Assistance on the Railway Fails Again

Once again, a disabled person has been left on a train. When I was scrolling social media earlier today I saw a post by Tanni Grey-Thompson, former Paralympian and Member of the House of Lords, stating that she had to crawl off a train yesterday. Tanni is a wheelchair user, who is forced to request assistance when using the trains in the UK as they do not provide level boarding. She is unable to get on and off the train unless a staff member at the station comes along with a ramp. The sad reality is that often this system fails, leaving disabled people stuck on platforms or worse on the train, either knowing they will be taken further along the line than they wish or left in a dark empty train as everyone else gets off.

This time, she crawled off the train. But she shouldn’t have had to, and what about the countless disabled people who can’t do that. Who can’t decide which out of two dehumanising options is the best. I hear about these situations all of the time. Wheelchair users shouting for help or having to raise the alarm because they know they aren’t being met by assistance staff. Blind people left on train platforms, having got themselves off the train only to find that nobody is there and they are in an empty unfamiliar station.

Some will argue that if we’re so vulnerable we shouldn’t travel alone. Clearly, it is not safe for us to do so. That argument is a pointless one for so many reasons. We have to travel because we have lives, whether that is visiting friends or going to work. But also there is supposed to be a system in place so that we are not left in such horrible situations. The system, as with so many things in this country at present, is failing.

Apologies have been flooding in, and I don’t think I’m being unkind in saying this is likely because Grey-Thompson is one of the few famous disabled people. She’s pretty much said the same herself, asking what would the result be if she was someone else? Would the directors of the train company be publicly apologising? And what does an apology get any of us anyway. It’s hardly resulting in the change that’s needed. Rail and Road even posted that they will be investigating the incident, despite telling so many less famous disabled people that they do not investigate individual cases. This isn’t a dig at Tanni. The work she does is excellent, and she’s acknowledged all the nuances of this situation and spoken very publicly on the fact that disabled people are ignored more often than not.

These individuals, offices, and companies are busy falling over themselves now their failures have made the news. Meanwhile, day after day disabled people get on social media begging them not to forget us once again, or shouting at them when they inevitably do. There needs to be some kind of consequences for these persistent failings. The problem is so wide-spread and well-known that when I first read Tanni’s posts, I felt sad and angry, but not surprised in the least.

Until there are economic sanctions for failing to provide disabled people with an equal experience when accessing public transport, nothing is going to change. Yes, a few people high up can say sorry, but what does sorry get us?