Not disabled enough, but struggling to stand

I can't bring myself to ask someone on the bus to give up their seat so I can sit. I'm 30ish and usually I can walk and stand okay, but I get dizzy a lot and my balance isn't great, I have chronic pain, and I have problems with my arms that make it harder for me to hold on. I always think, what if those people need the seat more than I do? Am I really disabled enough to ask someone to give up a seat for me? But it's not a great feeling when I see someone who's been taking up a seat in the priority area get up and walk around on the bus while it's still moving, well before the next stop, without any apparent difficulty. If you didn't need to sit, why were you taking up that spot?

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Driver_StevieD

May 29, 2018 at 8:52am

Talk to us drivers quietly. We can make people move. If u need seat and no one moves I wobt drive until you are seated and I know you are OK. That is MY JOB. You don't need to ask people. I tell and make an order to move.. politely. I am fully able to take the wrath of the public for making sure one with an Invisible Disability is ok.

Again.

It is my job to make sure you are seated.

So please come and speak to me.. . Your bus driver.....and quietly advise you need a seat. We are trained to deal with this.

Also feel free to call us and talk to a rep ic you need more info.

You will be amazed how fast people will move when I announce to give up the seat or I wont drive.

Anonymous

May 29, 2018 at 9:43am

if you're disabled, you need it. people are always gonna shame us disabled people. it's just in their nature to be hateful. you do right by you and YOUR BODY!

Art Vandalay

May 29, 2018 at 12:58pm

I hear ya. I'm a young woman with arthritis and I would love a priority seat but I can't bring myself to ask for one. One time I did get a seat, and I could hear a couple of older people snarking that the seats were for them, and I wanted to shout, "these seats are for people who need them, not entitled baby boomers!"

Anonymous

May 29, 2018 at 1:34pm

I'm one of the folks who looks fine and who needs a seat. I have been berated by other passengers for sitting and have gotten off of buses in tears to wait for the next one with more seats. People would rather assume I am a jackass then a person with an invisible disability. I often sit at the bus stop, waiting for several buses to go by because they are too full. I know the people who yelled at me thought they were helping a person with a disability, but they were hurting one. Please don't make assumptions.

Not all disabilities

May 29, 2018 at 6:47pm

are obvious. Don't make assumptions as to why someone may be sitting, even if it isn't obvious to you.

Do not block the Exit

May 31, 2018 at 12:08pm

This girl kept hitting me with her bag, till I finally said please dont. She did not apologize, had her earbuds in, said rudely you could move. I was waiting to get of the bus. Exits are not your personal standing space, and yes I have bad pain from a serious disability, dont assume.

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