Tag: Travel

To the people.

On By Katy DalyIn Blog2 Comments

To the elderly people who wouldn’t move out of the wheelchair space on the bus, for me a wheelchair user. I would feel bad for swearing at you if you didn’t wave as the bus drove away.

To the bus driver, who tried to get them to move but gave in and just wouldn’t let me on the bus, grow a backbone and enforce the rules, that’s part of your job.

To the person reading this, who thinks I was too harsh, while I admit I acted in emotion and not logic, being older doesn’t make you right or deserving of special treatment.

To the person who doesn’t understand why this made me so upset, in part it’s just because it was yet another thing today, but missing this bus has also ruined my plans for the day. It’s pushed me back at least an hour due to connecting buses.

To the people who aren’t reliant on public transport, driving isn’t so easy for me, both physically and financially, that is to say if I could do it all. Access to public transport is not only my freedom, but my right.

The bus has been reported, not that I think it’ll actually do any good. And I’m now sat here waiting for the next one, hoping it comes in time to not delay the next part of my journey, that is of course, if I can get on it at all.

The little ones.

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What skills or lessons have you learned recently?

Today I did a lot of little things, they were all new, and I’m quite proud of myself for doing them. But I don’t think most people would even call them skills, and that’s just sad to me.

I realised today that if something feels important to you, it is allowed to be important. It doesn’t matter if other people would find it important, you do and that’s all that matters. You should celebrate your wins no matter how others may view them, and that is what I did today.

I’m going to list the wins I made today:

  1. I travelled to a place I’ve been to regularly but never on my own before, on my own
  2. I figured out a change on the train, on my own.
  3. I got on and off a train alone.
  4. I ordered food from my phone and then picked up that food order.
  5. I got a drink from a dispenser.
  6. I got money out at the post office.
  7. I returned a package.

These might seem unimportant but I honestly felt good that I managed to do all of this.

Be proud of yourself for what you have achieved.

Why are accessible services so complicated?

On By Katy DalyIn Blog, My Disability TruthLeave a comment

So I’ve been trying to get on to a transport service in my local area, specifically aimed at those who would struggle to use public transport or drive for whatever reason. While they are technically accessible if you use a wheelchair, like most of the things in society, they are still extra complicated for wheelchair users.

I expect things to be more complicated when I try to access them as a wheelchair user, but there’s something that little bit more annoying when trying to access a service specifically aimed at people like me. You would just think they’d be more prepared, that they would know what they were doing. That there would be less steps, if anything,,but definitely not me.

I know I’ll get through all the extra nonsense yet again and be able to use the service. But there’s just so much of it, and it keeps happening. It really feels like society is punishing me sometimes for being disabled.

Two wheelchair users, one bus.

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It always surprises me, but it probably shouldn’t anymore, that public transport is generally only designed for one person in a wheelchair to use at a time. We don’t in fact all know each other and coordinate when we need to do things together, contrary to popular belief.

As I write this I’m on a bus on the way to pick up some medication for a family member, I like to be useful and it’s not often I can do that without actually being in the way, but today happens to be one of those days.

There was someone else that wanted to get on the bus in a wheelchair, but they couldn’t because I’m already on it. I feel bad as if somewhere it’s my fault, even though logically I know that it isn’t because I didn’t design the buses. But can you imagine if the roles were reversed?

If public transport was only designed to take one non- disabled person at a time? How annoyed would they be at having to wait for a bus with a space on all the time?

But it doesn’t matter that disabled people have to wait. It doesn’t matter that wheelchair users can never go out with other friends in wheelchairs when they need to use public transport. We almost always have to meet them at the place we’re going. We don’t get the full experince.

This is made even worse when you realise that society actually pushes disabled people together. They think it would be easier for us all to be friends at a young age, because no one who isn’t disabled should have to be friends with someone who is. But then don’t create a society where you’re actually able to do things as friends. It’s just weird to me.

Learning Routes.

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Due to a lot of the world around me being massively inaccessible, I almost always learn specific routes when I travel in well known areas. This is something now do without thinking because I’m so used to doing it, and I often don’t realise I’ve done it until I route I take has to change for some reason.

I only have to do a regular route a few times before I find ways that are comfortable to me. These are ways that are often so specific, they include travelling on a specific side of the road. I’ve even missed shops that are on the other side of the road to the route I’m taking, because I’m so focused on the way I have learnt to go.

When I have to change a route it can actually be quite scary and sometimes disorienting. One reason for this can be because I don’t know the condition of the pavements I will be on, or where drop curbs are. Sometimes I have to just change curbs that are new to me, because I can’t always tell how big a drop is going to be when I’m on the pavement. And as I can’t always see exactly where my wheels are, sometimes I hit pot holes, that I was unaware of previously.

To put it simply, I have to pay a lot more attention and take more risks when I travel on routes that are unfamiliar to me, so I obviously don’t like to do this.

Now I am able to manage better than some, when changing routes, despite my difficulties. For some being able to follow specific routes that they have learnt is more important than it is for me.

The point of this post is to hopefully remind anyone reading it that sometimes people have learnt routes for specific reasons, and they can’t just change them. Some obstructions like road works are unavoidable, what I mean by that is they require the say of the council not individuals to prevent. But individual pavement obstructions, such as where you park your car, is a different story.

It is worth remembering that people can’t just change routes. They can’t always just cross over to the other side of the road, to pass the obstruction you create.

So have a little consideration for where you park or leave things on the pavement. Just remember you may be blocking a path that is someone’s only way of travelling somewhere independently.

I am aware that this post may be considered slightly ironic given my current situation which makes travel difficult. But as I’ve had to explain this recently to others, after sharing pavement obstructions by hedges and vehicles, I thought it was worth also going over here as well.

Oh that’s a question

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If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?

I’ve always wondered if I were to ever win a competition where something like this is offered what would practically happen? Just because I won a trip like this doesn’t mean it would be accessible to me.

Are used to think about answering those competitions where you could win a car. I always wondered if I’d be able to sell the car if I want it because I knew it wouldn’t be a prize that would have any value to me.

But let’s just assume this holiday would be completely accessible, like it would be for any non-disabled person that won it.

Vegas probably.

Or somewhere warm at least.

Where would you go?

Dear people who use trains with babies, can you not leave your buggies in the wheelchair spaces. Thank you.

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Image Description: An over the shoulder photo of a buggies on the edge of a wheelchair space on a train.

As I write this post I am still on the train. It is worth noting that the buggy was moved so I could get in before the photo was taken. Before this, it was completely in the wheelchair space. The owner of the buggy is nowhere to be seen.

I know that children and buggies have every right to take up space, but please remember your buggies are optional, my wheelchair is not.

It’s one thing to leave your buggy in the wheelchair space with you there. But to leave it there while you go into another area of the train is even more surprising to me. Why would you do it? Why would you leave your belongings unattended like that? Is being in first class really that important to you?

While the buggy has been moved out of the area, it is now blocking the isle and other passengers. It is not as easy for me to move as it is for you to not leave you things in the way in the first place.

Both sides now

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Image Description: This picture shows a silver car parked by a green hedge blocking the pavement completely.
The second picture shows a blue car parked by a green hedge, blocking the pavement completely.

These pictures were taken earlier this week in my local area.

They show something I have experienced regularly throughout my life. Cars blocking payments and forcing me in to the middle of the road.

Now of course pavements exist because roads are not safe to be walked in. Even less so when you are forced to stay in the road due to inaccessible pavements. Here the payments were made more inaccessible on both sides and so I had to stay in the road.

Without drop curbs streets can become inaccessible very quickly to me, pavements do not simply become inaccessible to me when they are blocked my vehicles, they become more inaccessible. Life becomes more inaccessible to me, it becomes that little bit harder.

And when I raised this issue in my area, I was told I was being selfish. I still do not understand why it is selfish for someone to want the same rights and access to the world as everyone else. How is it selfish to want the same?

I was also told that the person who cares for me should be helping me deal with my issues and I should not be doing it myself. I did not think that I needed saying but as it apparently does, you cannot suggest that a disabled person needs help simply because you don’t like what they are doing. I’m allowed to exist and do things others do not agree with even as a disabled person. To suggest otherwise is insulting.

Just don’t park on pavements.

Some people aren’t disabled they can just do things

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I said this the other day, and someone felt the need to say they also can’t do things because they don’t have a lot of money, but that’s not the same thing.

We were talking about going on holiday, which they are able to do every so often and by holiday I mean going abroad.

They seemed insulted I suggested that this was something I would never be able to do as a disabled person, for several reasons including money. They had to insist that they also had money problems, which is a fair statement, but they still have the money to go on holiday.

This is something that isn’t even on my radar as a possibility. It’s far more complex as a disabled person, and costs money I don’t have and am unable to earn due to my disability.

If someone is telling you something is hard for them, it’s not your job to say it would also be difficult for you. This doesn’t mean you can’t share your own story to sympathise with them and show understanding, but this is not the same as going, what about me.

My chair died.

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The problem with relying on people and technology is things can simple go wrong and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Yesterday my wheelchair died when I was miles away from home. It died because it hadn’t been plugged in the night before. Even though I am not the person that plugs it in at night, this is of course my fault because I should have checked they had done it. It’s just one of those things that usually gets done correctly and so I forget that I should check on it. To be fair they had plugged it in just not switched it on at the wall.

Either way it didn’t charge and I was stuck. Which I am actually somewhat relieved about because yesterday I wasn’t sure if my chair was broken and that’s why I was stuck. It having no battery is an easy problem to deal with.

The only way for me to get home then was paying £145 in a taxi. As when my chair has no power everything that was previously accessible to me, like trains, my planned way to get home, becomes inaccessible. And because I can’t just get into any vehicle, no one could come and pick me up, so a taxi was the only option.

Now taxis have to be up there with the least accessible mode of transport for me, alongside other cars. While it is possible to find accessible taxis, like I did yesterday. This can be very difficult to do.

Many taxis say they’re wheelchair accessible but will only take people who can get out of there wheelchair and fold it into the boot. I cannot do this. So for me this is not a wheelchair accessible taxis. I have even had taxis come and then refuse me, despite specifying before hand that I wouldn’t be able to do this. But you know how people love to blame you when they don’t listen.

Accessibly means different things to different people and companies.

Emergencies happen, things go wrong and get forgotten. But when they go wrong with my chair it’s honestly terrifying.