Handicapped Tennis Star Steps Up

türkçe links to original Turkish article

(Hürriyet Newspaper, 28 February 2017)


          "Travel fee" - stairway to easy money.

Yesterday, handicapped national tennis player Büşra Ün went to
the Number 16 Notary in Şirinyer, Izmir, to get some paperwork
notarized.  Because Ün could not climb the 25-step staircase to
the notary's office, a worker came down the stairs to her side to have
her sign the documents.

But after the matter was taken care of Ün was shocked to see her
bill from the notary.  She had been charged 17.74 TL (about  $3)
for a "travel fee".  Ün, who had previously experienced a similar
incident, then posted this on Twitter: "to those who ask what #handicapped
means, tell them 'paying 17.74 TL at the notary for a person to come
downstairs because I couldn't climb the 25-step staircase.'"

Ün's message was quickly re-tweeted about 10,000 times and the
Turkish Notary's Union began looking into the matter.  Ün explained to
Hürriyet that "my friend went up to the notary's office to take care of
the paperwork.  But they said I had to come up to sign it.  When I
couldn't climb the stairs they sent a worker down to me and charged
me 17.74 TL for that.  When I shared my experience on social media,
the notary said that the fee was charged automatically becuase the
work was done outside the office but that this was a mistake and my
17.74 TL payment would be cancelled.  Since I'm an athlete I was
able to get my story out but heaven only knows who else is going
through these things and can't get anyone to listen."


The Şirinyer neighborhood is within the city of Izmir.