Disability lift

[marge26]

lurking for about a year, first time poster.
I bring toddler (2.5) to sports-type activity every Friday afternoon. Baby always come along and watches from her pram. It takes place in a church/school hall building with multiple floors. The particular sports hall we need to get to is on a lower level so each week we use the disability lift to get down.
Today the lift wasn't working so I asked the guy on reception if it was broken. He said it was just turned off so school kids don't mess around with it. He turned it on for us but as he did so he said "it's a disability lift, it's not for prams". I just said that I didn't know how else we would get down. And he said ok and off we went.
But I feel so annoyed that he challenged me on using it. From a purely practical view I'd need to bring toddler down and leave him at the bottom of the stairs alone, then take baby out of pram and leave her down the stairs on her own (on the floor?) and then take pram apart and bring it down (maybe one or two more trips needed). It seems completely unnecessary. We weren't preventing anyone else (with an obvious disability) from using the lift.
I also think he should be aware that not all disabilities are visible and my baby or I could have needed to use the lift for disability-related reasons. (We are lucky that this is not the case).
So AIBU in using the disabled lift each week? (The are a few other mums who also have prams and use it too) and WIBU to complain about the reception guy?
Thanks for reading!

I would have asked him what the alternative was. I'd love to see their risk assessment for forcing parents with prams to 'bump' them down a flight of stairs. Please do not do this! Such a dangerous thing to do, for the parent themselves, who could trip, the baby in the pram that could go tumbling down the stairs and any other adults or children on the steps that could get taken out on the way down. The only safe way for you to access this activity is to use the lift and I'm sure whoever manages the building would agree with this with a short consideration of the safety/legal/insurance implications of the alternative.

As for using a sling, or breaking the pram down, this may be possible for some but not all. Many mothers of small babies have joint/back/pelvic floor issues which make getting the pram in and out of the car boot a struggle and a risk of injury, never mind carrying it up and down a flight of stairs. I don't think the building can have a policy of forcing everyone to do that either.

Personally I would use the lift without any sense of guilt; I am not disabled but I would NEED to use it and if I was prevented from using it I would not be able to access the activity. Surely the purpose of the lift should be to make the building accessible to anyone who is unable to use the stairs for whatever reason.

I think if it was a proper lift it wouldn't be such an issue - but disability lifts are a fiddly, difficult to use often broken platform. Which is why I always bumped mine down the stairs (had 3, they all survived & can't say it ever felt dangerous - I did have decent buggies though). If I was going somewhere that was impossible with a buggy (ie public transport - buses & tube were not very accessible ten years ago). I either took an easy to use sling & folded buggy or more comfortable sling & no buggy).

Why not talk to the venue & find out what the issue is rather than complain? A number of people have mentioned frequent breakdowns & cost of repair as an issue. With austerity it is quite possible that the local authority is trying to cut the repair bill - my LA currently can't afford to pay for the care the severely disabled need so I would hope the were looking at cutting avoidable costs elsewhere. If that is an issue ask them to change venue.

Assuming it is a LA building of course - talk to them anyway, but if it does belong to the LA the cost of repair may well be an issue.

I can't believe people are suggesting OP should try and bump a pushchair up and down a full flight of stairs with a toddler in tow rather than use the lift, WTF? If they're going to put kids activities on the first floor they need to make the lift available to people with pushchairs. Yes disabled people might be more dependant on the lift if they have no other option but it's not a bloody competition, both uses are valid.

yabu I am assuming that this is not a normal lift but one for wheelchairs.
so not for "i have a baby" people

It's probably generational pseudo. Access was a nonexistent concept when my kids were small, so everyone bumped up & down stairs. Things like disability lifts were very rare & looked rather comotivated. No-one thought twice about bumping down stairs (or passers by grabbed the other end & helped you down) - if you didn't do that you couldn't really get to lots of places. I suspect we're all rather long in the tooth.

But cost of repair may well be an issue. So talk to the venue & ask for it to be moved to a different level if so. You may find the organisers have thought 'there's a lift that's fine' whe the building owner has thought 'buggies can't use that it's for wheelchair users / we can't afford for buggies to use it as it keeps breaking'. If so the left hand needs to talk to the right & an alternative venue found.

I'm disabled but even I have no problem with an able bodied person using lifts if they want, especially when they have a pram etc like the OP. I can't believe that people are telling her to bump the pram down the stairs by herself! They can't be serious surely? If there's a lift and the OP needs to get her pram up or down a level then she can use a lift. I see mothers with prams using lifts all the time, even disabled lifts where the button needs to be held.

YANBU. Amazed about how people fail to see the logic in this and only care that an unused lift has the word 'disabled' on it so therefore can be totally and utterly dismissive and even rude to a mum struggling with a baby, a buggy and a toddler. I would contact the place and not complain but ask if they could change the use to be officially called an accessibility lift so that people don't get so caught up in the word disability and lose their common sense.

I have the greatest respect and sympathy for anyone with a disability and world help anyone if I saw them struggling. Buy I would also help a mum who was struggling with kit and kids and see disabled lifts and loos as priority for disabled but fine to use for other humans that are struggling otherwise.

I think this is different from a disabled toilet - as it is the only lift.

In many buildings now the lift which the building has had to put in for wheelchair access, is also expected to double as the lift to be used by the elderly, people with mobility problems (but no wheelchair) and buggies.

I think you need to ask the people in charge -

is the lift is only intended for wheelchair users? If it is it needs to be signposted as such, if it isn't it needs to specify who can use it.

if the lift is intended only for wheelchair use, then you should ask whether there are alternative arrangements for parents with buggies - is there a member of staff who can help with getting things up and down the stairs? Could activities be arranged for the ground floor?

My biggest issue with this is even for someone disabled if they aren't in a wheelchair they almost have to prove they need the lift which is wrong.

I can understand in busy places asking for priority for wheelchair users but I think otherwise then anyone using the place should be able to access the lift if it is the only/ much easier way to get to another floor.

Yes, in a museum we were in recently, we waited 20 minutes for a lift to meet dh and the dds at the top of the museum, because the lift was constantly full, then when we did manage to get on, we had to get out to let someone out, and some fucker shut the door on us, meaning we had to wait another 10 minutes! When I complained, they said they had received a lot of complaints and were going to designate one lift as a 'disabled only lift'.

But this was a 4 storey building with a few lifts.

Cherryblossomsinspring please tell me that you're joking, the police will do fuck all!

Cherryblossom said contact 'the place' not 'the police'.

Doh, reading fail

hazey if they actually do designate a lift like that then good on them.

Of course you are not unreasonable!

Lifts should make floors accessible to all and designating the only lift available as a disabled use only one is ridiculous.

Quite apart from the obvious (how can you to who has a disability), the issue is clearly one of making sure that the adults responsible for the children do not let them mess with the lift.

If there is a member of staff available to keep locking/unlocking the lift then that person can also make sure it's used properly.

Why is this type of lift so poorly made that they break down monthly? That's absolutely piss poor design and the op can hardly be blamed for it.

Our local homebase one terrifies me - I bump the buggy instead of use lift as I'm so terrified the noise means a breakdown or explosion is imminent.

From a users point of view I think YANBU, crazy to think someone should use a buggy with stairs just because that's how we used to do it we used to do many things, doesn't mean they are safe or sensible for all people. It is a shame that the buggy users are being blamed and penalised for vandalism.

And agreed with Bernice

I'm a little concerned honestly that there are disabled lifts which require you to press and hold a button for it to move. Not all disabled people have the use of their hands! Often these types of lift ate very small.

When I am put with my relative who is quadriplegic, we can't always both fit on the platform together. (Electric chairs for someone over six foot are not small) I lean over and push the button, then go to the exit point (top/bottom of stairs) to open the door or whatever is necessary. If the button had to be held, the lift would be useless.

As far as I am concerned, those lifts are to transport people, wheeled conveyances and other things that can't go up and down stairs easily.

The lifts where the buttons have to be held are quite common, my local Nando's and police station have them and quite a few London train stations have them, I've never thought about someone not being able to hold the button as the lifts are quite big, big enough for a friend as well as an electric wheelchair user.

I'm glad to hear the lifts you've seen are big enough. We had a right hassle finding a lift for home. In most of them, their feet would hit the back wall before the back of the chair was inside. (The lifts at Twickenham are small too. Drive in, sit facing wall, reverse out. Room for chair +1 person awkwardly squeezed in by the buttons.)

Oh, weight limits can be difficult too. A bug power chair is usually over 100kg, plus the passenger, plus the carer.

It's amazing how little I appreciated these things before. Makes me determined to point them out now.

Good points honeysuckle I think part of the problem is when thinking about accessibility most places don't think beyond lower limb problems being the source of the lack of mobility with everyone being in a standard size wheelchair.