Disabled Access to Public Transport

How is access to public transport looking in 2024?

If you go to your computer now and Google ‘Crawl off airplane.’ what would you expect to see? Maybe some red-top articles about drunken passengers, may be the odd newspaper article about a disabled passenger not being helped by airline staff? I am now on the fifth page of Google search, again and again the headline reads a version of ‘Disabled Passenger has to crawl off plane’ or ‘Disabled passenger has to descend aircraft stairs on their bottom.’ or ‘Disabled passenger stranded to the end of the line.’

As recently as 27th of August there was the well publicised incident of former Paralympian and Baroness Grey-Thompson having to crawl off an LNER train. The incidents are ever more common it seems.

I recognise that system failures happen and there will be the occasional problem, but the issue here is just that. ‘The System’ should be the reflection of normal operating practices, what usually happens day-to-day. Five search result pages of articles, day on day instances of this occurring, would indicate that ‘the system’ is to leave disabled people stranded and then apologise profusely when it comes to the forefront of the publics attention.

I am disabled, although I don’t use a wheelchair. I walk with a leg brace and crutches. I have more mobility and independence than your average wheelchair user. I do, though, have issues enough to make me think about getting on and off public transport every time I use it, particularly at busy times. It is emotionally draining, about half an hour before arriving I begin to think about getting my luggage down from the locker above, I begin to think about the amount of people that will be leaving the train/plane, I begin to think about the amount of time I have to get off. I start to worry about the step down on the on rush of people trying to get on board. I try to work out which hand and how I am going to hold everything because both my hands are already full with my crutches. I look around for any kind looking people who may be able to give me a hand if I get into a bit of a pickle.

As I’ve said, I have more mobility than your average wheelchair user. Just take a moment to imagine the stress levels there.

Imagine the sense of vulnerability.

In the UK 41%¹ of registered disabled people have some issue with their mobility. A quick calculation on the 16million of the population who are registered disabled will indicate a whopping 7.7million people in the UK with some form of mobility issue. A total of 45% of adults of state pension age have some form of impaired mobility².

This issue isn’t going away, it will only come more and more to the forefront as we have an increasingly aged population. And also lets not forget that the majority of people who are registered disabled become disabled across the course of their life. Whilst this may not be your problem now, it could well be one day.

In a world of shareholder profits, there must be room for inclusion, for good customer service no matter.

We are not asking for the world. A ramp, a member of staff at the beginning and the end of a journey, half a dozen adjusted seat per flight, trained staff.

The right to roam freely.

1. Disability prevalence in the UK by impairment 2022/23 | Statista

2. Disability facts and figures | Disability charity Scope UK