PSA: telling a disabled person to "stop using that service" in response to them complaining about discrimination is ableist. It's also foolish and callous. And wildly ignorant, since often the entire reason we're using a service is bcuz of *other* barriers from discrimination.
Ex: Uber has a problem w/drivers refusing to take service dogs and wheelchair users. Saying "use a real taxi" is foolish and ignorant. Real taxis discriminate against service dog handlers and wheelchair users too! And they don't auto send a new one when the first ditched you!
"Use public transit". Hmm, well 90% of the curbs in my neighborhood have no curb cuts despite being 3+ inches high (or they're dangerously broken, not low enough, only on 1 of 4 corners of an intersection) and the sidewalks are so poorly maintained they're dangerous to ableds
So that's 7 blocks of walking/wheeling in the street for "convenience" aka safety, which is obvs not safe. The bus takes me to a train that is completely inaccessible if the elevators are down, elevators that are smelly and filthy and entirely too small
I can't even get into my local post office, there are no ramps, heavy doors, granite stairs that are slick when wet. Which is more dangerous, ADA noncompliant sidewalks. That train? Has only 7 accessible stops out of 23
The cars frequently have piss poor seating that can accommodate a wheelchair or walker/rollator user, and you can only board the front car so you can have access to the raised ramp (which is often unprotected from the weather)
Trolleys can't be boarded by anyone with anything more than a cane, buses don't have seating for more than 2 wheelchairs and bus drivers don't care about your safety or telling passengers if they don't need the priority seating then get up (I don't want them to single anyone out)
"Drive yourself" a lot of disabled people legally cannot drive, like forbidden by law. Many of those who aren't expressly prohibited don't feel safe driving. A whole heaping lot of us are poor and would need an expensive vehicle, and we already have enough expenses
Are you paying for that car?
But honestly? We shouldn't have to. We have a right to access and utilize public services like everyone else. "Just stop using it" is a wholly unacceptable reply, we shouldn't be forced out by ppl BREAKING THE LAW and hating our existence
But honestly? We shouldn't have to. We have a right to access and utilize public services like everyone else. "Just stop using it" is a wholly unacceptable reply, we shouldn't be forced out by ppl BREAKING THE LAW and hating our existence
And some services we *can't* stop using, bcuz maybe there is no other service, or this is the only one we can afford, or that has the things we need consistently. We deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, we deserve to have the same access as you
And we deserve to bitch about when we don't. We deserve to be angry and vent that yet more ppl, yet another service, is discriminating against us, price gouging us, hating and being violent to us, that we are denied the same good things as others and abused for complaining.
Let me add more examples. Food delivery services have business from everyone, but disabled ppl are called entitled, selfish, ignorant and classist for expecting drivers to accommodate us according to the law.
But hey, a lot of disabled ppl order food bcuz they struggle with cooking. Bcuz houses and apartments are wildly inaccessible. Kitchens and bathrooms are flat out deadly to disabled ppl. Do you know how hard it is to cook on a standard sized stove from a wheelchair?
You basically can't use the back burners and the odds you'll burn yourself or knock over the boiling, flaming hot food onto yourself is extremely high. Ppl make fun of disabled ppl for not showering daily but ya know my rollator cannot enter my bathroom at all.
It barely fits in the hallways in every apartment I've ever been in. It only just has enough space in my kitchen and that has more to do with the lack of counter space and cabinets
The stairs and busted elevators to our homes and apartments trap us in our homes, and no, we can't just move, cuz 95+% of housing is inaccessible, this is the place that takes our voucher or is in our budget, or near our jobs/doctors/helpful family and friends
And it's tens of thousands of dollars to renovate a home to be accessible, and the accessible additions lower the property value bcuz discrimination is like that, and can we even afford to own a home? Do we have other marginalized identities that compound our problems?
So yeah, we understand drivers don't have time and are overworked and underpaid but we still need to eat and literally can't get out our homes or handle heavy things. We pay extra for accommodations and then still have them denied or ignored and get berated for calling it out.
I mean shit Amtrak just charged two wheelchair users 25 grand to ride their trains. Airlines abuse us, forget us, violate the law and our rights, and break and damage and lose and throw away our expensive mobility aids, try to dodge replacing or fixing them
Ppl abandon and forget us, insult us and hurt and harass us, but we're in tbe wrong for just trying to eat, or leave the house, or have respectful and helpful medical care no matter where we are, where we're going and what money we have? Miss me with that.
I should not have to stop using a service to avoid discrimination. I SHOULD NOT have to stop using a service to not be discriminated against! Every business should be treating every customer with dignity, respect and equity.
"Use something else" and "why are you using it" are the wrong questions. They're dismissive, and more importantly they're ENABLING DISCRIMINATION. All you're doing is supporting the status quo and making excuses
Apathy and neutrality in matters of social justice, discrimination, and oppression ALWAYS side with the *oppressor*. Dismissiveness and "free market" bullshit doesn't hold people and businesses accountable
It doesn't make the world better, or reduce discrimination, especially when "go somewhere else" becomes "there is nowhere else" and "I am discriminated against everywhere". It's lazy, it's disingenuous, and it shows that you're a shitty person.
I should not have to change services to avoid discrimination.
