I went shopping to the Iceland / Asda site in Llandudno Junction yesterday with my severely disabled wife. All the dedicated disabled parking bays were blocked by young drivers parking across the bays rather than in them. Because of their actions I was unable to access a bay where I could open the car doors wide enough in order to help my wife into her wheelchair so that we could shop together.
I approached some of the youngsters and explained my difficulties (not in the most polite terms, I must admit) their response was that they do it all the time in order to Stop the lazy scrounging spazers from parking. I complained in both shops. Iceland sympathised but didn't think they could do anything. Asda said you can't blame them!
When Iain Duncan Smith began his investigations into barriers to work, he had no greater supporter than me. Disability isn't and should never be a barrier to work, people with some of the most severe disabilities can work and should be encouraged to do so and government, at all levels, should do their utmost to enable people who live with disabilities to work within their abilities.
But somewhere along the line the message has been distorted the disabled are to blame! If they don't work it's their own lazy fault, they deserve to be bullied and ridiculed, nothing should be done to protect them or enable them. They are just bloody scroungers and the kids blocking their parking spaces in the Junction were right to oppress them!
Guto Bebb MP, David Jones MP, Janet Finch Saunders AM, Darren Miller AM are you proud of your legacy to people who live with a disability? Or are you going to do something positive to stop the disability prejudice that your party propaganda has caused?
That's a bit of a jump, to blame the Tories for what I would have thought was a pretty localised act of yobbery.
ReplyDeleteI bet we both know findividuals who abuse the disabled parking spaces though. Chaps with a disabled partner who use the space when they're on their own. People with motability cars who are quite happy to walk to the local pub of an evening.
People were angry about this abuse long before IDS took an interest, the actions of those youths was weird though, who were they?
I suspect that supermarkets who provide 'parents with children' parking spaces have devalued the provision of 'disabled' parking spaces. The former is a marketing gimmick, the latter an essential provision to allow disabled people to shop. I always look at those people carriers and 4*4s with families who park in the extra wide 'parents with children' spaces and realise why are their kids are so adverse to walking to the main entrance. Partner is a blue badge holder, and we often worry about using such wide space provision due to all the 'disabled' spaces being occupied by arses and boy racers. We wonder will we get caught out because I don't have a fat child in the vehicle.
ReplyDeleteA little while ago, my wife (a badge holder) came out of hospital and after a few days I took her out for the first time and after a struggle found a disabled space, (everywhere else was parked solid) but it was occupied by a car not displaying a disabled badge. I very politely asked the driver to move, my wife needing the space. He was abusive, obnoxious and rude about my wife’s ‘apparent’ disability. I followed him into a dry cleaners and told him, as he hid behind his wife, that I would ‘discuss’ the matter outside. I was fully prepared to punch his face in and suffer the consequences. Just then, a Police car was in the traffic outside and I told the officer what was going on. He sorted the driver out and it saved me from a conviction for assault. A traffic warden was nearby all the time; after this I spoke to her; she said that she had seen the driver park in the disabled bay but knew the driver of old and hated dealing with him because he was intimidating. I can categorically say that I would be fully prepared to punch out the drivers face in and take the consequences. I’m sick of the abuse of disabled spaces.
ReplyDeleteOh, and just to add, it's bollocks bringing Tory politics into this, the abusers are just low life, if they are in a Corsa or a Rolls, it's nothing whatsoever to do with politics.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, anomie for bringing "Tory politics" into this but I have little doubt that Tory Politics has increased the levels of "disability hatred" that I have encountered in the last couple of years and the growing lack of interest by the proper authorities when such matters are complained about.
ReplyDeleteI know that the individuals I named would share my disgust at the behaviour of the so called "yobs", but they have to accept that this sort of behaviour is one of the (unintended, perhaps)consequences of their benefits policies and do something to address it
Sorry Alwyn ap Huw, but in 25 years experience I'm now finding a slightly more tolerant approach in general towards disability and people understanding the needs of disabled people.
ReplyDeleteThere will always be the mindless cretins, always have been, always will be, but in general, I think things are very slightly and slowly getting better. The problems come from those 'swinging the lead' to get disability payments and cars, there's someone like that on every estate, then they get caught, filmed playing football or working and it reflects on people with a real disability. Those low-life deserve ostracising from the system. The debate continues..........
That's the problem. The improvement is very slight and very slow.After leaving school, I did not encounter obvious episodes of disability hatred for many years. But since the turn of the millennium, I have endured about five, some of which were very ugly and left me shaking. Whether this is fortuitous coincidence or the phenomenon really is on the rise, I can't say,.but I've no doubt the Conservative government has added fuel to it.
ReplyDeleteI would boycott Asda if I were you, Alwyn. It's a policy that had some success in the Civil Rights era.
I would suggest though that this problem existed in the past but was just invisible. Aged sixteen, I asked a doctor if he cold do anything to make me present as able bodied. My schoolmates bullied me. He said, "No they don't, bach.."It was just inconceivable to him that this behaviour could exist. Maybe he had a rude awakening after he developed motor neurone disease.
In the past, people wouldn't talk about cancer. This left sufferers very isolated. The reticence has gone. At least we acknowledge problems today. Katharine Quarmsby in 'Scapegoat', said that the disability rights movement would inevitably provoke a backlash. This always happens when previously oppressed people demand rights and respect. But that doesn't mean we should put up with the status quo ante. When will we begin to see a marked improvement? My estimate is in a hundred years' time.
Marianne
This is just an afterthought which may be useful for future reference. What you experienced was a hate crime by proxy as it were. Or if it wasn't a hate crime, it was a hate incident. I would not normally report an incident like that to the police because I'm too soft, but you do have the option of doing that. I've no doubt you've left it too long in this case, but if a similar thing occurs again, you might want to consider it. Furthermore, if you or you wife was subjected to abuse like this via e-mail or the royal mail, you could take the alternative option of a case under the Malicious Communications Act. Asda was probably in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act. But as you've let I ride this long, I suppose all you can do is boycott the store. There are plenty of other reasons to boycott it. It's the British equivalent of Wallmart.
ReplyDeleteMarianne