What hurts the most is peoples attitudes, including the drivers. I have been on buses going back to depots before where drivers chat amongst themselves. Very often its, o I had a passenger run for a bus and yep, you guessed it, she had a disability pass, or at least 80% of those passes are faking.
I personally think that there is desperate need of training for these drivers. If they have that attitude, it makes travelling on my local buses very difficult and at times impossible. I love the sign on the priority seats on the southern train that say the need for this seat may not be immediately obvious.
If you look at the public transports criteria for a national concession pass (disability) it does vary accross the UK. However, in my area of south yorkshire these are the rules:
How to qualify for a pass
If you live in South Yorkshire and are under 65 years of age (there are some exceptions (PDF, 189Kb)) you may qualify for a pass if you:- are blind or partially-sighted
- are deaf of without speech
- have a disability which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on your ability to walk
- do not have arms or have long-term loss of the use of your arms
- have a learning disability, or
- have been or would be refused a driver’s licence on medical grounds (other than on the grounds of persistent misuse of drugs and alcohol).
These are very clear. And there is only one catergory which mentions a persons inability to walk. All of the other criteria could be considered invisible, and at least 2 criteria could mean that you have the need of a specific seat in order to be able to cope on public transport.
I qualify under the last category because of my impairment I will never be able to drive a car. I see and use the bus as my car. I shouldn't however expect abuse, and if I don't get it consider it a good journey. I shouldn't have to travel with someone else on long journeys, or rely on someone to be at the bus stop to make sure I get on and off. But I do, because of the way the buses are so inaccessable for me at times.
I have been on a bus before where the bus driver made a snap (and wrong) decision. There was a buggy in the buggy bay and a wheelchair wanting to get on. Instead of insisting that the buggy was folded, the driver turned to me and started attacking me for taking up the single seat, one that I showed him I was entitled to sit on. He still persisted in his mission, and in the end the buggy was shoved right up next to my seat leaving me trapped and complelty panic stricken, as thats the very reason I get a single seat.
It is about not judging and accepting the situation as they find it. Now, I am not saying that all public transport workers are evil. I have a good story to share as well. I was on a train, a challenge for me anyway, because I don't like them at the best of times, but this was rush hour. As the platform got more and more packed, the mantra I kept telling myself over and over again (just so I didn't give up and go home) was quite simply, just get on the train, find a seat and sit in it. So, thats what I did. Not thinking that someone else might have reserved the seat. And as per usual, it would seem that person was the aggressive type, and thats just not something I can cope with and I could feel panic rising as he demanded with meanaces and by poking me his god given seat. I asked him if he could find somewhere else, but no. So, off he went to find a guard. By the time the guard came back I was having a fully blown panic attack and the only thing I could think to do was show my disabled persons bus pass to him. The guard was great and dissolved the situation by moving the guy into first class. I know i was partially in the wrong, but I just so grateful to the response of the guard because he could have very easily made the situation worse.
Please don't judge on who is disabled and who isn't. You will find out very quickly if you test it out who is, and I don't think anyone wants that...
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