To be disgusted by this?

[SerenDippitty]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-44858107

What if it had been another mother with a prank occupying the wheelchair space? Would she have felt entitled to ask her to move?

It does highlight the need for transport to be more accessible for disabled people and families though

not really. Just goes to show what a nuisance they are, and how much cheaper things would be if we could ignore them.

When I grew up, in the 70s and 80s, it was rare to see anyone in public in a wheelchair. Then I met DW, and I learned why. We had a brief flicker in the 90s of things getting better, but in the last 10 years .... well for a start, the fact buses aren't guaranteed accessible would be your first hurdle before you got to the train station (and found you can't board because they "forgot" you were coming and can't get the ramp out ... and even if they did, the space has been abused).

Or do folk disagree ?

not really. Just goes to show what a nuisance they are, and how much cheaper things would be if we could ignore them.

It’s awful people are made to feel like this. It makes me quite angry, I don’t want society to be so damn selfish.

How on earth would her sitting in a seat while her scooter is in the designated place for mobility aids make a difference?! What a disgusting comment!

I'm a wheelchair user and the thing is bloody uncomfortable. If there's an opportunity to sit in a comfier seat, I will. Where would you suggest that I put a huge, powerchair, other than in the space FOR wheelchairs?!

You seriously think that because she sat in a seat instead of on her scooter, for part of the journey (next to her husband who was with her, y'know, perhaps they wanted to chat?) that she deserved to be humiliated in front of all those people by a jobsworth twat of a man?

Wow.

I suspect there is more to it as well.

Absolutely unbelievable. I hope the train guard is handed his arse.

Poor woman.

I suspect there is more to it as well

Such as?

More to the story? Like what? The full video is on YouTube.

Train staff humiliate disabled woman - not sure how there can be much more to it.

Accessibility is in a disgusting state across our transportation sector. Going anywhere in the country you are always at risk of arguments like this, gruelling slots to get to a lift what seems like a mile away, taxis outright breaking the law and refusing to carry your guide dog leaving you stranded, etc. Don't get me wrong an effort is made by many, and most people themselves are great, but there are too many problems and too many things that can make it a horrible marathon.

If MPs had to spend one day or even a week doing their commute on crutches, in wheelchairs, on mobility scooters, with guide dogs etc. I'm pretty sure things would change quickly.

slogs

If MPs had to spend one day or even a week doing their commute on crutches, in wheelchairs, on mobility scooters, with guide dogs etc. I'm pretty sure things would change quickly.

Let’s make this a thing.

If you’re going to vote on policies that affect the disabled, you should have to live as a disabled person for a week.

It's bloody disgraceful, what sense of entitlement must someone have to expect priority for a pram over a mobility scooter. The guard's actions are reprehensible I hope he is dismissed.

Shocking and outrageous _ there is no reason on earth she should be Expected to move - I'm appalled at that guard

There's more to it I'm sure. I read the article in another paper which said the woman with baby couldn't remove the baby from the pram because she had an injury to her arm- so effectively was also disabled at the time.

@Fresta so the guard is still at fault either way you look at it.

Even so the other lady was there first so that becomes irrelevant. Just like if I want to use the wheelchair space with ds when he is in his chair we can’t if another wheelchair is there.

The 'more' is that the mother had a broken arm and made a huge fuss. The disabled woman, with what she calls 'dwarfism' and brittle bones, was left feeling overpowered, outnumbered and humiliated.

The mother was being an utterly precious twat and the guard acted outrageously.

Why did the mother demand the mobility scooter be 'folded' or removed?
Why did she tell the disbled woman's OH to move from an unreserved seat?
Why did she 'throw a fit' when told no?
Why did the guard make an announcement to all passengers apologising for the delay blaming a disabled person?
Why did he threaten to call the police on the disabled woman?
Why did the train staff repeat their 'blame the disabled woman' apologies throughout the rest of her journey?

Yes, the mother has apologised now... I bet she feels really sorry - for herself, being shown up like that!

That's the more of it: Disabled woman can't reserve disabled spaces for her scooter, the online booking system doesn't allow it; woman with broken arm and pushchair arrives, demands disabled space and unreserved seat, gets angry and staff make a series of horrendous decisions.

Horrendous!

CuriousaboutSamphire
Well said.

The train company have said they are revising their training. It is shocking how the guard acted.

Yeah, because having a broken arm is the same as being disabled.

Entitled twat.

*Yeah, because having a broken arm is the same as being disabled.

Entitled twat.*

Exactly, I'd rather have a broken limb than my disability.

Same.

I've often said I'd rather lose a limb than feel the way I do daily. Broken arm indeed.

FFS, all of you with your I suspect there's more to it, a man humiliated a disabled woman, publicly, on a train. Why would there be more to it? Oh, is it because she's disabled? Why are we not believed when we say these things happen. Why are we questioned? It happens to most of us, day in day out. A bit like everyday sexism, we suffer with everyday disablism. The wheelchair ramp is forgotten on trains so often. The disabled access is round the back, the disabled access is non existent. The lifts not working. Every damned day there is a way to exclude those with disabilities, to humiliate, belittle, marginalise and here you are saying 'oh there's got to be more to it...

I have a pretty small disability scooter. The bloody thing doesn't fold. They are rubbishly designed things. You have to basically dismantle them and reassemble them. I can't do it because, oh yeah, I'm disabled. But even my supremely healthy, technically minded DH find it a struggle.

In the past I've taken a simple folding wheelchair on a train. But obviously this is not ideal because then I am stuck with DH pushing me. All the railway companies seriously need to sort out their provision for powerchairs and scooters.

I have a dozen horrendous disability train stories though, so I have absolutely no doubt this happened like the women said. Give some people a tiny bit of power and they go crazy. For every lovely helpful train guard I've met, I've met a mean one.

Accessibility is in a disgusting state everywhere across our transportation sector.

FTFY.

Also bear in mind that whatever %age of changes that have been made to cope with accessibility a certain proportion will be fucked up anyway. From cars parking over dropped kerbs (which can make a journey impossible, not just "difficult") to lift after lift after lift of entitled tossers all looking everywhere but at the wheelchair user who can't get in (many times I'll catch the lift on another floor, and get out when it gets to DWs floor).

This modern mania for roughed up surfaces everywhere makes using a wheelchair painful if not impossible. You know, those new bumpy-brick surfaces. Less than 5 years old ? Yes, those ones.

Or the housebuilding company whose every showhome was across a pea-gravel car park. Every tried doing one of those in a wheelchair ? It's almost as much fun as wheelchair basketball.

All the railway companies seriously need to sort out their provision for powerchairs and scooters.

Or, alternatively (which is what is happening) disabled folk can reel in their expectations a bit. After all, air is still free.