Pronouns trump disability

[Gettingbysomehow]

I've been sent on a course at one of the universities, I train students in the NHS.
This morning at the crack of dawn I drove two and a half hours just to find there were no available disabled parking spaces.
Nobody could help me and said I'd have to park in an overflow carpark 15 minutes walk away. I can't walk that far on crutches.
There was no information whatsoever in the course information pack about disabled access or disabled parking.
As a result I had no access to the university and had to drive home again, so I have emailed requesting my course fee and 5 hour round trip petrol fees to be reimbursed.
I went through the course information pack again once I got home, no mention of disabled access whatsoever.
We had been asked for our lunch preferences and whether we had any allergies.
We were asked for our pronouns and there there were two full pages of guff on why pronouns are important to us...two full pages!! Accompanied by jolly photos of students with pink and blue hair.
Yet the disabled person is forced to go home because there is no access information - and no available parking spaces, we were not asked to specify disability beforehand. I need to park right outside the university.
Im absolutely hopping mad that when I got there they could find nothing for me.
I drove round every car park looking for a space but there was nothing within my walking distance ability.
Im absolutely disgusted. Why the hell do I need to read two pages of pronouns information?

Lately FWR seems to have attracted some really odd posters.

This came up on another thread that was asking for support, information.

Most posters tried to provide info etc., but their were a couple who seemed determined to either say it was all a wind up or the person concerned, well actually her daughter, was at fault.

Why bother to post if you dont have anything helpful, or even think the problem is of the OP's own making.

Would hate to see FWR dumbed down to the usual SM adversarial slanging matches.

If anymore pop up, just ignore.

And please dont give up on making a complaint.

Sadly it may not help you on this occasion, but will make the organisers realise they have obligations. All too often disability is sidelined or pushed to the back of the queue.

I'm totally with you on the pronoun stuff, but if you were driving 5 hours to be at the course, would it have been possible for you to park further out and then order a taxi? I appreciate that you might have been a little late, but still worth it?

That's shocking, OP. What has the world come to when personality traits and things people invent about themselves are considered more important than catering to genuine needs?

Then i dont get the gist of your argument here. I am in no way the pronoun police, i hate it but its relevance is zero in your argument. They referenced it in their information but so what!

You say they didnt give any details in their information about parking. You say you DID call and ask about disabled parking. So its just a simple case of them not having enough facilities for disabled parking and not making some kind of back up plan to 'secure' a closer space for someone who has called to let them know they wouldnt be able to cope if a space wasnt available.

As i said, its a communication issue, nothing to do with some random info they gave about pronouns that these days, less and less people give a shit about

I did put a complaint in and got my money back but no apology whatsoever. They basically said we have 5 disabled spaces (5 for a big campus) and if they are full tough luck. No refund of petrol for a 5 hour round trip. I asked why there was no disability information in the course pack no answer at all do I'll be taking this further. I found their reply to indicate that they don't care about disability at all.

Have you talked to whoever sent you on the course, & can you get them to add extra weight to your complaint?

So when you told them you needed a space right outside what did they say?

@Gettingbysomehow

Sorry for your experience. That's a real kick in the teeth moment and from what you've said they don't seem to care at all. Maybe look into where they get their funding and complain there. It's easy to ignore complaints internally. The person responsible decides they did nothing wrong and that's the end of it. External complaints from partner and funding organisations are much more difficult to deal with. They end up on different desks, usually higher up the chain, the original person who decided they did nothing wrong gets a lot more pressure put on them.
Look for help from organisations and charities that help with disabled rights. Ask them if they can help you make the university more receptive and responsive to your needs. Once letters start pouring in from other organisations questioning their polices I'm sure you will find that all of a sudden they do know how to pull their head out of their ass. Universities have boards, look up who is on the board of the university that failed you and write to them directly. Tell them about your experience and how it made you feel. Tell them how you've been handled since, and how that makes you feel now. Make them take notice.

As sad as this is - disability isn't new and sexy. People like the new and fashionable stuff. We all know what's in vogue right now.......

Yes I have a meeting with her next week. Im on annual leave this week so Ill discuss it then. They want an explanation why I didn't attend because its a course that is essential to my role.

I do hope your meeting goes well and they recognise that they too had a responisibililty. ie they are aware of you and your needs, and should have quesitoned before booking that you could be accommodated.

If they did and organisers didn't reserve a spot for you then they really have failed.

If the person who did the booking didn't ask then they are almost as much to blame because they didn't check that the course said to be essential was accessible.

Hope you have had an enjoyable time off and feel ready to take them on.