A disabled woman said she was left in tears and “humiliated” after asking a shop assistant for help.
Claire Hawkins, 47, who has a degenerative nerve disease and uses a wheelchair after having her left leg amputated, said she was given abrupt service when she asked for assistance, reports the Liverpool Echo.
Last week Claire visited a local shop in Birkenhead and asked for help when she was unable to get her wheelchair around.
Claire said: “She come out shouting, ‘I’m not doing this again - I’m not doing this again!’ Everyone’s eyes were on me and I said just leave it and she goes no, and took the card off me but she kept shouting.
“I said to her thank you for letting me leave in this state, it’s bad enough as it is I get so embarrassed.
“There was no space for me to get my wheelchair in and you get caught on things - it’s so humiliating.
“That woman knocked me for six. When she did this to me it really hit my self esteem”
Thankfully, Claire’s confidence was restored this week while visiting a different shop.
On Monday, August 2, she had asked a man walking with his son if he could get her a few items as it was difficult to get in and out with her wheelchair.
Claire told the ECHO: “It’s hard being in a wheelchair and being severely disabled. I’ve got a hoist on my car which gets my wheelchair out but it’s getting up steps and into shops that I can’t do on my own. I’ve been struggling quite badly.
“Money is tight - I’m struggling and I know everyone is struggling through Covid. I just asked the gentleman if he would mind going into the shop for me and he said of course not.
“He had his son with him. I went to pass him my card and he just waved and they went in.
“His son came over and said: ‘My dad sent these out’.
“I said can you ask your dad to take my card and get some cash out and he said: ‘My dad said it’s a gift.’”
Claire said when the man came out of the shop she tried to give him her card to get some cash out but he again waved it away and told her “It’s a gift” and for her to “have a great day”.
She said: “I don’t think he realised at that point just what those words meant to me.
“I would like to see him again just to say thank you and explain how much it meant to me.”
