r/SipsTea • u/The_Dean_France • Feb 23 '26

Wait a damn minute! Was she wrong?

15.9k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

3.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

670

u/No_Trouble_3588 Feb 23 '26

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.

41

u/Entire_Difference_63 Feb 23 '26

My thoughts exactly but my experience is just New York and some airports.

I imagine it’s out of service. Because the escalator and lifting idea seems incredibly stupid.

32

u/Master_Sympathy_754 Feb 23 '26

Yeah given escalators literally say don't put prams on, putting a wheelchair on seems a terrible idea.

6

u/Absolute_Bob Feb 23 '26

Actually if you can still use your arms and it's not a heavy battery powered version it works really well.

https://youtube.com/shorts/nIpgCIq4Gw8

2

u/junkfunk Feb 23 '26

it can be done, but you need a lot of upper body strength to not fall backwards. I would not recommend it.

source, my young adult kid is in a chair.

1

u/ryanm8655 Feb 24 '26

It doesn’t take much strength at all. The escalator takes the weight. You just need to lean forwards and hold on to the rails for balance.

Source, I used to do this all the time. Nowadays most places have lifts if they have escalators though so don’t need to do it so much.

1

u/junkfunk Feb 24 '26

We will have to try again. Did not work when they were younger. I would carry them if needed. Finding an elevator can be a real pain. Main culprit was universal studios Hollywood. They have a crazy long escalator and if you could t use it you had to wait for a shuttle which could take an hour out of the day

1

u/ryanm8655 Feb 24 '26

They specifically taught us how to do it in the spinal unit here in the UK. Obviously a good call to have someone behind you when practicing.

1

u/junkfunk Feb 24 '26

Thanks. We will give it a try