09/08/2016
There is nothing funny about disability. Disabled people have to fight all their lives. Just getting up and dressed is a daily struggle. Then getting around is another struggle. Many can drive but many are on medication which rules driving out. Then, if they are lucky they can use an electric wheelchair. That is it's self a problem. Uneven pavements, cobbles, pavements too narrow that mean they have to risk life and limb going down on the road. That's if they can get on and off the road. Many places still
don't have dropped kerbs. Then shopping. Many shops ate still not accessible, the same goes for pubs and restaurants. Public transport. Many places in the UK now have accessible busses and trains but they only take one wheelchair. This can lead, as it did for me yesterday having to wait over an hour for a bus where the one space isn't occupied. I'm lucky I live in an area where buses come every 10 minutes. For those in rural area if one bus can't taken them it could be 3 hours or more. Some places have one nus per day. And taxis often aren't an option, its still very hard to get accessible taxis. It also leads to those on benefits being sanctioned because they are then late for the DWP appointments. The same can happen if their carers are late in the morning. The DWP don't care why they are late, its still a sanction. Anyway just getting work is difficult, thousands are passed over not because they wouldn't be capable but through sheer prejudice. So, famous comedians laughing at disabled people is unacceptable. Its not free speech, its bullying, its perpetrating and adding to prejudice, its damaging to disabled people fight to be recognised in society. So perhaps those comedians who think its funny to mock disabled people should try thinking what they are doing. Many if not all disabled people live live the majority would buckle under. We just have to get on with it but it is no joke.
