disabled/elderly seat on buses

mille100piedi

I have just received the free bus pass with my invalidity pension. The problem that I can't stand for long. Are there seat for people with mobility problem on the bus?do I have to show my free bus pass in order to get the seat?

adub

Yes there are priority seats for elderly or disabled people. Sticker is on the window. If someone is sitting in the seat you can ask them for the seat if they don't have a disability or aren't elderly. If they got smart you could just show them your pass

looksee

It just occurs to me to wonder how you know if a person is disabled? It isn't always at all obvious.

CiDeRmAn

I suppose you hope that anyone that plays that card really needs the seat, regardless on if they have proof or a card or something.

mille100piedi

looksee wrote: »

It just occurs to me to wonder how you know if a person is disabled? It isn't always at all obvious.

I understand what you mean because I am young and look fine. If I would ask for the seat people will wonder what is wrong with me and if there is actually something wrong. I would be too embarrassed.

panda100

Next week is Invisible Illness Awareness week which seems very apt for this thread http://invisibleillnessweek.com/

I think if you said to someone something along the lines like' I have a condition that fatigues me greatly do you mind if I use that seat as I feel very tired'. I think most people would understand. I work with individuals with acquired brain injury whom often have no physically outward signs of disability but suffer from fatigue. It can feel awkward asking people to give up their seat but you have the free travel pass for a reason and it is your entitlement to be able to use a priority seat if you wish.

starling

I'm in the same situation as you OP, sometimes it's not obvious that I'm disabled and I have to ask for the person sitting there to get up. At first I was like you, I was shy about asking but circumstances just forced me to change my outlook on that. My experience has always been 100% positive, and nobody's ever challenged me. I always just say, politely, "Excuse me, would you mind letting me sit there? Thank you." HtH!

CiDeRmAn

I would hope the majority of people would take you at face value and give up their seat but there are those who would reckon you are trying it on so you can sit down or those who just don't give a monkey's how uncomfortable you are.
In my experience few people put themselves out there if they find themselves standing, aside from those who really must sit.
And, in my experience working in disability, its seldom the people you think who are going to be awkward and selfish.

jadegreen

panda100 wrote: »

Next week is Invisible Illness Awareness week which seems very apt for this thread http://invisibleillnessweek.com/

I think if you said to someone something along the lines like' I have a condition that fatigues me greatly do you mind if I use that seat as I feel very tired'. I think most people would understand. I work with individuals with acquired brain injury whom often have no physically outward signs of disability but suffer from fatigue. It can feel awkward asking people to give up their seat but you have the free travel pass for a reason and it is your entitlement to be able to use a priority seat if you wish.

AS an obviously disabled (stroke) person, i just want to acknowledge how severe that fatigue is, unaffected people can never imagine it. its no small thing, even eating would tire me out to the point i didn't want to or look forward to food at all, it does wear off eventually but so slowly, talking years here not weeks or months.its a ligit disabling condition so do not be embarrassed

panda100

I came across this today and thought of this thread: https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2015/01/09/saving-seats-metros-new-ads-raise-awareness-of-invisible-disabilities/

Over the holidays, Metro placed more than 1,000 new signs by the entrances of trains and buses. One of them reads, “Who needs this seat? You’d be surprised.” Carly Medosch was certainly surprised when she spotted it Monday on her Red Line commute.

The message of the public service announcement is exactly what the 33-year-old Silver Spring resident promotes through her advocacy work: “Not all disabilities are visible.” In Medosch’s case, Crohn’s disease and fibromyalgia force her to deal with fatigue, dizziness and nausea.

But other people can’t discern that just by looking at her. So they’re unlikely to realize that she sometimes needs an easily accessible place to sit.


This is the problem with Metro’s priority seating. Those interior-facing benches boast the best legroom, which makes them attractive to many riders — especially guys guilty of “manspreading,” with their thighs splayed out to the sides. So folks use them just like any other seat, and only reluctantly pop up if someone hobbles on board with a cane.

Metro’s new campaign (the first to address the issue since 2009) is a reminder that these seats are exclusively for people who need them, and should be kept empty to allow people with disabilities to take advantage of them without being forced into uncomfortable confrontations.

It’s stressful to have to request that someone move (or just pick up a bag), says Medosch, who’s known even pregnant women to get rebuffed.

Although she’s never had a bad run-in on Metro, she’s experienced pushback using her car’s disability tag: “People will shout at you and question you. I don’t want to have to show my medical records to strangers.”

The idea of emphasizing that you can’t always recognize impairments came from input provided by Metro’s Accessibility Advisory Committee, says spokesman Dan Stessel.

And while the signs are linked specifically to the priority seating, their message is something that Cleveland Park resident Pamela Ehrenberg, 42, hopes passengers think about throughout their rides. Her late husband had several cancer complications, including limited peripheral vision. So his concern wasn’t necessarily where to sit, but whether he’d get shoved in a crowded car.

These signs may not adjust seating patterns, but Ehrenberg thinks they have the potential to shift attitudes: “This goes the extra step of opening people’s minds as to what is a disability.”

And that’s a pretty good sign.

mille100piedi

panda100 wrote: »

I came across this today and thought of this thread: https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2015/01/09/saving-seats-metros-new-ads-raise-awareness-of-invisible-disabilities/

It would be easier if the seats were kept empty, but I guess there are not so many disabled that take the bus and if the bus is crowded there is no point to leave some seats empty
Also I don't find any seats in the bus stops, I wonder why

CiDeRmAn

I wouldn't be averse to people using all the available seats, just that they are decent enough when someone gets on board who needs it.
The question, posed by this thread, is how do you know someone standing in front of you, holding on to the rails, is in need. You can't always tell when someone is in distress.
We look for queues like a cane, or a visible disability, age or something else that telegraphs clearly "I am in difficulty" and most decent folk move aside.
But you pop someone with some other disability, something they cope with, chronic pain, joint issues, Crohn's, a CA or some other disorder, the person could be 30 or younger, and you just wouldn't know "Am I supposed to stand now and offer the seat?".
I can recall being in such situations, prior to labelling of bus seating at all, sitting downstairs and faced with perhaps a pregnant woman or someone older and wondering, I would always offer the seat though, and sometimes was rebuffed, but I'd rather take the chance tbh.

starling

mille100piedi wrote: »

It would be easier if the seats were kept empty, but I guess there are not so many disabled that take the bus and if the bus is crowded there is no point to leave some seats empty
Also I don't find any seats in the bus stops, I wonder why

Yeah, the lack of seating at bus stops is a major problem for me. And I find "we don't want homeless people sleeping there" to be a horrible justification for not providing adequate seating.

Monife

starling wrote: »

Yeah, the lack of seating at bus stops is a major problem for me. And I find "we don't want homeless people sleeping there" to be a horrible justification for not providing adequate seating.

I didn't know that was their justification. That's ridiculous. I had to stand and wait 6 minutes for a bus today, not a huge amount of time for some people, but for me it was excruciating. I'm 28 and unless I bring my walking stick (which I only need during flares - rheumatoid arthritis), I don't look like I have a disability.