It might surprise some people to learn that disabled people are capable of having a good time. Yesterday, what with it being my birthday and all I decided to have one of those rare occasions called a "good time" often enjoyed by normies and non spoonies.
As I live in sheffield I can very easily get out to the peak district, and on a regular occasion I will travel to Bakewell for 'a therapeutic excusionary event'. This is different from a good time, because it is for the benefit of my mental health. I take my lovely fiance with me, mainly because he enjoys it as much as me, but also because if he doesn't come I will end up in such random locations as nottingham and london (google it, getting from bakewell to nottinghams an impressive feat, especially considering that when I'm not well Im completely on another planet :)
So, anyway, yesterday. I had a lovely morning eating free pancakes cos its my birthday (yes, theres a shop that does this) and decided to hop on a bus to Bakewell for lunch with my lovely fiance. No problems so far. I have a bus pass that enables me to travel with a 'carer' for free, based on the fact I have an established need for 24/7 supervision and care in the form of my higher rate DLA. Although yesterdays use might have been slightly cheeky, because I was having 'a good time' and was traveling with 'my fiance' (dont worry, hes the same guy, our relationship just exists on many different levels), it was still perfectly justified.
After our lunch in Bakewell I spontaneously decided to go to Matlock. With my head being a walking bus timetable, or more accurately my mobile phone is we were soon boarding a bus to Matlock. O, you can't use that here luv, came the response from the ever so lovely transpeak bus driver. He jovially went on to explain that derbyshire doesnt recognise the need for a carer to travel with a disabled person, whilst charging me two pound seventy for the privilege of daring to have 'a good time'. I said, well thats strange, my need for a carer whilst travelling doesn't just automatically disappear when I move into a new county. O no, he says, its not that simple. Its just Derbyshire, nottinghamshires ok, everywhere else is. Just Derbyshire.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong. I was in Bakewell, I had got to Bakewell, with my carer for free. I can get home from bakewell with my carer for free. Last time I checked, Bakewell was in Derbyshire.
My bus pass is meant to give me equal access to transportation, as a replacement for a car, that I can't drive because of my health. It further equalises me because it takes away the barrier I sometimes face when I cant travel on my own. You can probably tell by now that I love the freedom this gives me. I regularly use it to go to Mansfield, Chesterfield and other local places for 'theraputic excusionary events' with my 'carer'. I don't like being told I can't use it, because it disables me, restricts my freedom.
After a somewhat stressful evening journey home from Matlock (the x17 DOES take both of us home). I got to my phone and onto twitter. By this point I had remembered that I had read on Doncaster councils website that I can actually travel with a carer, off peak across England. I tweeted the link to travel south yorkshire, who I have to say was extremely patronising and kinda missed the point. It got into an arguement over what the site does or doesnt say, compared with the 'official' travel website rather than my need to travel with a carer.
That being said, it was a pretty comical exchange, so you can read it here if you want: )I hope this works, but if not try looking at my twitter profile here: https://twitter.com/allbigideas <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>@<a href="https://twitter.com/travelsyorks">travelsyorks</a> my carer bus pass. The one you get for being on higher rate dla?</p>— allbigideastartsmall (@allbigideas) <a href="https://twitter.com/allbigideas/status/330749487104540672">May 4, 2013</a></blockquote>
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In summary, and thinking about it, it is not about the lack, or presence of certain rules that do or dont permit me to take a companion cross borders. It is about the disabling policy that appears to prevent me. It is about the lack of a unified policy across the whole of england that stops all disabled people, who have an established need for an addtional person to travel with them (Higher rate DLA) to travel beyond their home counties. Surely this is not within the spirit of the so called 'national concession' bus passes, if they are not national for all disabled people? I'm feeling miffed, and quite sad about this lack of freedom that I thought I had with my bus pass.
But dont worry, it didn't spoil my 'good time' yesterday, it just might restrict my 'theraputic excursionary events' in the future, which in turn will have a detrimental impact on my mental health. That, or my carer, who will soon turn into my husband might just buy a car and be done with it.
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