To think that pushchairs should have same priority as wheelchairs on buses?

[SparklyC]

Today - packed bus, I was in the pushchair bit on the bus, another mum got on with a buggy loaded with shopping. People sat in space that could have held another buggy in it didn't get up so both our pushchairs had to go in one space and my pushchair is one of those big all-terrain things! Then bus driver stopped bus for wheelchair user and asked us if either of us could fold down our pushchairs/move? Well, first of all, there wouldn't have been any room for us to sit down with our babies and also have our shopping on our knee or even stored on luggage shelf once pushchairs were on. Also the bus service I travel on has a bus every 4 minutes in the daytime. So the bus driver (who obviously has to be sen to be doing the right thing) got off the bus to tell the wheelchair user that the bus was full, and would he mind waiting for the next one, which he didn't anyway. What does everyone else think? Should we mums with our pushchairs be given the same priority as wheelchairs? Should bus drivers ask other passengers to move so that we can get on, instead of (sometimes) feeling like we are an annoyance and an obstacle to them?

One of my siblings uses a wheelchair. Growing up in the 80s when we travelled by bus we would fold up his wheelchair and store it in the luggage rack while my parents helped him to a seat.

On the train his wheelchair was stored in the Guards van on the journey.

Things have changed a lot for the better but as a Mum of 4 myself it still shocks me that some parents have the attitude their baby and pram should have equal priority to a wheelchair user. Fold your buggy down or use a sling.

I would support prams/buggies being banned from disabled spaces on public transport full stop. Why on earth should the wheelchair user and bus driver even have to ask. That person needs the space because they can't travel independently without it.

Ds has similar tics to Jess Thom, he's not in a wheelchair yet, but has fallen and hurt himself significantly a number of times. He is often the target of abuse, due to his Tourettes. Bastards!
He's at uni doing his masters and intends to lecture. Fortunately academia is often a safe place for those of us with differences.

My DS has severe learning difficulties as well as his physical disabilities, he will always be dependent on others. He is an only child so I really fear for his future when we are no longer around to protect him, I know that there are people out there with truly wicked attitudes a few of whom are on this thread.

Living

Thank you Dawn & for the flowers.

Living I'm horrified by that scout group!
I understand you may not have the emotional energy to, but please notify the scout association.
What they did was not right at all. Scouting is fully inclusive.
"Scouting for all" plays a massive part. There is a compulsory learning module on inclusiveness before a scout leader gains a warrant card.

Scouting is an inclusive, values based movement and membership is open to all those who share our fundamental values.

Hi BillDoor….believe me we did complain about the scout group at the time. TBH I blame the parents who complained more than the organisers who were volunteers; once these parents decided to make an issue of the 'risk presented by DS wheelchair' (although there was ample adult supervision & the children had to be warned to keep their hands away from the wheels) and complain in writing about it, the organisers felt they had no choice but to address the complaints.

It is the other parents I blame entirely; 'naice' middle class people too, who no doubt think of themselves as decent people.

TBH to cut a long story short, once we had had the discussions about sellotaping over the wheelchair wheels etc. and there had been other incidents (e.g. being 'blanked' and DS snubbed by both other DC and their parents) we felt so unwelcome that we no longer wanted DS to be there.

I know we are getting off the subject of wheelchair spaces on buses, but it all has the same common denominator; the wilful ignorance, lack of empathy and downright wickedness displayed by a significant minority of people. I despair of ever being able to educate them to see how wrong they are and I can't spend my whole life fighting, it is people like my DS who suffer for it.

When we told the Scout group organisers that we didn't want DS to return and why, they were so upset that I ended up feeling sorry for them.

Whereas I am sure that the parents were convinced of the rightness of their actions and are at peace with themselves….just as some of the parents who refuse to give up the wheelchair space convince themselves they are doing the right thing in prioritising their child's 'needs' over the genuine need of a person in a wheelchair to access the only means of getting around.

It is not possible to argue with selfish skewed thinking like this.

What blew my mind was a woman I know, who herself has a disabled child, defending the "buggies have an equal right to the wheelchair space" stance on Facebook.
Doubt very much she will still be saying that in a few years time when her own child is older.

Living that is truly horrific. I'm so sorry. Some people are utterly revolting .

I'm so sorry Living some people are so mean-spirited.
and

Thank you to the people up thread who answered my query about onward journey tickets. I'll look out for the notice the next time I travel by bus.

Thanks, appreciate all your support.

Oh Living I am so sorry, I had no idea such nastiness was so regular!

and at the Scouts/parents complaining, I have had a few disabled Rainbows and 'don't put your hand under/in the wheels' has always been enough, so Scouts, being that much older should have been able to cope!

According to Splendide logic we should bad all old people cos some of them are a nightmare with their trolleys and teenagers and fast men and so on and so forth. Funny how it's always people who no longer need to get on the bus with a pushchair who advocate blanket bans.

What they need is proper powers to hold the bus until person moves

The Scouts thing saddens me. I volunteered in the health centre at s big international camp a couple of years ago and scanning the health forms as the were being filed I remember being surprised how many had additional needs, and being proud of scouting and Guiding for being inclusive. I wish the leaders here could've told the complaining parents that if they couldn't trust their 10-14 year old child not to mess with a wheelchair then those children needed extra supervision to ensure the wheelchair users safetu

This really grinds me.
I find that in todays times, parents seem to feel the world owes them something for giving birth and having a sprog.
My daughter is disabled but still in a stroller, we have a card that tells the bus driver that her stroller is her wheelchair.
However its only a "wheelchair " when she is connected to her pumps and iv bags otherwise she is perfectlty able to walk.
So when she is disconnected I would always move for a wheelchair, and fold stroller down to make room or get off the bus.
People choose to have children, they choose to have these great bit travel systems that they say they are impossible to put down.

According to Splendide logic we should bad all old people cos some of them are a nightmare with their trolleys and teenagers and fast men and so on and so forth. Funny how it's always people who no longer need to get on the bus

Well according to Splendide logic we should leave blue badge spaces empty even if all the other spaces are full rather than just park in them but move if a blue badge holder begs us to. Oh hang on that bit of the world does operate by Splendide logic - maybe the bus should too.

And I still get on the bus with a buggy - did so on Sunday and had to fold because there were already two on board.

Agree re Blue badge Splendide because those are the rules. The rules on the bus are use it but move if it's needed so that's what people should do. You don't ban any pushchairs because some people are ducks, you del with the people who are ducks.

I can't believe this fucking awful thread is here why hasn't it been deleted?
And who the fuck woke the zombie?