Disabled Facilities: Do You Abuse Them? I Bet You Have! – Disabled facilities are there to help disabled people achieve the same daily tasks able-bodied people take for granted. By abusing these facilities, you are preventing us from living our daily life as you expect to live yours…..Without fighting for your basic human rights!!
Disabled Toilets: How Many Times Have You Used One?
My life as a wheelchair user is difficult enough with the barriers I face on a daily basis. Shops I’m unable to enter due to lack of access, card readers too high/too far back to reach when paying for my shopping, people leaning on my wheelchair like I’m some sort of leaning post, derogatory comments etc, the list truly is endless.
So when I need to use the toilet and an able-bodied person walks out of the disabled toilet, I’m angry, why? Well, one of the reasons is I suffer from IBS, it is one of the most unpredictable illnesses I suffer from. The urgency one feels when having an attack is frightening, so when you are made to wait for probably the only disabled toilet available and a non-disabled person walks out, why wouldn’t I be furious?
I have been close more times than I care to mention to having an “accident” because someone’s selfishness has made me wait for a disabled toilet unnecessarily. Who wants that? I certainly don’t, especially when it could have been avoided!
Changing places toilets
Changing places toilets are important to many disabled people as they have a changing table for those that need assistance going to the toilet. This is obviously much more preferable than having to lie down on dirty, wet, urine-stained flooring, which is what has to happen if a changing places toilet is not available or present. You really would be disgusted and angry if it was your child or family member who had to lie on this kind of filthy flooring.
Most standard Men & Ladies toilets have more than one cubicle/urinal for use. To use and take away what is normally the only disabled toilet available is not only selfish but inconsiderate to those of us that have medical reasons for “needing” to use a toilet urgently.
Please in future, be more mindful of which toilet you use.
Disabled Parking Bays: You Will Only Be Two Minutes, So It’s OK!
Disabled Facilities: Do You Abuse Them? I Bet You Have! – I’m fed up with the number of times I’ve been told, “I’ll only be a minute”, “I’m just popping to cash machine, I won’t be long”!! I don’t care how long you will be!!! IT IS ILLEGAL to park in a disabled parking bay without a blue badge. Currently, the average fine for parking illegally in an enforceable disabled person parking bay is £30 which can rise to a maximum of £1000. Personally, I don’t believe that’s much of a deterrent!!
Rule 241 of the Highway Code says:
You MUST NOT park in parking spaces reserved for specific users, such as Blue Badge holders, residents or motorcycles unless entitled to do so. Source: www.gov.uk – Highway Code
Parking in a disabled bay illegally can mean the difference between me completing my task, shopping, Dr’s/hospital appointment, attending a meeting or having to turn around and go back home again. There have been numerous occasions where I have had to go home without being able to do whatever it was I set out to do and that is the key here, not being able to do what I want/need to do!
Your selfishness and inconsideration have a detrimental effect on my daily life, you can not begin to understand the strain my body goes through when I have to get in/out of my wheelchair to get in/out of the car. Not once but 4 times just to do one trip!! It can take up to 2 days for my body to recover, so no, I am not tolerant of your behaviour……Why should I be!!
I wonder how tolerant you would be about these inconsiderate actions if I were the one telling you that “I will only be a minute, just popping to the cash machine”, or “I’m just dropping this letter off”? If this was a daily occurrence in your life, how accepting would you be?
Wheelchair Space on Buses: You Didn’t Fight For Them, Yet Happy to Prevent Those That Did From Using Them!
Well, where do I start with this one? Oh yes, disabled people fought and fought for these spaces, year after year, after year until finally, we succeeded. Then, along came buggy pushers and thought it quite acceptable to use these spaces when a wheelchair user needs it, you know, the ones we disabled people fought for! The space has that lovely big blue sticker stating priority wheelchair area. Exactly!!!
Where were all the buggy pushers when we were fighting for this space? Hmmm? exactly! Yet now the hard work has been done and the wheelchair space is now implemented, you are happy to take advantage of the wheelchair space provided for wheelchair users!!
Now don’t get me wrong, I really have NO objection to buggy pushers using this space, IF ONLY YOU WOULD MOVE WHEN NEEDED BY A WHEELCHAIR USER!!!!! The problem is that quite a lot of you buggy pushers REFUSE blankly to move……The signage is very clear in it’s meaning!! You are more than welcome to use the wheelchair space if NOT NEEDED by a wheelchair user. If it is needed, you MUST MOVE. It really isn’t rocket science you know.
It really does infuriate me when this happens as we wheelchair users only have ONE place we can use on a bus, buggy pushers have other options available to them if they so wish. You are basically taking away our right to travel as able-bodied travellers would expect to travel.
Legal Battle
Mr Paulley successfully sued FirstGroup at Leeds County Court for unlawful discrimination against him due to his disability. However, First Group appealed and the case was finally heard by the Supreme Court. On 18 January 2017, it made a landmark ruling that bus companies must end ‘first come, first served’ policies and do more to cater for wheelchair users. Read more: Equality and Human Right Commission
Conclusion
At the end of the day, like it or not, disabled people are not looking for “special treatment/services”, we just want to be able to live our lives as independently as possible and that does mean adjustments need to be made to standardised services.
Simple example. If your vision is not 20/20, what do you do? You visit an optician to get your eyesight tested, yes? If it turns out that you need glasses, you get them. So why should it be any different for someone who’s legs do not work to not be allowed to use an adapted toilet? How would you feel if you were told you couldn’t have/wear the glasses you “needed” to perform your daily tasks???? Think about that one!!
Disabled people are told daily, they can’t have this, can’t use that all because some of you are too selfish and self-important to even try to understand why we “need” these adaptions.
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About Cazbarr
Cazbarr is a full-time wheelchair user, who was born with a rare disability called Arthrogryposis. Primarily she blogs about her disability, her experiences holidaying as a full-time wheelchair user, along with honest products & service reviews.
If you would like to work with Cazbarr, just drop her line on the Contact page.
2 thoughts on “Disabled Facilities: Do You Abuse Them? I Bet You Have!”
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Fantastic post You say what’s on lots of peoples minds
The amount of times I’ve done battle with people parked especially at the local co-op in disabled days. And the abuse that I’ve got from people. Able-bodied people with no blue badge parked in a disabled bay, eating chocolate or scratching scratch cards. And when you tell them it’s a disabled bay, you just get abuse. Ask if you’re a parking inspector and I’ve even been threatened twice. The worst thing was on one occasion. It was a lady who works at the co-op in co-op uniform sat parked in a disabled day. I’ve Complained to the co-op several times and ask them why they don’t go out and enforce the disabled bay policy and all you get is it’s not my job.
But it’s not just at the co-op. It’s in many places. Disabled bays are abused.
Disabled people are given the rough end of the stick everywhere whether it’s financially with benefits or with facilities in places.
I’ve desperately wanted to start my own business from home to try and give me some independence off benefits and some self-respect as I really struggle to leave the house due to my disabilities. However, there’s absolutely no financial support or assistance available and you can’t get a business loan because you disabled and on benefits and have no provable income. I wanted to start a florists and offer other disabled people a chance to learn floristry and work within it. However, it’s not being possible to arrange any kind of funding to launch it despite finding an ideal disabled, friendly premises. Anyway we all have to dream I suppose
Life for the disabled in the UK is not an easy one.
Thank you for an amazing blog!