Just to follow up on this entry from a few weeks ago, I was heading to the station at Stratford today. There’s a large, wide footbridge between the tube station and the shopping centre there where people often beg. Crossing it today I passed a man sat in a wheelchair begging. He had no legs below his knees so he obviously needed the chair. What troubles me is, why would he be forced to beg, or feel he had to? Nobody should be forced to beg in this country, particularly if they can’t support themselves due to their disability. I can’t help imagining what life would be like if my benefits and support were suddenly cut and I was forced to sleep on the street.

He was talking to a friend and I don’t think they were using english: might he not have known about the support systems available in this country? If so should I have tried to do something to help? But what could I have done? Trying to stop and talk to him on my iPad would probably have got nowhere: even if he had understood what I was saying, what advice could I have given him? I thus just continued past on my way home, but I still find the issue very, very troubling. At the end of the day, though, instances like this go to show that we must make sure that all immigrants, with or without disabilities, know about the support they could be entitled to.