to think not folding a buggy to make way for a wheelchair user on a bus is despicable?

[Zara1984]

Just watching Channel 4 news here and a focus piece on public transport accessibility for disabled people.

Apparently one of the biggest users for wheelchair users is parents with buggies not folding them to make way for wheelchair users. This startled me - surely there are not really parents out there who refuse to fold down their buggies to make way for a person in a wheelchair??? Seriously? What kind of twat does that?

AIBU to think that any parent who does this is not a nice human being?

Does this actually happen???

Ok reading some of the other threads I can see this really is a hot topic. I promise I am genuine, I was watching the feature on Channel 4 feeling genuinely perplexed.

I have never encountered the issue on a bus. I have always seen a parent with buggy quickly jump up and fold down buggy (and apologise) when a wheelchair user boards. If I am seated in front rows I offer to help the parent by holding the child while mum/dad folds buggy.

Good God, with the greatest respect to the OP, please let this thread die a death very very soon.

Some posters never ever give on these threads, so they are unfortunately entirely pointless.

Basically an excuse to hurl some abuse.

I agree, but I do think that parents who have more small children than they have arms and knees for should be cut some slack.

Actually we have never been on the bus when a wheelchair user has got on. If they did, I would ask someone on the bus if they could hold dd for me whilst I folded the buggy. Years ago even in London people would gladly hold other peoples children whilst parents folded buggies but you don't see it very often now.

My DM was in a wheelchair, she wouldn't have wanted a woman with 3 DC to vacate a bus for her. Just like she would have waited while someone able bodied used the disabled loo before her. Facilities must be there for wheelchair users but they are not always going to be free for them to use. It's not always so cut and dried as MN wants it to be.

DoMeDon, how much time did pushchair users spend campaigning to get spaces on buses? How many signatures did they get to force train companies to provide ramps? How much money did your average parent spend campaigning for disabled toilets?

A wheelchair user can only use one toilet, sit in one seat on a bus, take one route into a building. There is no comparison to a person who chooses to use these things for their own convenience!

I do get what you're saying. I remember the day we walked, in the pissing rain, down a long, smelly alley to get to the disabled entrance of a bar to find it padlocked, couldn;t turn the chair round and had to back out - poor DM was in tears, in need of meds, it was crap. I agree there is no comparison to being in a wheelchair and using a buggy for your DC. But everyone deserves compassion and a bit of grey in my eyes.

Don't get me started on decorative pot plants concealing the entrance and yes, too many places Asda in bournemouth don't provide room to either turn round, or in fact turn in/out of their "accessible" toilet.

I'm pushing 18st of person plus a clunky nhs chair. I do not need to go the long way round to find the fucking lift!

And no, you can't "help" by taking over from the little woman. Ask the perfectly capable guy in the chair - he has both a brain and a right to personal space!

I once pushed dd's wheelchair onto an empty bus and the driver looked at it dubiously and muttered "you'll have to take that off if someone gets on with a pushchair". I expect he'd come up against some of the less accommodating local mums.

ohhhhh fuuuuuuuuuuck

For fuck's sake, give it a rest, this one is just becoming dull.

But you could get off and walk to the next stop, everlong

Right, is anyone else starting to get why a significant number of us feel 'got at'?

well seems this thread is allowed, how odd

everlong Wed 20-Jun-12 22:26:05
"I would imagine if you're a mum on a bus with a baby in a pram and maybe a toddler also, throw in three bags of shopping on the back of the pram etc it would be pretty damn hard to hold the bags and the baby and the toddler and unfold the pram with just one pair of hands.

In fact I would say its not possible."

Oooh, I have miraculous powers!!!!

Or at least I used to have them in the days when dc were little and there were no pram/wheelchair spaces on the buses.

(shall I tell you how it's done or just let you believe that I really can channel magic forces?)

I think I need to go on a bus and see for myself. I can't picture the space all these threads mean.

Despicable, entitled, selfish, inconsiderate, ignorant.

Whilst morally DoingMeCleanin is right, according to the link on the other thread ((here) it isnt correct in terms of 'policy' for some bus companies

Hard? Yes. Impossible? No.

You ever seen a paralysed person stand up, move themself to a seat, fold their wheelchair and lift it into a luggage rack?

Or maybe a nice kindly old lady will let a fully grown man with cerebral palsy sit on her lap while the carer sorts out the chair and the shopping? Perhaps she could sing Old MacDonakd to him?

Or, God forbid, the chair user might not only have a physical disability but also a learning difficulty. Ever seen someone visibly recoil in horror because you enter the room? I have - as one of a pair of paying customers.

Do people not test the pram before buying? When I was pram hunting after checking to see if it was suitable for a new born and wasn't too large to fit in my small house, I would check to see if I could get the thing up and down with one hand.

If you're planning on using the bus a lot with a dc get a small flimsy easily fold up able buggy or push chair and limit how many shopping bags you have! It's your own fault if your buggy is fit to burst and you have four massive bags of shopping. Some things have to give when you have young dc s and you're on public transport. It is irritating when buggies block people getting off or the bus is delayed with their faffing. And no I don't mind waiting for wheelchair users!