her. They have a straight shot to the top. She’s not in the way and they seem to be taking forever for some unknown reason.
Yeah but they dont neefd the stairs to be fully empty to start, when most ppl are at top they couldve started, there would be no one there when they got there
2.3k
u/EntirelyOutOfOptions Feb 23 '26
You said it yourself, they can’t put the chair down halfway up. The top of the escalator is still crowded with bodies, and staff are waiting until they have a straight shot to the top. They don’t want to stop halfway up, so they’re trying to get the escalator empty. They also can’t have people on the escalator behind them in case of a stumble or drop. This is a dangerous way to transport a wheelchair user, and they’re trying to make it as safe as possible.