For all those who won't fold for wheelchairs YABU

[GobbySadcase]

only now it's legally recognised

blows raspberries

However do people think we managed before we were able to access buses with buggies?

I walked three miles to a hospital appointment, in driving snow, with a double buggy in 1996. It didn't kill me.

The Equality Act states:

"A person (P) has a disability if—
(a)P has a physical or mental impairment, and
(b)the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on P's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."

There's no mention of wheelchairs at all.

"'substantial’ is more than minor or trivial - eg it takes much longer than it usually would to complete a daily task like getting dressed
‘long-term’ means 12 months or more - eg a breathing condition that develops as a result of a lung infection"

There is a full guide here:

odi.dwp.gov.uk/docs/wor/new/ea-guide.pdf

"A man with achondroplasia has unusually short stature, and arms
which are disproportionate in size to the rest of his body. He has
difficulty lifting or manipulating everyday items like a vacuum
cleaner, or bulky items of household furniture, and has difficulty
opening moderately heavy doors, and operating revolving barriers
at the entrance to some buildings.
It would be reasonable to regard this as a substantial adverse effect
on normal day-to-day activities."

So basically if you are not physically capable of folding your pushchair, because of some physical limitation, then the bus company should not turf you off, and indeed to do so would be discriminatory.

Only had one baby at a time.
Baby on hip, fold buggy with one hand, shopping in my backpack.
Twins, I'd hand off one of them to a passenger on the bus whilst I folded the buggy.

ProudAs in the fairly rare circs where there is simultaneously a wheelchair user and a parent whose disability prevents him/her from folding their buggy but no other passengers on the bus at all... then I would think the driver would be able to find the time to help.

"I walked three miles to a hospital appointment, in driving snow, with a double buggy in 1996. It didn't kill me."

Send all busdrivers on a one day course on buggy folding, all the common varieties?

lol at silverapples, can MILS go too?

I actually remember doing this on the Exeter park and ride when dd was 2mo. Nobody would help me lift my folded buggy on and with dd in my arms I struggled. Bus driver isn't insured to help.

Well, if their duties change and they have to become buggy adepts, there will be an insurance company jumping at the chance.

Beast, i meant why is it okay for one disabled group to have to ask for help, when it clearly wouldnt be okay to tell the other that they should? And that is why i wouldnt want to ask for help.

Please tell me that at least one person here arguing for the put-up-and-shut-up of disabled mums not in wheelchairs is actually a disabled mum themselves?

It is bloody awful to need to ask for help to do something that you should be able to do.

If I were a bus driver I wouldn't want to become a buggy folder and general baggage stower. Would fuck up your back.

People should take responsibility for their own luggage, it's a really bad idea to introduce lifting-type tasks into jobs.

princess if you are really struggling to fold the pram with the baby aswell you could turn around and say "excuse me could someone give me a hand for a second"

It is much easier for someone with a pram (able bodied parent and child of course) to get assitance from another person on the bus than it is for someone with a disability meaning they are wheelchair bound.

It never used to be the case that you could take an unfolded pushchair on a bus. That's why the McLaren buggy became so popular: it was lightweight and easy to fold. It just went without saying that you folded the buggy before getting on, sat with baby on lap and placed buggy in luggage rack.
I don't quite see why that's now become suddenly so difficult.

Baby on hip only works once old enough, prem newborns I had needed more support.
I'm not anti disabled getting the spots just don't like the attitude of some that parents are selfish. Maybe i'm precious but I don't want to get on a bus a give my baby to a random stranger. Perhaps that's just me.

Thank goodness!

I went to visit my mother last week, and had to get a very busy London bus. I had DD in the sling so not a problem. Bus packed with a lady with her buggy in the wheelchair space. A guy in a wheelchair wanted to get on, and she point blank refused to move! I had to say to her that the guy wanted to get on, so she blocked the back doors with her buggy! So I said again that he would be getting on by the back doors and that she should fold her buggy and she literally had a temper tantrum because she couldn't fold her (empty) buggy. She ended up ramming it backwards into a group of people sitting down, not apologising and being in the way rude!

I'm not anti disabled getting the spots just don't like the attitude of some that parents are selfish

Sorry but parents who won't move are selfish.

Princess, I used a sling when mine were under 6 months.
Then I just had the backpack and the changing bag.

beyond not saying put up and shut up at all! and have two disabled DC so not immune to the issues .

My original point is that it is a shame to object to this victory. because most of the time, the buggy user has no disability, and the wheelchair user is clearly deserving of that space.

Where two people with disabilities both need access to services, if at all possible we should try to adapt the solution so that both are included. Providing help is another form of reasonable adjustment; given that it will be rare to have a clash between two disabled users, as a back-up plan I tink it is pragmatic and fair. Other posters have said that waiting in the rain is bad for people with arthritis, which it is, but it's also bad for people in wheelchairs who may be vulnerable to pneumonia from impaired lung function and general activity levels. So if both can use the bus, that is a better answer. I know that the ideal world would have a seamless service; but in the imperfect world inwhich we live, would you personally really choose to leave a wheelchair user in the rain for the next bus rather than mention that folding buggies is difficult and could someone lend a hand? I would not have done this myself.

Patpig Love that sketch.

It is true though. I had a lot of hospital appointments for ds, a less than useless husband, and a bloody long walk each and every time - there and back. Hospital transport wasn't so accessible either back then so it was walk or no appointment.

Use a sling, get off and walk or fold up your buggy and yes its precious to not to have someone hold your baby for a minute whilst you fold up the buggy.

I have given mine to people on the bus to be held and I have held other babies and helped other parents. The space is for wheelchair users, it's as nice bonus that you can use the space for the pushchair but that's all it is and a wheelchair user has priority.

I use the bus and trains all the time, have just asked for help when necessary there is always someone who will help and I help others when I can, holding shopping or baby to folding a pram etc.

Agree with YoutheCat. I really am an old gimmer now, but I had two small children under three, a fold-up pushchair and had to take the bus - it wasn't a problem as I recall. The wheelchair space should be kept for wheelchairs and any disabled buggies. No wheelchair user should have to worry needlessly about whether they will be able to get on the bus.

I recently travelled on a bus in South Devon - little bus, no big space for pushchair. A mum got on with 3 small children. She gave one to the driver, one to a lady on the front seat, the other child sat down by herself and mum then folded the buggy got on the bus and retrieved the children!

It's not as if you are handing your precious bubs to a stranger and then shoving off for a couple of hours.
You are letting someone else hold your child for less than a minute whilst you are right there in front of them.

One test I did before buying a pram was the one handed fold. If it took more than one hand and a foot to fold the pram I didn't buy it. That way if I was travelling on a bus I could hold baby and shopping in one hand whilst the other folded the pram.

Oh yes, I did that too BInky. And we had a can of WD40 to make life easier.