To be shocked some people have to be told special needs and disabled people have just as much right to be in society as anyone

[PennyRa]

By law

And then when schools returned but the legal obligation to follow EHCP provision was temporarily suspended and posters were falling over themselves to justify why this was okay and why it was acceptable that children with SEN and/or disabilities were being denied access to specific parts of their education.

This week I saw the old "parents should be able to claim Carers Allowance because they have to look after their children anyway". Haven't seen that one in a while so it was due a comeback.

i had to hide the wheelchair on buses thread . been on here since 2006 and nothing has changed. able bodied people still see people like my adult dd as an annoyance. oh yes they are all nice until she needs the wheelchair space on the bus, we park in a parent bay as no BB bays, or god forbid we need to use the disabled toilet.
but there are lovely people, like the people in her local who make such a fuss of her she has an amazing time.

Entire bloody pandemic saw the merry tossing aside of accomodations for disabled people..

Parking spaces used as queue areas or seating areas - no replacement parking spaces created elsewhere.

Accessible toilets re-assigned to a different group - no replacement facility provided.

Clinics at my local hospital moved to portacabins in tents that were inaccessible to wheelchairs.

Shops changing layouts - for example closing upper floors where the accessible toilets were, or if they were open, blocking and switching off lifts so anyone needing the lift could not use them.

We are expendable, the message is loud and clear.

If you doubt this, and you work in any sizeable office above ground floor, tell me this (and go ask if necessary).

Is there an evac chair for the stairs?
Are there always sufficient people present to use the evac chair, who are fully trained to do so?
Do you (or your relevant people) know at any time, how many people with mobility related disabilities, are on the premises?
Have you been made aware of evacuation protocol for disabled people within the building/working there?

If the answer is no to any of those... then effectively your company/buildings policy in the event of fire/evacuation is 'fuck 'em, let them burn'.

Person first/disability first is entirely up to the person you are talking to btw.

I, and many other disabled people, couldn't give a shit or would prefer disability first, but other people prefer person first so it really is best to ask.

Please stop assuming you speak for all.

My thoughts exactly. Just don't call me differently abled. A horrible term!

Totally agree with you OP. I am registered disabled due to rheumatoid and osteoarthritis,and always use a walking stick when I'm out and about. As a rule,I try to avoid the busiest times on public transport, because of the vast majority of people's lack of consideration,i.e. sitting in priority seats,tutting and sighing when I take a little too long for their liking getting on and off the bus etc. But sometimes, traveling during peak times is unavoidable,e.g. when I have a hospital or other medical appointment. I absolutely dread those times. I remember an incident that happened about 2 years ago,when I had a hospital appointment. I boarded a bus at around 8.45 am. It was packed,and all the priority seats were taken. Far be for me to judge whether someone is 'disabled enough' to need a priority seat,I know that not all disabilities are visible. I didn't address one particular person sitting in any of the priority seats,I just said 'Would somebody be kind enough to give a disabled person their seat?'. A woman sitting in one of the seats promptly replied 'Maybe you should try traveling when it's not so busy!'. I was gob-smacked. Thankfully,the man in the seat behind her jumped up and gave me his seat. But I was fuming inside at the woman's rudeness. People can be so ignorant of disabled people's needs.

I'm sure people generally agree with you. But it doesn't mean that you can expect people to spend part of their day making an effort to make disabled people happy and feel included. People are busy sorting their own stuff out.

Seriously? Some of us need mostly minor things that would take 5 minutes for someone to sort.

Oh and we have laws in place. You can't just choose not to do something.

You don't have time for basic courtesy and understanding? 99% of what's needed to make disabled people feel happy and included boils down to this: don't be a dick.

If you don't have time to not be a dick then you need to have a good long think about your life choices.

There was a cracking thread the other week about blue badge spaces and people just deciding their needs justified using them 🙄
And you always get the comparisons to blue badge/ versus parent /child ,and people thinking they can just park in the blue badge space if all the parent/ child spaces are full because they are exactly the same 🙄

Why wouldn’t you spend time to think about others? are you really that self absorbed?

We have a lot of weather related briefings where I live in the US, and they always have American Sign Language interpreters at the briefings, but sometimes, the TV stations will zoom in on the speaker and cut the ASL interpreter out of the camera shot. It's happening less these days because the Deaf community has complained, but it's still a concern. It's another example of lack of awareness.

Seriously? You are all that is wrong with this world

Indeed ,my son goes to a special school,he gets picked up.by school.transport every morning ,where we live its all pedestranised,so there are two car parks for residents ,my sons school bus phones me to.tell.me they are in the carpark,and I take him and put him in the bus he has no mobility issues so the whole process takes maybe five minutes ,every morning people are beeping their horns because the bus full.of disabled children,is blocking them for a few minutes ,you couldn't make it up.

You clearly know very little about type 1 diabetes if you are dismissing the idea that they might need assistance going through the airport.

Tell me when was the last time you navigated airport security wearing medical devices like an insulin pump that can't go through the body scanner, as well as medical supplies that also cannot, armed with a letter from your hospital that the airport staff routinely ignore?

Tell me the last time you have had a rapid hypo waiting in the queue?

Type 1 diabetes is protected legally as a disability.

I know, it's so difficult to make special accomodations like not parking in blue badge spaces or across dropped kerbs, or including looking down as well as behind you/to the side when someone says 'excuse me' as you step back in a supermarket aisle.

It really would test the patience of a saint to have to think 'perhaps it would be safer for this wheelchair user if I moved to the kerb side of this pavement rather than them risk falling off said kerb as we pass'...or to not dump your bin where it causes an obstruction on bin day...

Probably, what we, disabled people, ought to do, is go out armed with a bunch of Chufty Badges to give out to everyone who manages to not be a thoughtless cunt, so that they're rewarded for these extreme efforts.

Don't think you'll be winning one any time soon.

Of course everyone has to right to go out and about. And things like parking places, passes, etc etc, no issue. Your kid sitting under a table - no problem. But when it comes down to it, its a balance between peoples needs in public. If what person A needs encroaches on person B, its the type, degree and extent of what is needed which is key and the situation in which it happens. Just because a behaviour is part of a disability, does not mean everyone else should have to put up with it. You would not allow someone to change their colostomy bag in a public place, or assault people, as understandable as their need to do this is. But needing a seat on public transport - cant understand anyone having a problem with things like this.

99% of what's needed to make disabled people feel happy and included boils down to this: don't be a dick.

EXACTLY

You should spend a part of your day to make sure everyone has the absolute basic courtesy they need to get on.

Exactly, and nobody expects people to be perfect - nobody is - they just need people to try.

Yes! I don't expect people to guess my specific needs at all, theres some obvious ones of course (wheelchair - requires ramps, and space to turn/park/etc) but I am not expecting anyone to magically understand, in detail, what I need.

I just need folk to not be a dick and be open to me explaining what I need. They may not be able to meet that need and that might be something I have to accept (for example, big enough lifts in ancient listed buildings), but often my needs are much simpler to meet than people have assumed!

@Atethehalloweenchocs people do change colostomy bags in public spaces… they are called accessible toilets.

@PineappleMel no one is asking anyone to make them happy. Half the time it’s asking people NOT to do things- DON’T touch my chair, DON’T speak over my head when you are serving me, DON’T presume I’m not fit to be out alone, DON’T stare…

Absolutely Not!!!! The social model of disability uses disabled people, special needs people, autistic people. Disabled people are disabled by society not their impairments.

Disabled people are disabled by society not their impairments.

I am very much disabled by my actual disability, not just by society.

I'd really like to be able to go to bed without worrying I might die in my sleep if my diabetes technology is unreliable or fails. That has nothing to do with society.