When I first started work in the community services I was working to support a group of people with intellectual disabilities living in a share house. That went along well until one of the young women returned from a holiday (having had a fall) with a broken leg in a full leg cast. She wasn't very steady on her feet, so she used a wheelchair to get around temporarily. I'd never assisted someone with using a wheelchair before, but hey, how hard could it be?
It was close to Christmas and the young woman wanted to do some Christmas shopping, so off we went to the local very big and very busy shopping centre. Everything was going along swimmingly until we went to go down to the next level of the centre. I pushed her on to the travelator which seemed to have a nice gentle slope and off we went. No, the wheelchair didn't have a seatbelt and yes, I did push her on facing downwards. She started to slide off very, very slowly. I was trapped behind the bloody wheelchair and I couldn't reach her to stop her sliding. Everyone coming up the travelator on the other side could see what was happening and were yelling 'helpful' instructions. By the time someone hit the emergency stop button she had, really quite gently and gracefully slid all the way out
Thank goodness she didn't get hurt ...in fact the day ended quite well for her, as a good looking muscle man from the gym downstairs came up the travelator and scooped her up and off to safety, which she thought was the best thing that had happened in weeks. I, on the other hand hung my head in shame. To this day I still blush when I think about it!