A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of - Etheses - Queen Margaret ...

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...these are things I used to take for granted, I suppose, at one stage of my life... I
can no longer participate in those events and so I shut them out... I don‟t want to
watch other people doing them because it reminds me that I am unable to do that...
and that‟s looking at it very widely... I‟m not looking at the political or the strategic
aspect of it, I‟m talking about the emotional aspect of it... and I think that able-
bodied people are very lucky... (l.3:646ff.)
Anne: Shopping
Among the shops I visited with Anne in Glasgow city centre was a travel agent in The
Buchanan Galleries, a large shopping mall. Anne wanted to make enquiries about the
cost of flight tickets to Melbourne, Australia, for January 2010. The Buchanan
Galleries were full of Christmas shoppers. The travel agent was situated in a small
booth, just off the main shopping area. We entered to find three very smart young
workers in their twenties sat in a row behind a long counter. Beside each worker there
was a computer. In front of the counter were three high seats. My own feeling was that
these looked as if they had been designed to be uncomfortable, in order to minimise
the length of time customers would want to sit on them, thereby keeping business
brisk. As we entered, the young man behind the counter broke off conversation with
his female colleagues and, smiling, turned to face us and invited us to sit. Anne did
not explain to the sales assistant that she is deaf, though from her intonation this is
clear. The young man seemed not to be thrown by this:
No hesitation
He listens
Asks questions
“How long are you thinking of going for?”
“Do you want to be there over Christmas?”
“I can‟t give precise costs yet, it‟s too far in advance”
“I‟ll look at October with Singapore Airlines”
“Stop in Singapore, Glasgow to London Heathrow,
London to Singapore, Singapore to Melbourne”