Please do not feel you have been singled out for a rolocking! This type of thing happens to to me all the time, and no doubt to countless others! It just happened that Sunday was the last day of our holiday. A lovely week, filled with kindness, thought, generosity... and fabulous customer service. You spoilt that joy! I seek nothing more than to spare another passenger humiliation. Yesterday, with a little sadness, we made our way to the Shuttle on our way home after a magnificent holiday in France. We’ve been passengers since 1994. Having endured the vagaries of sea travel for many years. Going under the sea has brought speed to what could be an unpredictable journey. I digress...
We followed instructions we’d been given countless times, following the wheelchair symbol to board. Call me a turnip, but I’d always thought this was done to facilitate evacuation in case of a fire. However, it would be nice if it also made access to a toilet possible… I’m selfish I know. Because loading had already started, we were loaded last and into the single volume part of the train which was only half full. So there we were boarded and ready, when a member of the onboard team walked up and shouted through our window the usual stuff about hand-brakes and windows, followed by “... SPECIAL NEEDS?” "No" said my husband, well versed in disability equality. Living with a Disability Equality specialist has its benefits - if only very occasionally. While it is perceived as a niche specialism I know, I do think it should be delivered to all workers who serve .... PEOPLE! A few minutes later, another team member appeared at our window. ”You do have special needs” she shouted “you have a wheelchair!" "No, I think you’ll find my wife is disabled therefore has access requirements!” “You have special needs!!!!" she barked at us again!
The multiple levels of wrong could take some unpicking here. I thank you if you keep reading! I’m not getting paid for this lesson, so I’ll only share the basics:
a. a disabled person’s needs are not special
b. organisations have a duty to make their services accessible to all
c. IT'S RUDE TO SHOUT - KINDNESS IS FREE FFS!
"Do you have any access requirements?” is no doubt be the phrase this person was reaching for. "Do you have any access needs?" at a push, would be meh, but ok.
What irritates, no angers, was the way it was implied that I should do as I was told. I was treated like a child, told what to say. Please understand, disabled people‘s needs are not special, however the way they are met may require accommodation. It’s being human that entitles disabled people to accommodation. This entitlement does not require having to justify impairment(s), discrimination or oppression. [As for being disabled, well that’s another blog] It’s thanks to human rights that the disabled population are as entitled to having their needs met as anyone else. Sadly, under the law organisations only have a duty to provide reasonable adjustments. This often, does little to address the systemic discrimination and vast inequality that is imposed more widely on the population. It does mean more accessible service for some, but more often than not it ignores notions of equity and fairness that help deliver on well-being and equivalent satisfaction. The law should ensure access to all the services: a welcome, flat access, toilets with space and hoists etc.... I would add respectful language to that list. Indeed, changing the way we say things costs nothing and is an immediately available option!!!! From that perspective, a professional opinion, I hope that the team members that bellowed at us were under pressure and could not remember their training. Sadly, I fear, they hadn’t received any at all. My anger is not at the mistake, but at the way we were told off - I was told to say I had ‘special needs’. Being shouted at is shaming, and that was what I found offensive!!
Had the person received quality Disability Equality Training I would expect them to understand the difference between disability, impairment, disability discrimination, and ableism- the oppression. The later plays out in many ways, it is different to other -isms, but is expressed in language in a similar ways.
If you think I’m petty, imagine being told off daily, it is draining!!
Why do I think I can speak with authority on this? There are many books on this subject, I happen to have written one of them! I do admit to know nothing about astro-physics or lamb castration, but I do about disability equality, it is my area of expertise!!!
Thank you for reading this far, I appreciate your effort to understand my feelings.
