A carer from Cumbernauld has been left outraged after she witnessed a group of kids vandalise a wheelchair swing with a vicious slogan.
Taylor, 19, was making her way to Kildrum park a colleague and an individual she cares for when she saw a group of youths gathered in the wheelchair swing, which is usually locked, last Thursday, April 13.
As they got closer the group dispersed and the young carer was disgusted when she saw that someone wrote 'ha imagine being disabled' on the apparatus.
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She told Glasgow Live: "We usually go to a different park which has a wheelchair swing that is really well kept and doesn't have kids hanging about it all the time.
"This park was just local to our street so we walked up and we saw all these boys in the swing. They had climbed over the fence to get in because you need a key.
"I went in and saw that they tore the box off and they'd taken the restraints. There was all this graffiti written on the side of it.
"We had a look around for some restraints and we managed to find one. I could hear the group talking and one said his brother took one as a belt.
"The person I care for managed to have a shot on the swing but they stood pointing and laughing. It was genuinely disgusting.
"We had to leave and they hopped back in the swing to continue. Going on the swing is one of her favourite things to do because it isn't something they get to do often.
"It's few and far between that there is a park which a person with a wheelchair can use because it is all so inaccessible. I just don't understand how kids don't see that what they're doing is wrong."
As the group continued to poke fun, the person in the wheelchair's playtime was cut short as they were forced to leave.
Taylor explained: "I was raging.
"We work on a two to one basis so I said to my colleague that we were going to have to leave because I'm not going to shout at some boys in a park.
"As much as the person I am caring for may not have understood it, there are other people walking around and I'm not going to have her ridiculed like that in front of people.
"She wasn't happy when we took her off the swing but we didn't have a choice."
The lock on the apparatus was broken so the incident was reported to North Lanarkshire Council and they confirmed to the carer that workers will assess the damage.
However, seeing the group in the swing and reading the cruel messages written has had a profound impact on the young woman.
She is hoping that more schools start to teach children about those who may have disabilities.
The 19-year-old said: "I personally think that people need to be educated when it comes to those with disabilities.
"They just need to treat them like people and with respect.
"There does need to be more education for other kids to make sure that they are more understanding."
North Lanarkshire Council have been contacted for comment.
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