Asking for help Sample Clauses

Asking for help. The participants unanimously agree that they all sometimes ask for help to support their trip. They mention two types of help: help in preparing for a trip, and help during the trip itself. When preparing or booking a trip, most participants have relied on help from their immediate surroundings. (Grand)children are especially called upon for this purpose. The older participants in particular regularly rely on their social network. However, a number of respondents also indicated that this was not always obvious for them. Some have only a limited social network, don’t want to bother their busy family members of friends, or are ashamed to ask for help. Especially when they need someone to travel with them or pick them up. Others prefer not to ask for help for more private actions such as making payments. When asking for help from their immediate surroundings is not possible, most participants will not switch to other sources of help (outside their social network). They would rather cancel the trip. However, a few participants mentioned that there are already some facilities to ask for external help. They are just not generally known enough. According to them, extra efforts should be made to publicise all the possibilities, like initiatives from the senior citizens' organisation KBO or welfare organisation Contourdetwern. Also during the trip itself, most participants have experienced the need ask for help from others. They all indicate to be assertive enough to ask for help if there is an acute problem on the road. There is little shame in doing so. This may also be due to the friendly and helpful attitude of fellow passengers that the participants generally experience. Although some participants own a smartphone that they can use to follow up on changes in their journey, they prefer to ask this verbally. Asking a fellow traveller or transport service staff a question is faster for them and therefore more efficient. Older people in particular can react rather quickly to changes in their journey because of this. For participants in a wheelchair this is less obvious. Moving quickly with their wheelchair from one platform to another in a train station for example is difficult. Physical accessibility restrictions in the built environment often play an important role here as well. Participants describe this as humiliating.