Woman praised for refusing to move out of wheelchair’s way while busking
Daisy Phillipson
Featured Image Credit: @itsmiakirkland/TikTok
A woman has been praised online for refusing to move out of a wheelchair’s way while busking.
Mia Kirkland (@itsmiakirkland) is a British singer-songwriter who was out playing some music on the streets when she was confronted by an awkward stand-off.
As you'll see in the clip, the singer was chatting to someone off camera when a man comes up with his wife, who is in a wheelchair.
The man asks, "Can you move your stuff please," in reference to the speaker system set up on the pavement for Mia's set.
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Although her gear is taking up the footpath, there is an entire road being used by other passersby that the man could have taken.
Mia points this out, saying that there's 'all this space', to which the man angrily says, "That's the road."
He maintains his stance, asking Mia to move her speaker into the road so that they can get past.
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When the singer once again points to the space available right next to them, he shouts: "This is a footpath, that's a road."
She then explains: "It's not a road during the day... cars aren't allowed here at this time."
After a short back and forth, the man caves and moves around the speaker while demanding to see Mia's licence for busking.
The busker initially makes a joke about the altercation, saying: "Well, I mean, at least he brought a crowd."
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But the clip then cuts to Mia admitting that was shaken by the whole thing, telling the camera: "I don't know why but my legs are shaking.
"I get really weird with confrontation because I'm not a very confident person but I'm kind of having to be a confident person."
While explaining to her friend what had just happened, Mia wrote over the footage to outline that the council doesn't allow cars on the 'road' the man was quibbling about from 10:30am until around 7:00pm.
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Hundreds of people have taken to the comments section to criticise the man and share their support for Mia.
"Are they serious?! The way you always keep your cool and handle things so professional when people give you grief," wrote one.
"He was screaming at you and you was just talking," said another, while a third added: "He's the type of guy that complains to Tesco about the rain."
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Others suggested that the woman in the wheelchair didn't even 'seem bothered' about the situation.
"He says he doesn’t want to wheel his wife in the road and then yanks her about in the chair," said one. "Poor woman she looks so embarrassed."
Not everyone agreed, however, with some people suggesting Mia should have moved her equipment to allow the couple past.
"Sorry you’re wrong here," wrote one, while another said: "Not taking sides but it's difficult negotiating wheelchairs on footpaths, roads etc. He maybe had a bad day."