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Friday 6/7/07 My boss came in after lunch telling us how disgraceful it was for a young mother of twins, to be ejected from her wheelchair reserved space on the accessible low floor bus, in favour of a wheelchair user. It seemed, at first, to be a real problem of King Solomon proportions, and I really wanted to hear viewer's opinions. So the radio was tuned into liveline (yes Friday afternoons in work can be that dead!) and the tone seemed to draw this emotive picture (which I have no doubt will lead to a big compo claim) of this shattered young mother of two nine week old twins, who having paid her fare, was callously thrown off (in the pouring rain?) in favour of this lazy, wheelchair user with a superiority complex. For me as a wheelchair user, it all comes down to options and choice. That woman could have gotten another bus or (heaven forbid) had to fork out for a taxi (the money I have had to fork out for taxi's over the years could finance a small country, and finding an accessible cab is sometimes akin to finding the proverbial needle). When the mother came back on to ask how, as we are all supposed to be treated equally, that this man ( what another caller condescendingly referred to as a "wheelchair person" which speaks volumes about her outdated views) was given priority over her, I thought to myself that the tables have turned, and that this woman has had a small taste of the difficulties experienced by wheelchair users on a daily basis. The world is many things, but it sure aint equal……..yet! Thank you to
CIE and the bus conductor for moving us a smaller step in that right
direction! Of course, it was a difficult call, and raises a few
awkward questions, but whether or not the guy in the chair could
have waited, or if some of the other people on the bus could have
given up their seats to help out, the fact remains that accessible
public transport in Ireland, is still few and far between, and surely
it is a good sign that wheelchair users are engaging more in society,
and no longer content to wallow quietly behind four walls.
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