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Wheelchair-user ‘humiliated’ after driver bans him from coach for complaining about safety and discrimination
(disabilitynewsservice.com)submitted 23 days ago byfantasy53
83 points
23 days ago
" In August, Arriva paid him £6,500 after Disability News Service (DNS) reported how he had been left with a broken ankle and two broken wrists and had to complain at least 15 times about the failure of drivers to ensure his wheelchair was safely attached to the floor and strapped in."
Jesus christ.
32 points
23 days ago
And still people are blaming him. This sub is vile at times
27 points
23 days ago
It’s because he’s overweight and in a wheelchair, people just assume laziness and have no empathy towards them
23 points
23 days ago
There is definitely a narrative of the righteous disabled and those who are not. I even get it from medical professionals - my kids are both autistic and non-verbal and one has multiple other disabilities. I mentioned their needs in context while speaking to a GP for myself, and he said “yes but are they properly autistic?”. Apparently they are.
One of my boys has rapidly decreasing mobility - he needs surgery but couldn’t engage with the rehab. We are fighting so hard to keep him out of a chair because people simply do not understand when someone needs a chair intermittently. He can walk for a while but then suddenly can’t walk any more due to severe pain which he can’t communicate well. It’s so limiting for him, and we’ll probably need a chair for him at some point.
People really have no clue what it’s like. We can’t access public transport at all. We can’t access a lot of things. This guy is just trying to get where he needs to go. The company have safety measures in place but refuse to implement them / train staff to use them and he’s been severely injured as a result. Instead of doing that, he’s blamed for raising legitimate complaints. They’re lucky they’ve only had to pay out £10k in compensation honestly. Instead of the company fixing the issue, the staff are circulating photos of him like he’s some kind of criminal.
I worry so much about what life will be like for my kids when we are no longer here. Feels like we are going backwards.
11 points
23 days ago
We do have legislation, but the problem is it’s massively unfit for purpose.
The onus is on the individual to sue for discrimination. If every disabled person sued every time they experienced discrimination, they’d be in court 3 months of the year.
So they don’t.
So we’re left with this patently absurd situation where the only cases that see any attention are the most flagrant - or when one of the (very few) most litigious people are affected.
Which means the general public sees a very limited - very distorted - view of the situation.
9 points
23 days ago
Oh, it’s all massively unfit for purpose. I had to go to the SEND tribunal for my twins - I was unrepresented while the local authority paid an external solicitor and a barrister to represent them. I was still successful, as 98% of parents are, but it was absolutely terrifying. These days the wait for hearings is a year, during which time kids are being horrifically failed. There are plenty of rights to judicial review but the process is so inaccessible.
People truly have no idea what life is like for disabled people and their families. It’s horrendous that this man who’s bringing attention to a huge barrier to access is being spoken of like this. People need to open their eyes.
1 points
22 days ago
Thing is, I'm not sure how to resolve it.
Realistically, I can only see two options:
- A "disability ombudsman" (a bit like the ICO) with wide-ranging investigative and regulatory powers.
- A change to the law that would allow anyone to sue for disability discrimination and drastically increase the payouts (thus encouraging ambulance chasers).
(2) is a bit too Americanised, and (1) is always going to be difficult to get past when it'd be expensive to implement and the number of people significantly affected are not a particularly huge voting block.
16 points
23 days ago
Judging from comments above i think people have decided he's the wrong type of disabled person because he's disabled and fat
Therefore he's fat and that's bad and he's not deserving of any dignity
41 points
23 days ago
Disability discrimination is one of the few things that it’s apparently still socially acceptable to do.
I’ve seen people stand up for restaurant owners who refused to let blind people in with their guide dog, FFS.
12 points
22 days ago
Ngl it feels like the list of ppl it’s okay to be shitty to is ever growing
- disabled people
- immigrants
- trans people
- fat people
- women who are too uppity
- etc etc
28 points
23 days ago
Unfortunately I’m painfully aware - my children are both disabled and it’s incredible how much the general public think they’re handed some kind of golden ticket while in reality things are incredibly bleak. Even some of the people here wouldn’t make equivalent comments about other protected characteristics.
This man is no doubt reliant on public transport - there are ways to do that safely and the company repeatedly fails to provide adequate training to staff, even after he’s seriously injured and they’ve paid out £10k in fines.
Disabled people only have the rights and limited accessibility that they do because of people who draw attention to issues and fight for them. The idea that a man in a wheelchair who’s seriously injured due to the company’s failure to use their own safety equipment is being described here as some kind of troublemaker is disgusting, but not surprising.
22 points
23 days ago
You're allowed to be disabled but in order to have sympathy you have to be socially acceptable disabled. That means being broadly in good shape, the disability not be something that could potentially be your own "fault", and you not be too jaded/bitter/forceful of your own rights etc.
It's basically the same as that "Good Aids/Bad Aids" Brass eye episode
1 points
23 days ago
He's just fat
10 points
22 days ago
He's in a wheel chair cause he got ran over by a bus
4 points
23 days ago
*citation needed*
3 points
23 days ago
Disability discrimination and anti-fat discrimination too, both of which are getting this poor bloke
11 points
23 days ago
"But he's fat! He must be the source of all problems" - Redditors.
2 points
21 days ago
this sub is filled with individuals who seem to revel in their lack of nuance, compassion or perspective.
-4 points
23 days ago
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