Sorry, another question - just wondering if anyone has a way of handling this?
Took me nearly an hour to get DT2 home from hospital today because I had to let 3 buses go past due to the wheelchair / buggy area being full.
When the fourth arrived, there was a prom with a tiny baby taking up most of the area on one side, and an elderly lady with a stick sitting on one of the fold down chairs on the other side, meaning I couldn’t fit in there either. Luckily the lady with the baby very helpfully turned her buggy around so we could squish in, but the lady sitting opposite made a comment about how I better not obstruct her as she was getting off soon (we actually got off before she did).
Once we parked up I could see the looks (I know people are wondering why a child of nearly 3 is staying in his buggy, rather than getting out and me folding it down). As we were getting into position I did apologise and say “I’m sorry, he can’t see properly so it’s not safe to take him out”.
He has ASD, a visual impairment and a medical issue that means I need to be able to react quickly if he becomes unwell with testing / treatment. I can’t make him sit on my knee or in a chair, and I definitely could not take him out of the buggy and keep him safe while dismantling and folding it.
I don’t know if we will need to use a special needs buggy when he’s bigger, depends on how he’s doing I guess, but for now he’s still in a regular buggy. Obviously people look at him and just see a healthy child, but if I were able to take him out of the buggy we could have been home 45 minutes earlier.
I feel like we need some kind of disabled badge for his buggy or something! Does anyone have any tips for dealing with this? I would never want to kick anyone off a bus for our benefit, but I’m sure that all the people taking up the buggy spaces on the first few buses weren’t in the same situation and perhaps one of them could have collapsed their buggy if requested. But I don’t feel I can request that as he’s just in a regular buggy and looks “normal”
So far I’ve just waited patiently when this happens, but if anyone has any suggestions I’d really appreciate them :)