#bus selfie

Sunny bus selfie. Yesterday as I boarded there were already two strollers in the priority zone (there are two on Vancouver buses accommodating one wheelchair user and one stroller at a time - better than most cities).

The bus driver obviously had to ask them to move because wheelchair users have priority (strollers are supposed to be folded up at this point). Of course the ladies didn’t want to remove their toddlers and fold up their strollers so they made it awkward for everyone but the worst part of it was for me - everyone involved referred to ME as ‘the wheelchair’. I am a damn person.

They all also spoke as if I wasn’t even there (which not surprising given that I’m referred to as an object). And here’s the thing - I know it could have been far far worse - in Britain for example there’s a stand off between wheelchair users and parents with pushchairs (strollers) even though the Supreme Court has actually ruled in wheelchair user’s favor (of course! We don’t have a choice in the space we take up and our need for that space is fundamental to our existence in the community).

So, I know it could have been far worse but it just really sucks being spoken about in this way and never TO. The lady decided she could share my space and didn’t even ask me if I was okay with this. Neither of the mothers looked at me once. You know how that makes me feel? Not just that they like to think I don’t exist but that they’d rather I didn’t exist. That I’m an annoying inconvenience in THEIR day, not the other way around.

I had different problems with using the bus before I used a wheelchair and to be honest they were worse but I just implore everyone to think about how you talk about wheelchair users and just address us! Talk to us like any other human being. We are people and we deserve your decency and humanity.