To think the lift is for anyone who needs it

[EeyoresEars]

Queuing up to use the lift at a busy station this week. There were about 6-8 people in front of me and I’m not sure how many behind. I waited for lift as I’m pregnant and couldn’t have carried my buggy down the long flight of stairs.

A woman who was using a wheelchair was a couple of people behind me in the queue and I heard her starting to complain, not directed at anyone, just talking loudly so everyone could hear. She kept saying she was going to miss her train because of all the lazy people who should carry their cases down the stairs instead of using the lift.

Then she started complaining about people not carrying buggies down the stairs. I kept ignoring her, as did everyone else, which I think made her more angry. She shouted to a staff member and asked what she was going to do about the lazy people in the queue. The staff member said there isn’t priority access for the lift and it’s safest for people not to carry heavy luggage on stairs if they don’t feel able to. The woman using the wheelchair kept on complaining and saying she was taking it further.

Aibu to think anyone who needs the lift can use it and if you have to queue then that’s just life?

I’m so pleased you’ve had nothing but good experiences, Prof. I would say the majority of people are great, but there is a small but significant number of people who are thoughtless, ignorant or generally feel that things provided for disabled people mean they’re getting something non disabled people don’t and they just have to be vile about that.

Nonsense scottish. I haven't heard anyone say people with large cases shouldn't use the lift. Just that priority should be given to wheelchair users who can end up in this situation daily, as opposed to once every now and then. Just a little bit of consideration and empathy really would go a long way

What a vile, ableist comment, Scottish. Reporting you.

I generally assume that not being able to walk must be pretty inconvenient, if people are occasionally irritable it's probably because it's harder to get from A to B and the public are pretty annoying in my experience and I don't have a disability.

What a vile, ableist comment, Scottish. Reporting you.

what was offensive in that comment? Reading some of the unreasonable posts above, it's very true.

The lift is for everyone who need or wants to use it! Obviously I would let anyone disabled or pregnant in front of me if there wasn’t enough space, but I’m not going to walk if I don’t want to just because I can!

ProfessorMoody
I agree. Nasty fictitious comment. Gaslighting in fact.

Nasty fictitious comment.
seems to me that the post was in reply to some of the posters, not an attack against disabled people! You can mock some of the comments without making it a general statement you know.

Absolute bums.

I travel alone with a walking 3 year old and buggy one year old it’s simply not safe to use stairs and positively dangerous to try an escalator.

Going on the ‘need’ to use a lift I could be waiting all day to get on the train if I let every person with a disability use he lift before I got in it.
After all i chose to get pregnant and chose to have the audacity to travel alone with two children.

Being rude is not acceptable with or without wheels.

And before someone harps on about not knowing what it’s like to have a disability i spent months in a chair after a horse riding accident in 2006. I didnt suddenly become someone loudly insulting other transport users!

I've never forgotten the lady in a wheelchair who laid into me for queuing up for the lift once in a shop.

I have a disability that prevents me from using escalators. I usually take the stairs, but in this case there simply weren't any public access stairs to the floor I wanted.

I'm still not sure what she thought I should do. It made me nervous to take lifts for years, especially when they said they were for use of disabled people only. Entire floors in shops became inaccessible to me because that lady scared me so much.

I've since realised that bad attitudes come in all shapes, sizes and abilities. It's really not wheelchair user bashing to note that they're just as capable of being discriminatory as people who don't use wheelchairs.

I totally agree that disabled people should have priority when using facilities designed primarily for their use. But facilities that are for everyone should be first come first served. Its great that public facilities have been made accessible to all but that doesn't automatically mean that disabled people have priority in using them. Having a difficult and time consuming journey is not in itself a reason why anyone should jump a queue. Neither is having no alternative a reason why anyone should jump ahead of others who also may have no alternative, albeit for different reasons. There may be some occasions where a non disabled person would find it more difficult to queue than a disabled person. I am all in favour of helping disabled people as much as possible but I don't think there should be an automatic right to be prioritised in the use of public facilities over everyone else, who may have different needs that aren't specifically related to disability.

ikeepafork
I’m disabled. I have been for years. It was treated as a mental health problem by many many people. Except. Wow now all of a sudden part of my disability is a real life genuine diagnosable illness, which required prompt removal of my uterus, ovaries, cervix etc. So maybe I didn’t have munchausens and wasn’t faking it after all for more than 10 years. Don’t suppose I’ll ever get an apology for the vile things said to me, the threats of violence or the violent acts upon me.

You really really do not know what youre talking about if you think comments like that are ok.

Ikeepafork - it was an ableist comment. A horrible one at that. MNHQ clearly agrees.

I'm disabled but not in a wheelchair. I would have moved out of the way to let the wheelchair user go ahead without her having to say anything, because I recognise that her life is harder than mine and I can choose to make it just a little bit easier.

The posters gloating about her having to wait should be fucking ashamed.

YANBU I saw someone let go of a heavy suitcase on an escalator and it literally took the legs out from under the people in front as it flew down. It was horrible to watch. It's dangerous for people to take heavy luggage on escalators and I guess stairs are the same.

You really really do not know what youre talking about if you think comments like that are ok

the comment was in reply to posters who said that non-disabled people should not be allowed in lifts (or something in the same line), I am not sure why you take it as a personal attack?

Telling posters on a parenting forum that it's their problem and their choice if they have kids and they should just carry baby, luggage and pram in the stairs instead of taking the lift is ludicrous!

Spending your life in a world that caters for able bodied people will certainly create frustrations. Seemingly able bodied people using your only way to get around would make me mad. I would have let her before me, but I spend a lot of time around people with disabilities so perhaps my view is coloured

@Moominfan I'm not sure what you mean by "seemingly able-bodied". I'm assuming you're aware that most disabilities are invisible?

Everyone is ignoring the fact that while everyone else waiting for the lift would have caught the train according to the OP, the woman using a wheelchair may well have missed it.

Flywheel BishopBrennansArse MummyoflittledragonWhy just wheelchair users though? Shouldn't all disabilities have priority? All disabilities which affect mobility/use of stairs I mean? I use a walking stick for balance- Dystonia, which means not only painful muscle spasms but also I fall a lot. I struggle with stairs and uphill of any kind. Most people would think I am fine when they see me on a flat surface but they have no idea that stairs finish me off.
Surely people like me are just as deserving of the lift priority as are those in wheelchairs?

Really chouetted, so one person you know is ok.
words fail me.
Its funny how on these threads there is always someone who knows someone who is happy to wait.
I know wher bishop was talking about and you could be waiting hours to get in the lift, never got why a whole family or group has to go with the child in the buggy, but thats another thread.

ikeepafork
I didn’t take it as a personal attack. It was a mild version of the sort of nasty things my family has said to me. It is not the sort of comment that can stand in a forum like this.

I agree it is wrong to take the view that lifts are for disabled people only and parents choose to procreate so put up and shut up. But that comment was still not ok.

crunchymint exactly. I have thi ssame struggle myself as someone who uses a walking stick. I have to have assistance booked if I travel- cannot manage stairs easily.

I also have a mental health issue (EUPD/BPD) which means I have meltdowns and panic and can well relate to the meltdowns BishopBrennansArse mentioned. I often come across as rude when I am in a state. I understand where the woman may have been coming from. As the Dystonia I mentioned upthread does affect my balance getting on buses at a busy time can be a nightmare, as buses move off quickly and after shopping I may need a priority seat if am having a bad day. Often I miss buses due to no priority seats being available.