I needed to top-up my wheelchair battery. At Dubai's Emirates Mall, the staff were fantastic, allowing me to re-charge at the food-court whilst having my meal. Several hours later I visited Dubai Mall - where the experience was exactly opposite regarding re-charge info. First guard I approached - completely ignored me. The only explanation I can think of, he was on his break, as he had a water bottle in his hand. Still...a moment of empathy towards a grandma in a wheelchair would've gone a long way. I decided to re-charge at the food-court when a guard angrily said it's not allowed. Fair enough, every mall has its own rules, I have no quarrel with that. But the disrespectful anger was unwarranted as I did not argue back !!! He told me to follow him to a service desk and walked so quickly that me lost me a few times; so utterly disrespectful! The attendant there was polite and suggested I use the Mall's charging station 'outside'. The still angry guard then instructed me to "Go straight, left, to P1 ". I wondered on my own through the crowd, getting lost, upset due to low battery. Then I asked another guard and he said "through those doors, up to P1". I did as instructed, couldn't find P1 signage. A customer, God bless him, seeing me upset and confused showed me the travelator around the corner to climb to P1. As there was no signage and the powerpoints being same colour as the walls, I almost missed them. Tired and upset at the disgraceful treatment, I finally re-charged and dutifully posted my FB wheelchair user group of my ordeal. For anyone reading this, please bear in mind the Malls are humungous and even though my wheelchair has a 15km range - I would've used up 2km worth of battery from the moment I decided to re-charge at Emirates Mall.
Metro taxi and monuments are totally accessible BUT in da streets.... awful !! 90% of pavements when you need to cross have steps. I dont know why they didnt think bout that before building them
