ghoti_mhic_uait | Doggy dreams

I had a dream that Colin got me a dog for Christmas, a lovely brindled Staff cross. She had a broken leg, and he said that partly he got her because she'd be ready to go for walks at the same time I would be, but not before, and partly because noone else wanted a dog with a broken leg and she deserved some loving. She was an utterly sweet dog, it's true.

Anyway, I wanted to post something much less happy. I've been thinking about places that are accessible by wheelchair, for obvious reasons, and I am really very cross at firstly myself and secondly restaurants. I can't believe I've never noticed before how many restaurants you can wheel into, but then to get to the disabled toilets you have to squeeze between tables that are set too closely for a wheelchair to get down.

Hon. Mentions to Pizza Hut (the one on Newmarket Road, I think the one in town would be less good) and Yo! Sushi, both of whom have actually accessible toilets and seemed to consider a customer in a wheelchair as any other customer.

I'm OK, I can take my crutches and walk from table to toilet, but I'm not actually disabled.

Of course, there are probably problems for other places too, but I'm not getting out a lot. Presumably any shop I can't get round with the pram is not wheelchair accessible, but there aren't a lot of those. I hadn't previously even considered how difficult the tube is, because that's pretty easy with a pushchair. In fact, I love the tube as a woman alone with a baby/toddler, because people are generally really helpful. And trains! There are more now that have wheelchair spaces and no steps up than when I first started carting a baby around, but they're still not reliable.

How are disabled people even meant to get to work let alone do the work when they get there? I mean, we hear a lot about DLA cuts, so someone must have thought about that. Maybe we're going to have a public transport overhaul to make the DLA cuts feasible. Ooh look, a flying pig.

So you can see why I would be cross with myself for having known all this and just not thought about it, reliant on my mobile-privilege and not thinking of anyone else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The deal with trains that I have observed involves a member of station staff and a ramp at both ends. No idea how this works if at an unstaffed station. Also presumably means you need to allow extra time to find a member of staff on station arrival. And then there's all the non-accessible stations (e.g. South Bermondsey & many/most of the stations on the various South London lines).

In dog news: my dog is a brindle Staff cross! See icon. We think some of her parentage is lurcher, and in fact there's probably a several of other things in there too.

Ah yes, that's a good point and one I hadn't considered. Also, cute dog :)

You book the member of staff in advance and go to a designated place in the station to meet them when you're catching the train, but this means you still have to leave a bit of extra time in case they're late or they couldn't fulfil the booking but helpfully forgot to tell you.

When you're arriving on the train, they're supposed to come to the carriage for your reserved seat to find you, but if it's a kind of disabled where it's better to crutches down the steps and use a station wheelchair for the platform bits, sometimes they don't get there until the train's arrived so you have to get out and stand there holding onto the train for support until they do. (Or stay in the train but you might end up in Scotland if the wheelchair-dude is happily standing by the wrong carriage waiting for you and never comes to find you.)

If it's an unstaffed station you just can't use it, you have to go to the next one and get a taxi back (ow ££), though if it's one that is unstaffed outside working hours and you say you're arriving shortly after the time they all go home, often somebody will stick around to help you because they're just nice.

That's interesting, thankyou

Hmm. I wonder what happens if someone travels beyond their ticket's validity because the requested assistance didn't turn up and they were unable to leave the train.

It might end up in court. Or on Fark tagged "asinine". Or both.

Oh, wow. Thanks for the description of how someone would have to manage public transit. Having to rely on the staff not only adds time, but there's also the discomfort of needing to rely on someone else. A missed communication (or bad attitude) could leave someone in a bad situation.

On having to pay for a taxi...is there no reimbursement system, or an alternative bus system between stations? In my city (Chicago, IL, U.S.) you can either arrange for the "para-transit" van (which is relatively reliable) or if it's past service hours or there is some other problem that means a taxi is the only option, the public transit system has to reimburse you part of the cost.

Often the van is more expensive than a taxi anyway, as I discovered when looking into using it to get to physio.

Oh, wow. The para-transit I was talking about is either the same price as a regular bus ride, or free when it's a situation of a temporary problem (like the lift being repaired, or something).

Learning things like this reminds me to be grateful for what we've got here. The system isn't perfect at all, and it's hard as hell to get any kind of support (and when you do get it, it's on the basis of making you totally dependent instead of maintaining independence) - but there are a few things that are well-handled here. Chicago is one of the most accessible cities in the U.S....but you've been here, so as you can imagine there are still problems.

To be fair, it works out more economical if you use it more often, but you have to pay a registration fee and I would have had to take J, and pay for her.

Nope - that's ostensibly what Disability Living Allowance was for :/

Oh, for the love of - !

I *hate* that sort of attitude - the idea of just throwing money at the problem. First off, it's never *enough* money, and second, it lets people continue with the whole attitude of "well, most of the world can manage, so pull up your bootstraps and move along." Yuck. My deepest empathy.

It's not my disability, it's those of various friends and family, I just know what it entails because that's the reason I visit them rather than them visiting me! Plus the concrete steps to my house, lack of scooter parking, big hill, etc etc.

Ah, okay. I don't have a disability either - although I learned Braille as a child, I regained most of my functional sight. But I hear you on being aware because of issues with other people. My family, my friends, my students - I wince every time we have to go somewhere because of the difficulties.

Doggy dreams

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