Wheelchair / buggy on bus

[MoonlightMistletoe]

Today I had got the bus with my sister we both have children I had my toddler who was walking and my one year old who's only just started to walk who is still in a buggy, my sister has a 12week old baby who was also in a buggy.

We had got on the bus as you do and the next stop another parent got on with their buggy, a few stops later we stop and straight away a woman is screaming/shouting at the rear doors with her phone in our faces demanding we collapse our buggies, very angry , shouting at us with buggies and also at the driver. The driver is telling us to stay put due to her being aggressive and recording us. Someone on the bus was telling us to co operate with the woman who wanted to get a person on the bus who was in a wheelchair. We know disabled people are a priority and had absolutely not said we wouldn't put the buggies down, I was taking my sleeping one year out the buggy while this woman was still swearing and being nasty and recording us, I had given my baby to my sister to sit with my toddler and herself while I was about to take her baby out the pram then all of a sudden everyone made a "ohhhhhhh" gasp and the disabled man has fallen down the side of the curb and bus sideways in his wheelchair.

She then looses her absolute shit at us for her own mistakes being so caught up in recording us to make sure we move that the man is now probably injured.

AIBU to think all she had to do was say excuse me can we move the buggies so I can get the wheelchair on?

Your attitude is wilfully obtuse. Look up the definition.

It is not disablist to refuse travel to an able bodied woman who was being abusive/aggressive just because she was travelling with someone using a wheelchair.

The person being abusive was not disabled. The person who was refused travel was not disabled. The person who caused this situation was not disabled. Therefore it is not disablist for them to receive consequences (refusal to travel) for their behaviour.

The driver did not refuse travel to the gentleman in the wheelchair, the only reason he could not travel was because of his carer's behaviour. That is not the fault of anyone but the carer.

And it makes no difference that the carer didn't have a disability. Ever heard of discrimination by association?

So the driver should have allowed the abusive person on the bus just because they were travelling with someone using a wheelchair? Despite the fact there are clear guidelines for drivers to refuse travel to anyone being abusive?

Well in that case, next time I want to be abusive to an employee and receive no consequences I will take my grandmother in her wheelchair because there's no way I can be refused service since it would be discrimination by association not to serve both of us.

Bus driver doesn't make peolple fold, so wheeluser and carer can not board

Wrong.

Carer is abusive before current passengers have had an opportunity to move/fold.

Bus driver refuses travel to abusive person.

Wheelchair user cannot board independently of abusive person.

Wheelchair user and abusive person cannot board.

The only person to blame for the wheelchair user not boarding the bus is the abusive person who has been refused service due to their behaviour knowing that the wheelchair user cannot access the service without them.

What we actually need are Bus Conductors. They are the people who would sort this mess out every time.

It's a bit like the cry for the return of Matrons on wards, isn't it? All those positions which we thought didn't need an actual person actually do need an actual person.

Btw, Moonlight, I am sorry that you took my earlier post to be aimed at you - I didn't make it at all clear that I was just addressing anyone on the thread and lurkers, just anyone. It was meant to be a general point, hoping that maybe it had some small effect on someone somewhere (small steps can end up changing the world). Anyway, it wasn't aimed specifically at you as I had read that you were starting to fold your buggy. I did not intend to upset or attack you further, and I am sorry you felt I had.

@Samcro I think you find you are being thick to fail to understand that the bus driver can refuse aggressive people from boarding, also to fail understand that the bus driver can't force anyone to move from a space if they were refusing which in this case the only reason why they didn't board was the carers behaviour. The reasons behind why she was pissed off are irrelevant because it doesn't mean you are entitled to behave in such a way infront of children especially.

Like I've said and I will say again,
People can use that space so if that's the problem then change it because a buggy user will not campaign for something if they are already using a space in which they can, bus drivers can't use force to move people so if people are abusing that and you have a problem then you are the one who needs to change things.

@melj1213 I'm not particularly interested in the thought processes of someone who thinks it's ok to discuss the behaviour of customers with other customers.

Ever heard of discrimination by association?

I wanted to check the facts and wording before I responded specifically but, as per the Disability Discrimination Act, it "protects non-disabled people who are associated with a disabled person where the reason for their discriminatory treatment is because of that association."

The carer was not refused travel because she was with a disabled person. She was refused travel because of her abusive behaviour therefore discrimination by association does not apply.

Disabled people have fought for and secured that space already. They shouldn't have to deal with people who think they can put their buggies in it and weak disablist bus drivers.

Again, why is it okay for someone to be rude/aggressive on multiple occasions but it is not okay for a victim of repeated aggression from this person to reassure another victim of a specific aggressive situation that they were not to blame, citing relevant and factual evidence?

@ilovesooty yes I understand that but clearly it's not working due to it being a shared space , is that what you asked for no it's not so if the problem is that it's being shared you have no choice but to change things otherwise this problem will always remain.

You do not discuss the behaviour of customers with other customers. If I heard an employee doing so I would report them.

OP
you have a problem then you are the one who needs to change things
Evil thrives when good people stay silent.
Minority groups need allys, not silent and ignorance

Disabled people have fought for and secured that space already. They shouldn't have to deal with people who think they can put their buggies in it and weak disablist bus drivers

This.

I'm betting that the last few posts on this thread will go along the same lines as the last few hundred......so,I'll say this for the third and final time.....

Wheelchair users HAVE campaigned and WON the right to that SPACE

That means YOU do not have the LEGAL RIGHT to use it

It also means that the bus driver was in the wrong to allow you to use a space that IS NOT YOURS to use.

The BUS DRIVER is the one in the wrong.

The career has probably encountered his disablism too many times and went in the defensive. Quite,possibly with the support of the man in the wheelchair who is fed up with not being able to get on a fucking bus because of disablist drivers and entitled parents.

Are people here insane? The OP clearly explained the silly carer was needlessly aggressive from the get go, which is why the bus driver refused entry. Yes it's a shame for the man in the wheelchair and hopefully he'll find a better carer. But throwing around 'disablist' and other names shows you haven't understood the OP. Grow up.

Leigh do you think people with a pram can use the space if it’s empty?

But why would someone be aggressive and filming before the doors had even opened? There is a lot more to this than what the op knows/is telling us/is making up

Of course buggy users arnt complaining OP. They are freely using spaces they didn't battle for with no regard for who these spaces whete actually created for.

Exactly Sirzy. However, it is we, who need to grow up apparently. Disabled people and those sticking up for them infantilised again.

Leigh do you think people with a pram can use the space if it’s empty

I think I've made it clear what I think. No. It's not your space. You are being selfish and entitled to use it. Fold your buggy.

@Mummyoflittledragon grow up is just a silly insult used on here to shut people up who disagree with others. Ignore it.

Agreed!