“I’ll catch a bus and I’m there” – but it’s almost never that easy. Especially if you bring your own chair or are a stroller driver.

So:
you catch a bus. You check the timetable, buy your ticket, go to the bus stop and hop on. If there’s a seat, you sit down, if not, you stand. Sometimes you’ll stand on my spot, which is fine if I don’t need it. You signal, you get off. On a crowded bus, of course, it’s all a bit more difficult.

I figure out where I want to go. I have to look for a stop I can get to with my wheelchair. I check the website/app to see when there’s an accessible bus on that line and hope that there really is one. Not always.

Oops: even when I ask the service provider in advance to send me an accessible bus at such-and-such a time, mistakes can happen: despite all the phone calls, e-mails and confirmations, the right vehicle does not arrive. Then all my plans fail. 

But now there is a good bus stop, the right kind of a bus just arrived, we are ready to go! The bus driver gets out, pushes down the ramp for me, helps me roll up if I need it. I maneuver myself to my place, put on the brakes, buckle myself in or the bus driver will help me. Ramp up, driver behind the wheel. When I get off, same thing in reverse. 

Nice plan, except there’s the ’oops’ factor: 

Oops! The bus is full and you’re in my spot. Then, if possible, the other passengers should move over. If not, or if the number of wheelchairs on that bus is already full, I’m stuck while others can still get on – and squeeze into my designated place as third. 
This can become an extreme adventure in the heat, rain and cold, because my body works differently! 

Oops! The bus driver is not well informed and refuses to let me on because he says my electric wheelchair is a scooter and you are not allowed to get on with a scooter. They might be not aware of my limitations and causing physical injury because they don’t know that I can’t feel, move my legs or hands or have difficulty moving them. 

Oops! My fellow passenger is not paying attention and they cause me injury or damage to my wheelchair. The wheelchair that allows me to get around. Which is not easy or cheap to fix. When was the last time you got stuck between four walls because someone stepped on your foot? 

There are many standing places and seats on a bus, but spots for wheelchairs, if any, are limited to one, rarely two. I can’t move back or in, stand and hold on, while for able-bodied people it’s much easier and it’s easier to move suitcases, trolleys, saplings from the place reserved for me than to put me on the hat rack! 

Much the same applies to prams, the pram is also the safe seat for the small passenger, with its own brakes and seat belt, and staff who, although get on easier, sometimes they need help too! 

Then there are the walker users (a kind of rolling walking frame, with brakes, seat, sometimes a basket), who can’t suddenly put the walker in their pockets or travel standing up and holding on to the handrails. Sometimes they also strap themselves into the wheelchair spot if they have no better option. 

We, wheelies: wheelchair users, walker users, pram drivers, ask you to take care when we come along and help us to get on and off the bus as easily, safely and quickly as possible, to take our seats – so that there are no more “oops”-es!

Written by Hilda Kerekes

And let’s add, they get off last. Moreover, not only wheelchair users, but also the elderly, families with children and people with reduced mobility have the opportunity to get into the plane about 10-15 minutes in front of everyone. Annoying, not understandable? Let’s look at the WHY?: 

Air transportation, contrary to the information of the companies, has never been, and to this day it is not accessible, for the ones in need. The space constraints, which are typical of a passenger plane, significantly limit any full accessibility, but since the companies’ profits would be significantly affected by the creation of possible extra spaces, they were not even interested in it.  

Traveling in a wheelchair is a multi-level challenge. When you get into the plane, you lose control of your most important aid, you don’t know how it’s going to be handled, what’s going to go wrong with it, will it arrive at the next stop at all?! Airlines have only limited liability for checked medical equipment, with the maximum compensation set at the same amount as for other baggage. The price of a complex wheelchair can be up to several million HUF, but if it is lost or damaged, the compensation is only possible up to a maximum of HUF 600,000, of course, this is also only after playing several heavyweight arm-wrestle matches.

How does a boarding happen if you use your own wheelchair? It is not up to the airlines to help with this, airports employ specialized companies to assist passengers in need. Thus, the standard of service varies from airport to airport. Budapest Airport has particularly good reviews in this regard. 

You can’t travel on the plane in your own wheelchair. When boarding, a wheelchair specially adapted to the size of the plane is brought and the passenger must be transferred to it or lifted with assistance. If he or she needs to be lifted, the passenger is fastened with several straps to the chair, similar to Hannibal Lechter from the movie The Silence of the Lambs, in fact, only the muzzle is missing from the whole picture.  

Why are we getting in the first place? Not primarily to protect ourselves from the embarrassment of various awkward postures. But most importantly, the helpers have to pull the special chair that just fits in the corridor of the plane, just as they pushed it in, out of the plane, which is not possible with hundreds of people standing behind them in a narrow space where they, too, can barely fit. Well that’s it!

There are also cases when you travel somewhere with several connections, and due to the tight time at the transfer, you can’t reach the gate at least a quarter of an hour before boarding. In this case, the passenger in a wheelchair is the last to board.  

And when you get off, it plays backwards. The wheelchair passenger is the last to leave the plane, often after long minutes and sometimes up to three-quarters of an hour after everyone else. Unfortunately, the post-Covid labor shortage is also noticeable at airports, so there is not enough staff to serve the suddenly increased number of passengers and you have to wait. 

In summary, you can fly and should fly with disabilities, and anyone who was once struck by the smell of kerosene will travel as long as they can, but we must always be prepared, know the process, as well as our rights if anything happens during the trip. 

Thanks to our highly experienced association member Zoltán Borsodi for the description!