Tanni Grey-Thompson: I had to crawl up 12 flights of stairs
Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson tells Channel 4 News she had to drag herself, and her wheelchair, up 120 stairs because the lift in her London block of flats was out of order.
A year ago, as Channel 4 News launched its No Go Britain series in 2012, Baroness Grey-Thompson revealed that, in the weeks before, she had been forced to throw her wheelchair from a train and crawl off, because no one was on the platform to offer assistance.
A year on the Paralympic athlete told Channel 4 News she was forced to crawl up 12 flights of stairs and drag her wheelchair with her when the lift in her block of flats was out of order: “The choices were: I sleep in the foyer, or I go and book into a hotel but then you don’t have anything with you.
“I don’t think it’s wrong to demand that the lift in the block of flats where I live works.”
She added: “My father, who was an architect, taught me when I became a wheelchair user that life is not accessible so get on with it!”
Baroness Grey-Thompson conceded that not many disabled people would be able to crawl up 120 stairs and that this kind of incident is part of a much wider problem.
“There’s a whole pile of disabled people who through years of discrimination, at a very low level, through lack of education are really struggling to get into work,” she said.
“They feel battered down by it and don’t feel able to fight for some of the things that I’m able to.”
Baroness Grey-Thompson said the lift was fixed after a day but on a previous occasion she had to crawl up and down the stairs to her flat for two days.