Restaurant claimed to be wheelchair accessible

[MobilityCat]

Last night I went out for a meal with friends. I first called the restaurant and asked if it was wheelchair friendly and they said it was.
When I arrived I found that there was a step at the entrance so I waited until someone came to the door.
They asked me if I had a reservation and I said yes.
They took me along the pavement and around the corner, then down a dark lane then asked me to wait while they cleared four large metal bins away from a path lead to the restaurant back entrance.
I then entered the door into the kitchen and navigated through it into the restaurant.
Considering that it was a single step at the front of of the restaurant the could have provided a little portable ramp. After my meal I had to go out the same way and It didn't feel at all wheelchair friendly.

Sorry to sound offhand.

For various reasons I completely understand your frustrations and disappointment. Accessibility - or rather the lack of it - coupled with a generally ignorant and indifferent attitude are why it's fair to say the disabled are second class citizens in the UK.

No. It is not acceptable. If they had warned the OP that the access was via the rear of the building, fair enough. But in terms of safety and emergencies - this is not acceptable for a business that says it has wheelchair access. You need to revise your expectations.

The Ritz does this. The one in London. You get taken past the bins. Insane.

Thank you for your kind words and support

don't be daft. You will be singing another tune when your world shrinks beyond belief and if you mention accessibility everyone just shrugs and talks over your head to whoever is with you.

OP phoned and they said "yes" to the question about accessibility. What do you think they should have said? and done?

What’s your question here? Surely you just let them know the issue and leave an appropriate review online?

presumably the question is: are you all ok with people being treated like this?

I say this with all the kindness I can. Just because you are content with crumbs, doesn't mean the rest of us won't ask for a seat at the table. As others have said, it doesn't count as wheelchair accessible if you need significant amounts of help to get in. Partially accessible, at best - and it would still be partially accessible with a ramp, just much better. Businesses need to get used to making this information clearly available on their websites. We (and I include you in this) shouldn't have to ring ahead everywhere we go. We can be as pragmatic or frustrated as we like, but nothing is going to change if we all just quietly accept it.
I have gone from being mostly a rollator user to mostly a powerchair user. Basically, with the rollator someone else could lift it and help me over the odd step. With the wheelchair, even though I can still get out and take a few steps, it's too heavy for someone else to lift over the odd step.

agree @WinterCoatsHelp - it should run along the lines of TUAG on the trains is supposed to run. (and i am aware that isn't brilliant, so that needs to be improved at all)

Given the massive growth in the DEI industry, it baffles me that disability exclusion is still such a huge thing.

Businesses need to get used to making this information clearly available on their websites.

As I said, the "accessibility" statement on websites invariably refers to the website, not the premises.

but nothing is going to change if we all just quietly accept it.

The BBC has run more than one story of their own reporter having to crawl like a snake off a plane because ... well because.

And Dame Tanni Grey-Thompsons repeated problems just getting a fucking train have been well publicised.

Yet here we are.

I am an old dog. And I submit that underneath all the sunflowers and statements things have gone backwards as far as the integration of the less able into society compared to the 80s and 90s.

I am an old dog. And I submit that underneath all the sunflowers and statements things have gone backwards as far as the integration of the less able into society compared to the 80s and 90s.

I agree with you.

Given the massive growth in the DEI industry, it baffles me that disability exclusion is still such a huge thing.

It's cheaper to dish out badges to staff than build a ramp.

A few years ago, a new Costa opened near me. It had a ramp inside the store. After I did some digging, it emerged the ramp had been intended solely for the purpose of wheeling in pallets from the outside to the stores and had been expressly forbidden for use by wheelchairs.

Says it all really.

That got sorted, of course. But it's a grain of sand on a beach of ignorance and prejudice.

And just when the disabled thought they had their toilet needs vaguely addressed, a whole new cohort of able but spoiled activists emerged to steal them back.

Then there are wheelchair spaces on buses.

My, this has turned into a long post. Probably quicker to list things that are a doodle for the disabled. That would fit in a margin.

I don't understand how anyone can think YABU or that it is in any way acceptable for a paying customer to wait around and have to be wheeled around the back of a restaurant and through the kitchen.

I have had so many of the same problems when trying to access places with my wheelchair-bound DS. One recent occasion when we had a stay in a luxury hotel, we couldn't use the grand entrance that all the other paying guests were using...had to be wheeled around the back to the tradesmen's entrance and negotiate the delivery trollies etc. So we got a second class experience in comparison to able bodied guests; funnily enough, none of these establishments ever think that our money is second class though.

No, experiences like this are not acceptable. But as is evident on here, many people feel that the disabled should put up and shut up and be grateful for any concessionary crumbs that are thrown their way. Frankly I feel that things are getting worse not better, and much of the progress of recent years is being reversed. That is all down to people's attitudes.

Frankly I feel that things are getting worse not better, and much of the progress of recent years is being reversed.

But there are so many disability confident employers ! They've been on courses and got certificates and everything ! That's why it makes sense for a fully able bodied 20 something to tell a 55 year old who has used a wheelchair for 35 years that they need to "think positive".

Ever been told you are the "wrong type of disabled" ? That's an amusing day out.

Disgusted with anyone who voted aibu. Especially the poster who says she will soon be in a wheelchair.

OP should have been told that there was a step at the front, and what the access arrangements are.

They really need to get a ramp.

It is undignified to be wheeled round the back, through bins and staff areas. And it means there isn't accessibility because accessibility is meant to mean the disabled person doesn't need to ask for accommodations.

I've been 'walking' this journey for four and a half years. Jaded doesn't even cut it.

If a building is listed, then it's listed. Fine. But when OP, or any of us, call the business and ask about their accessibility, they should 👏🏻actually 👏🏻 tell 👏🏻 us 👏🏻 the 👏🏻 truth.

There is an app, I think it's called Sociability, creates by disabled people, and more of us should be using it and leaving information where we can, so that others can see accurately whether somewhere is OK or not. Because we can't trust the ableds to do it.

It is undignified to be wheeled round the back, through bins and staff areas.

Fuck dignity. It's dangerous.

It is both. I have been in many situations where I have felt nervous for DS safety, and in establishments and service providers that regard themselves as respectable and would pride themselves on not putting customers at risk - even though, frankly, they do. But only the disabled kind, so they evidently don't count.

Well said.

That's really awful and you definitely should give a review to warn others about this.

Thank you for your heads up on the Sociability app, it's a very good tool.