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 have enormous trouble with descending long flights of stairs due to an unstable knee and poor sight. Much better if I can use an escalator or lift. If someone is in a huge hurry, of course they can go ahead, but not if they’re rude about it. If I take my huge case on the stair or escalator and it falls and hits someone, there’ll be a lot more of us queuing for the lift in our crutches next time. Stations should be more accessible but that is not the fault of other people who need to use the lift.

Why can't people simply wait patiently in a queue?

I'm shocked how few on here people give priority to wheelchair users and the less able in general .

Unless it would make me late or similar, then I'd pretty much always give priority.

Thanks for the explanation to FreudianSlurp as I always allowed wheelchair users to get on first out of politeness, I've never really considered you can't go sideways.

I'm shocked how few on here people give priority to wheelchair users and the less able in general
So there's a queue of people waiting to use a lift that has limited capacity, how are you going to order them - by physical/mental ability? If so, how are you going to decide priority between, say, a group of wheelchair users, and bear in mind it's usually the quietest person in most need? A queue seems the simplest answer.

I think you're thinking of a formal system similar to the disabled parking spaces?

I'm just thinking of general human kindness so you shuffle out of the way if possible, of course this doesn't help people with invisible disabilities, but it's a good starting point.

One thing I am really noticing on this thread is how one dimensional posters think others are. You are disabled so you must be frustrated. You are elderly so you must be forgetful. (Seen in other threads).

How about you are disabled and are a complete cow? One doesn't exclude the other you know.

I do have sympathy for the wheelchair user. That does not excuse rudeness. And all those young people being too lazy to walk? Maybe they're like me and pacing themselves. Or they twisted their knee playing sports. Or they have cancer. Or RA. Or a million other things. Or maybe they are just tired. And that's ok.

Everyone was going to the same train. No one us more deserving of catching it than anyone else. And you have no idea who would be the most inconvenienced - maybe those healthy people with luggage needed to catch that train to get a connector for their holiday?

Read the first couple of dozen replies, and found them interesting.

I would always let a wheelchair user go first as, apart from being the decent thing to do, surely it is the most practical. So, wheelchairs first, buggies second and then the others can squeeze in around them. It's much more efficient than trying to get a buggy or a wheelchair in after a bunch of walking people.

I agree with everything OneStepSideways says except for the last paragraph as I feel that consideration should be extended to wheelchair users.

So what if the wheelchair user has a LD an struggles with waiting, so you have let all the able bodied people on, but left them waiting, weird that the only place i have heard how easy it is to be in a wheelchair is on mn.

Well, they're in exactly the same position as someone who struggles with waiting and doesn't use a wheelchair. Assuming neither of them can use the escalator/stairs, of course.

I was in that position for a couple of days once (akathisia, not LD) , I wound up with a lot of abandoned shopping because I couldn't cope with queuing to pay for it. I'm not sure it would have been fair to prioritise a person in a wheelchair over me, just because they were a wheelchair user, and I only had a temporary problem with my neurotransmitters.

@mipmipmip i totally agree. its like some posters are suggesting that because this lady is a wheelchair uses shes automatically right, and above reproach for her actions. Being disabled does not give you the right to be rude and call other people lazy. As a PP said 'we all have a story'. maybe the people waiting for tht lift need to get on that train to get home to see their sick kid, or get to work and not lose the job that keeps their house or any other of a million things. the fact is if there is a queue, and everyone is taking their turn, she is NOT more entitled to get in it than anyone else, and has to wait her turn like everyone else. People pushing and shoving her out of the way, that would be different, but this seemed pretty orderly from the way the OP describes it. disabled people are sometimes rude arseholes too.

wow a couple of days
A couple of days, and that means you can judge?
Wow

I use the lift when travelling because I have a back issue after an accident. I would have treated the disabled person like any other passenger. If they were polite and asked to get in, in front there would have been no issue. If you're being an arse then I'm not going to be polite to you.

No, of course it doesn't Samcro, but I honestly wasn't trying to judge, only to point out that playing disability top trumps is ultimately pointless.

@samcro, not one single person has said that it is easy being a wheelchair user. people have said that for them personally, or friends they've spoken to who use them part time, they feel the chair makes things easier in comparison to walking with great difficulty. that's not at all the same thing. stop taking things out of context and looking for offence.

@samcro, so we should all just smile and nod when someone is rude, because they might have a learning disability? Sometimes rude is just rude and I won’t accept it from anyone.

Funny how Mnhq deleted it, then.

I'm genuinely not sure why they deleted it, but there doesn't seem to be any way for me to find out. Sorry about that.

The lift is for everyone who would otherwise put themselves or others at risk by using the stairs with heavy luggage or pushchairs etc. Common courtesy works both ways, I’m sure if the wheelchair user asked politely to go ahead of the queue as she was concerned she would miss her train, she would have stood a better chance at skipping the queue instead of creating bad vibes and being ignored.

I would 100% let the person in wheelchair go first. They have no choice other than to use the lift.

And i could ask someone to help me with the stairs if I was struggling with a case or pushchair

If I'm out and about with DS in a wheelchair I'm amazed by the helpfulness of the General public. Some people are oblivious and a pain and will push in front of DS given half a chance, but it's generally outweighed by good people

I'd absolutely expect to wait for a lift. But I have on occasion asked if anyone minded us going first and DS was desperate for the loo. No one minded. But then they also let another lady who was late for her train too!

While I would always let wheelchair/pushchair users go first. I am not great on escalators so where possible I’ll take the lift.