Read an interesting post on disability access on ‘Three Rivers’ blog
Brought to mind my trip to T. town a few days back. Went by bus, yadda yadda yadda, but you know those signs on the windows across the aisle? Not the ones at the front of the bus declaring no smoking with other pretty pictures n’paragraphs, can’t see/read those from my seat (which is almost funny since I was up front-ish and musing on whether I should’ve taken said seat on an empty bus, baring what seemed to be a three passenger limit. S’a rare day when 4 or more people are on at a given time, you’d think more people would use the bus. Anyway). There’s these window decals across the aisle that you can see, if not read. There’s three seats on it, see, one contains a person sitting in it, one has a cane on the seat, and ..crap, what did the other contain? I misremember, but it – was – a little white symbol, at any rate, signifying a disability rather than a person. The larger caption read “please reserve these seats for the elderly and people with disabilities’. And you know, there’s a broad gap in that picture. First, it suggests only and all disabilities that would need to be accomodated are physically-viewed. It seems (to me) that it would be more beneficial to make, instead of the cane symbol et cetera on the seats, to just have people-figures using the seats to show they’d be occupied. Think of it as a bit of subliminal messaging too – looking for an aid isn’t reliable for checking if someone could use assistance. I can think of several things off the top of my head that would pose a problem that aren’t readily apparent with an aid on a bus, one of them being rather harsh pain from a menstraul cycle which I was also blessed with that day. And while the elderly get a stick-figure person, (the cynical part of me thinks it’s just because Society just hasn’t yet got up quite enough rudeness to (blatantly) put a tombstone on a seat for what they’re – really – thinking), everyone else gets an aid as a representation. Anyway, I spent most of the way there pondering on the signage (and some of the way back, but I was a bit out of it, brain kept trying to fall asleep while dragging me with it. Literally, I think a large part due to the heat of the bus and the general excitement of being out n’about, had an immense amount of trouble keeping my eyes at least halfway focused, payed for it later, damn migraine. Lemmie tell you I woke up after I got off to finish walking home though, friggen’ cold n’windy out. Ack, anyway. Ran through the usual “Do I really – need – to sit here” with little squiggles of vague unease winding. Also spent a bit of time giving the steps to the back section nasty looks. There’s a string of tiny lights on the the front edge of the back bus steps, as it turns out, but lights don’t tend to help, half the time I don’t see them (Odd angle, maybe? Tilt your head a fraction to the side and there they are, tilt it again and s’dark) and most of the time I’ve got some sort of glare problem going on. I loath missing steps or thinking something – is- a step, jars you good when you make a mistake, and there’s always the specter of tripping to contend with. Had that problem at the front of the bus’s platform where the door is. If they’d just choose different colors for lower sections it would save a lot of hesitation, would be -clear -. But no, everything’s the same blue-and-tin edging color, which suggests, yes, – steps -. At least to me. Which means I got to hover my foot and try to tap on it to see if it’s closer than it appears. Still not sure where the hell to sit on the bus, but I figured since I was there for paperwork w/job accessibility, wasn’t committing too much of a faux pas, especially as the great majority of seats were empty. did feel rather bad when two of the passengers who got on headed for the back though, as they seemed to resemble me. I mean, I could’ve walked up the steps and found a seat there. Might’ve had a problem, but then again, I might not’ve. Exactly how disabled does the sign mean, I’d like to know?
-Edited for grammar/spelling and clarity.
