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Undaunted: Once you identify as disabled, you're herded off to a windowless room until take-off

I love airports. Left alone I would roam all over them. The thing is, once you identify yourself ...
Newstalk
Newstalk

16.36 27 Aug 2015


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Undaunted: Once you identify a...

Undaunted: Once you identify as disabled, you're herded off to a windowless room until take-off

Newstalk
Newstalk

16.36 27 Aug 2015


Share this article


I love airports. Left alone I would roam all over them. The thing is, once you identify yourself as in need of assistance, your roaming days end as you are sucked into a system where getting you from A to B is all that matters.

As a disabled person, it’s when you use transport that you feel the ‘most’ different. Let me explain through a few examples.

As you hand over that boarding pass and step into the chair, any chance of grabbing a coffee or the latest designer back-pack diminishes. Depending on the airlines, you’re either herded into a coral or whisked away to a windowless room to await your final journey to the gate.

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"If you do ask to stop, you are placed in the position of thinking you are asking too much."

It takes a strong personality to say that you actually want to stop to eat - for as soon as you get put in the windowless room, your negotiating skills are tested as you assure your gate-keepers you will be back in time to board the plane after your pick up a read for the journey.

If you do ask to stop, you are placed in the position of thinking you are asking too much. You are interfering with the working day of your 'helper'. To be fair, the assistance given at Dublin airport is great but I’ve been to places where heavy cases are thrown on your lap as the task of wheeling a chair and a case at the same time is way above a person’s pay grade.

The need to care or ‘protect’ you robs you of your personal choices. It’s an attempt to ‘fix’ you or save you from ourselves and keep the world at arm's length.

This begs the question: Can rights be affirmed through what could be seen as a crude form of segregation?

This reminds me of Jeremy Corbyn. You may not have heard of him yet but he is running for leader of the UK labour party. It looks as if he will romp home on a plan to move the party way to the left of anything we’ve seen since the 1980s.

One of the reasons Jeremy was in the news this week was because he released a paper outlining his thoughts on improving train safety and addressing the sense of threat some women feel if they travel alone. The solution Jeremy ‘suggested’ was women-only carriages.  He couched it in terms of ‘consultation’ and using ‘pilot projects’ as the following tweet shows.

It is obvious that Jeremy wants to address violence against women but is this the way to do it? Is it a policy that tries to ‘look after’ women  but may end up as marking them out as different. Words like ‘nanny state’ spring to mind. Will women who will use the carriages be ‘marked’ as needing  ‘protection’. If you move out of the ‘safe’ space, do you lose any protection? If you fall in an airport, is it your fault by not staying in safe space?

There are times when well meaning policies or ideas look great on paper but it often undermines the freedom of choice we all have.

What was it that Cole Porter sang? Ah yes, 'Don't Fence Me In...'


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