Dame Tanni Grey Thompson forced to crawl off train!

[Elderflower14]

Makes me angry and sad in equal measure.
I have had similar issues with ds2 travelling on the train. He is deaf, dyspraxic and autistic so perhaps not quite the same as Tanni. People sometimes don't arrive to help him and his luggage off the train. It happened as recently as Saturday when no one came to take him down to his train. With three minutes to go a TFL man took him down.
I was with a train accessibility manager having a meeting due to bad service last year. I have dyspraxia too so don't use the lift when I have luggage. We walked down the steps to the underpass and the lift was broken..
"Oh the lift is broken.. How would ds2 and I get up to the platform?"
"That's not our lift it's TFLs"
"That's not what I asked... How would ds2 and I get up to the platform?"
"There is another lift round the corner!"
"But it doesn't tell you on that lift where the other lift is does it??" 🤔 🤔 🤔
Another time when ds2 was left to walk through an underpass at midnight alone I complained and the lady said she didn't suppose he looked deaf!!! That made me very angry.
The sunflower lanyard has helped but unfortunately ds2 forgot his on Saturday and when he started to get stressed the TFL man told him to shh.
Everytime ds2 is left on a train I complain. I'm aware that he is able to get off the train and find someone but I always say that he could be someone in a wheelchair like Tanni and unable to get off the train.
I read on the Euston Station X page where a wheelchair user asked staff to get a ramp to help him board a train. Twice they told him he didn't need a ramp and to try and board without. The third time they went and got the ramp. When they got back the train had gone and the man was left on the platform!! 😡 😡
I have sort of made it a mission to bring this sort of thing to train companies attention.

The whole thing is just appalling. And it’s far from the first time Dame Tanni has drawn attention to this sort of thing, she frequently tweets about situations like this.

At our local railway station the lift was ‘out of service’ for months and months and months. No way for any wheelchair users or anyone who couldn’t use the stairs to access the platforms. Just inexcusable.

(Did people also see that before that, T G-T couldn’t get food on the journey because the promised ’at-seat service’ was also non-existent?)

@Elderflower14

Needing help with a wheelchair though is different to you not wanting him to be left unaccompanied in a tunnel. Assistance is for physically getting on and off trains eg helping with luggage, ramp etc. I have an autistic dd and we've taught her how to use public transport, you can't rely on others to provide care at stations eg if she gets distressed

Nope, you can book assistance for autism and other disabilities such as being deaf, as OP's son is. Your daughter might not need it, but others clearly do. If you book on the app to request assistance in changing trains/ finding the next platform, this is what you should get. Just as crucial as a ramp in terms of being able to get on the train if you can't find the platform or hear the announcements without assistance (and I use ramps!). Some stations will be unable to provide this, the stations where you rely on train staff to deploy the ramp, and in that case OP's son would presumably need someone with him, or it's a small enough station that he can navigate it independently. There's a big grey area between needing a carer and being able to navigate a big station without assistance. Especially if you've booked the assistance and therefore didn't bring a carer and then they don't show up.

It’s awful that public transport is still so inaccessible. The fact that arguably the most well know wheelchair user in the country encounters these issue shows just how bad it is.

DS is a part time wheelchair user so at least can get in and out when needed (although trying to manage him, his equipment and a wheelchair is still a challenge!) but we still find public transport is more often than not more hassle than it’s worth! I can only begin to imagine the issues for those who can’t get out of their chairs easily or who are travelling alone.

There is a minimum level of staff required at large stations, I am sure someone could have come along even to say assistance was on its way.

Notable it is a Network Rail managed station.

🤯 🤯 🤯 That was one example... He needs help because he can't hear and has balance issues with his dyspraxia..

THANKYOU!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

There's also a girl on Instagram called wheelie_good_life who documents what she has go through as a wheelchair user and it's absolutely atrocious.

Now that’s a great idea.

On the trains where I am they say to help any fellow passengers who may be in need of assistance.

Mum is deaf now and we have deaf family members who definitely don’t “ Look deaf “

What does a deaf person look like??

Just like you or me.

Absolutely shouldn't have happened. But we're the station staff aware that she'd missed her booked train and was actually on the next one?

Well that's the point, the communication is supposed to work between the station she got on and the station she gets off. Usually they contact the destination station to confirm that you're on the train

That would be up to the station staff to sort. Some disabled passengers couldn't communicate this themselves. The station helping her on to the train should give the info to the destination station.

It's a daily occurrence isn't it and it's not limited to travel. My little boy is blind, has global developmental delay and is a full-time wheelchair user. Every time he goes to the dentist we hit the same hurdle. I call, email and text them to remind them he needs a ground floor room and every single time they greet us with "You're on the first floor..". It happened again today despite reassurance via WhatsApp that they had noted the fact he needs ground floor access. Added to that today the treatment room they then put him in was so small it couldn't accommodate me, him, the dentist and the dental nurse. The dentist then started to ask all manner of questions about his health, at that point I got cross and asked about LO's right to privacy.

On one of his last visits a different dentist completely ignored me when I asked that nothing be done without me forewarning LO (we use on-body signing to prepare him for things that are going to happen) but no, the dentist stick his finger straight in his mouth and got bitten for his efforts.

I haven't even dared attempt train travel yet because I really don't feel confident or comfortable doing it.

That's not great that they do that despite you telling them about his accessibility needs.

However, the health questions are needed at the dentist. I'm not disabled and get asked about my health every time I go to the dentist as health and dental health are linked.

It's not the fact they were asked it's the fact they were asked with an open door and other people who could hear. I don't think it is ok to share his, or anyone's,private information with those in the waiting room.

I think there should be a version of Race Across the World where teams with various disabilities have to try and get from Lands End to John O’Groats using public transport. It would open a lot of eyes.

Nothing will change until the companies are hit with truly eye-watering fines Every. Single. Time. Until it literally costs a director their Christmas bonus EVERY SINGLE TIME a wheelchair user is treated so utterly disgustingly.

On several occasions ds2 has had to get himself on the train as staff left him to it. Because of this no one tells the arrival station so ds2 has to find the guard himself!! One time we didn't know where on the train he was and he nearly ended up going to the next station... I was very unimpressed!

Given you have an autistic daughter, surely you've heard the phrase, 'If you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person.'

We're not all the same - some of us have considerably higher support needs than others, along with different co-occurring disabilities!

It would only work if it was done in secret with no visible camera crews or anything though - if the companies knew it would be in the public domain you can bet those days the systems would work perfectly!

I didn't see anything about an open door but if that was the case then yes it's absolutely wrong. I hate getting asked personal info in front of everyone at the pharmacy.

yep...
Sometimes I see disabled influencers going on gifted trips, and although they're honest about the access they actually encounter, it's obvious that the companies know it's a gifted trip and are rolling out the red carpet so to speak. Or actually, just providing the access they're supposed to.

@Ratfinkstinkypink I'd bite someone's bloody finger completely off if I couldn't see it coming and they shoved it in my mouth with no warning! Your poor son. Hope that dentist learned his lesson 😡

@Carwashcath sorry, my mistake. Yes the door was open at that point, it was such a small room it made closing the door really difficult with a wheelchair in the room.

We don’t even have a lift at my local station. I struggle with heavy luggage and I always think how awful it must be if you’re disabled.

I’ve signed petitions about this, written to my local council and written to my MP.

Apparently the issue was money, but they’re currently replacing the bloody stairs (with more stairs - and still no lift)!!