Disabled seat on buses

[Spidey66]

So about 10 days ago I tripped over a step and broke my arm. I had a cast on for a week, then it was removed but I still have a sling and am in considerable pain.

I took a brief trip to the high street on the bus for cash today. On the return I got on the bus and sat on the disabled seat nearest the driver. As i was on the inside, my injured left arm was against the window so I felt safe as I feel anxious about others bumping into me, or losing my balance at an emergency stop. I feel I am entitled to use the disabled spot as I have a temporary disability, which given I have a sling is obvious.

An older woman sat next to me on the outside of the seat then a much older lady got on and there didn't appear to be a seat for her. I felt dead guilty (damn you Catholic childhood!) and ended up explaining to her why I wasn't able to stand up for her. As it was, she was fine with my explanation and the lady sat next to me offered her the seat.

So is it is OK for a middle age woman to use a disabled seat because of a broken arm? Noone on the bus made me feel bad except myself but I don't know their thoughts!

It's not a disabled seat..

True, the seat is able to perform its role. Thanks for the correction.

Ah, here come the wilfully dim.

How would you describe the seat?

@Newname211 on TfL buses they are called “Priority Seats”.
They are priority seats for those “less able to stand”. That’s how I would describe it because that’s what it is.
That’s what the OP was sat in.
I am actually on a London bus right now. This driver seems in a hurry. Doors closed and driving off before people have even beeped their cards let alone sat down.

This is exactly where I was going with my point.

It seems as though the previous poster is working off the assumption that “disabled” means unable to perform their function.

In which case, someone with a broken arm is surely disabled.

Therefore, able to sit on a disabled seat.

Except the full thing is irrelevant as the seat isn’t even called a disabled seat.

I have asked MNHQ to edit the title to clarify it was indeed a priority seat.

I love how MN are the judges about who gets to use them though. God forbid we're expected to have some common sense and allowed to make our own judgement call as to when we need a little assistance.

I'm permanently disabled after a stroke that affects my balance and vision. I wouldn't think twice about someone with a sling being in a priority seat. If you don't have full use of your limbs you need to sit down quickly on a bus, that's what those seats are for surely?

@Newname211 ah got what you meant 🙂
@Spidey66 hope your arm is getting better. Sit where you need to sit. Don’t feel guilty 💐

According to MN it is better not to sit down as soon as possible, if you have a broken arm while travelling on a bus, but to meander to the further seats while the bus sets off, causing you to fall on your broken arm, screaming loudly in pain, thus making it necessary for the bus driver to screech to a halt, and panicking fellow travellers to ring for police and ambulance, uncertain as to what is happening! The bus then has to wait until the situation is resolved and the person with a broken arm is on her way to hospital to have it reset. Everybody on the bus is upset and late, and the bus driver is in a foul mood. We'll done Mumsnet🤣

@queenMab99 😂😂

Fortunately, it being Muswell Hill, it was dealt with in a polite, middle class, Muswell Hill fashion.

I love how MN are the judges about who gets to use them though. God forbid we're expected to have some common sense and allowed to make our own judgement call as to when we need a little assistance.

There have been some very viscous and ugly replies on this thread OP and honestly it is really shameful.

You’ve been accused of having an “owchie” and now you think you can invade spaces for the people who need those seats. A broken arm is not an owchie it’s a fucking broken limb. If you fall then that could be you with chronic pain and complications for a long time or even for the rest of your life.
“Why are you so worried and why are you moaning it’s only temporary while I suffer every day of my life?” Etc… so you should just not take care of yourself then?
There is no need for the bitterness towards you.

I agree totally. I don’t understand why so many posters have been so nasty and unsympathetic in their replies. Hopefully, they are not this horrible in real life, and are just keyboard warriors.

Isn't the above true for everyone though regardless of disability

@lottiegarbanzo I mean all of us should have the right to safe and accessible public transport but legally are we considered to have that right ? Because if someone vulnerable like the OP isn't considered to have that right then surely none of us are.

Self care is self obsession? No wonder the UK has such high rates of significant emotional and mental health needs, if we are not allowed to care for our advocate for our own needs.

Some very nasty replies on this thread.

I wouldn't think twice about someone sitting in a priority seat with a broken limb, especially in London buses that start moving ridiculously quickly and lurch around a lot. Often on London buses the seats further back are higher up and probably difficult to navigate with only one arm. I don't know what's wrong with some people on this forum.

Nor me. I think some posters on here have had too much sun/too much bubbly

Ha ha ha. Imagining how safe and easy travel would seem in London if bus drivers did that!

No, it doesn't happen, at least not often. I have once tried asking a bus driver to wait until we had sat down and he agreed, but set off when we were just about to sit.

You have to be by the doors before the bus stops usually, to avoid missing your stop.

YANBU is to use a seat that would prevent harm coming to you. I am visibly physically disabled and I do actually need priority seats and right now, you have a need too!
That’s all there is too it really.
If I got on the bus and you were in the seat, I’d ask a nearby person in a non priority seat if I could please sit down.

Op you were absolutely fine to sit where you did.
Your mistake was asking on here where obviously unless you've got a severe and permanent disability you've no right to sit in a disabled seat.

Oh get a grip, I was using the term OP used and you knew exactly what I meant. Whatever you call the seat it’s for someone who needs it and I’m sorry but having a temporary arm injury but two fully functioning legs and another fully functioning arm does not, in my opinion, require a priority seat. Everyone is fine to disagree with each other but frankly if OP wants everyone to agree then an internet message board is really not the place to go.

Hmm I think the OP posted on the wrong topic. She needed the IKIANBU topic -
I Know I Am Not Being Unreasonable

If anything she seems more convinced of her reasonableness than when she started the thread. 😅

I can only assume the heat is making aibu a bit grouchier than usual

I can’t say I blame her tbh. Some of these posts seem to be saying that she can’t use it because she’s not disabled but an elderly woman (with no known disability) should use it. Age isn’t a disability (and it’s rather ageist to make that assumption). Others are treating priority seats (which are for anyone with a need including injury) as if you need a blue badge to sit there. The ones telling her she needs to risk injury (even though further injury will likely make the OP actually disabled under the EA) or stay at home. And then there’s the ‘I’m more disabled than you’ ones as if it’s all some kind of competition.

Honestly some of these posters are not just bonkers - they are dam right nasty and vicious.