.Another bus one

At the main bus stop that I use to catch buses in and out of Bristol city centre from home, three buses stop there. The 48 and 49, while coming from different suburbs, both end their routes at the same stop  just short of the Centre, however, the 24 stops at a different stop on the Centre and then goes out to loop around a part of South Bristol. It is therefore important for me to know which bus I’m getting on either because the 24 and 48/49 stop in different places, or because I am travelling further than the Centre. I can’t see to read the bus numbers and even though my phone app is helpful, I tend to check that the bus arriving is the one I want.

 

A couple of weeks ago, I was the only person waiting at the stop when a bus drew up. The doors opened and I spoke to the driver (making sure my white stick was prominent):

Me: “Morning, which number are you please?”,

 

Him: (with what sounded like an irritated sigh  “they all go to the same place anyway, so it doesn’t matter what bus it is, just get on”,

 

Me: “The 48 and 49 do, but the 24 goes to a different stop”.

 

Him: sighing again and (sounding even more irritated) “Yes, but I’m not a 24 am I!”.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

They just can't help themselves

I went for my first COVID vaccination at the beginning of March at my local health centre. After (fairly logically) queueing outside the main entrance for 10 minutes, I learned through overhearing a conversation at the front of the queue that the vaccinations were taking place in another part of the building with a different entrance. The health centre  had not thought to communicate this to their patients in advance as the written signs were expected to do the trick for everyone. The receptionist on the door apparently suffered from the (not uncommon) white stick blindness, and I realised that she was using gesticulations to indicate the direction I needed. After having explained that the white stick meant that I couldn’t see enough to follow her directions, I eventually found my own way to the correct (tucked away and locked) entrance. I (perhaps too politely) suggested that it would have been helpful if they could have tagged visually impaired patients in their database giving us cl
Read more

Promoting awareness through 'telling our stories'

You might think that a blogger who’s prepared to publicly share his experiences, thoughts, analysis and irritations so readily would be in favour of disabled people ‘telling their stories’ as a vehicle for improving awareness of disability. Well I’m not.   Many disabled people have been asked at some time in their lives, to talk to their colleagues, doctors/health workers etc about themselves and their experiences, on the basis that it will help improve things for others. There are many well-described accounts of how the experience has been far from empowering or impactful on change, but instead personally diminishing either in the experience itself or its reception.   I have serious concerns about what I consider an over-simplistic practice of encouraging disabled people to ‘tell their stories’ in semi-public contexts as a means to improving awareness of disability, and about ‘awareness-raising’ of disability equality through using individual experience to improve disabled people’s po
Read more

'Are you causing trouble again?'

I can’t say how irritating, embarrassing and patronising it feels to hear the phrase: “are you causing trouble again?” used as a greeting to me in a kind of over-familiar, knowing, slightly too loud, falsely aspirant voice, intended more to be heard by others than for me.   It’s happened so many times over the years - in cafes, when I’ve been queuing at the counter, conferences when I’ve been trying to find somewhere to sit, arriving at a meeting and finding a seat or a cup of tea…   It often happens when I am in a less than familiar or uncomfortable situation , and never said by people who are close to me, but by people who don’t know how to be around me, people who perhaps have a view of me, their way of matching me with some stereotype of blind people that I can be slotted into.   I’m not a natural ‘trouble-causer’ )whatever that may be) or at least I don’t carry any trouble-causing that I might exude with pride or confidence. I can be difficult,, edgy sometimes, critical, challengi
Read more