If only the British treated disabled people with the respect of this Paris bus driver
It has long been a stereotype that the British consider themselves polite and considerate, in contrast to the French – who are characterised as the opposite.
But a Parisian bus driver has put both his own people and many Brits to shame with his response to passengers’ indifference when a wheelchair user tried to board his bus.
Scandalised by their attitude, he cleared the vehicle. Rather than allowing one disabled person to be left behind while the able-bodied rode in comfort, he made sure the wheelchair-user had the entire bus to himself.
If only British service-providers displayed the same sentiment!
It seems to This Writer that attitudes towards those with long-term illnesses and disabilities might buck up sharpish if the general public knew they would be penalised for any lack of consideration.
Even though that would be an improvement, the situation is still a source of sadness.
Care for those who are less able to manage should be a part of our nature.
Perhaps we have been brainwashed by the example of our leaders, who seem to believe that they are somehow better than the rest of us because they have the privileges of wealth and inheritance.
But a society that believes such simple courtesy undesirable – like the selfish creed of the Conservatives – is utterly worthless.
A French driver has been praised for kicking every single passenger off his bus after they failed to make room for a man in a wheelchair.
Francois Le Berre, who has multiple sclerosis, was waiting to get on a bus in a Paris suburb, but none of the passengers would move to allow him space.
The bus driver, who has not been named, noticed the problem and took the unprecedented step of asking every single passenger to leave the bus.
He then allowed Mr Le Berre to come on board and drove off with him as the sole passenger.
A tweet describing the incident was shared by a group called “Accessible Pour Tous” – which translates as ‘accessible for all’ on behalf of Mr Le Berre.
It has been shared more than 5,000 times and ‘liked’ by more than 10,000 people, with many congratulating the bus driver and criticising the passengers who failed to move.
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You can blame call me Dave for that with his endless for hardworking people mantra, he never defined a hard working person but of course it couldn’t be you if you are disabled incapacitated sick or unemployed could it?
Vive La France. In UK even when we get Jeremy Corbyn, it will take generations to undo the hatred of the disabled incited by the Tories since 2010. We will need specific buses, with chair lift access through the side, just for the disabled. Some mobility scootered would like to use wheelchairs, but fear our mobility challenged not being total and the reaction from the public of being able to walk a bit from the wheelchair.
We will need a dedicated roll on roll off carriage on trains, that will need something like the Radar keys to board. One half mobility scooters with seats, the other wheelchairs with designed tables. There are around 11m disabled in the UK. Motability cars will need to be sold / leased to people beyond those with benefit, including 2nd hand.
True, I changed from a wheelchair to a mobility scooter for that reason, and because I was sick of the abuse a wheelchair attracts in this hateful time.
Ive noticed a few times disabled
people with their electric mobility machine but allowed on as there was 2 baby carriages taking up the spot so he had to with for the next bus.. years ago I was a bus conductor on the 18 bus from Alperton bus garage… it ran from sudbury town to London Bridge
& was the last crewed bus to go one man as was so so busy.. anyways back in those days the baby pushchairs were foldable &
easy to deal with… nowadays the pushchairs are so big & so unfair for the poor souls using the electric scooters.. I stayed with the job for one year & left.. i was asked to become a bus driver but no way.. I had so much abuse with the so-called passengers..
this bus ran along the harrow road & very common to see three 18 buses in convoy..