It came to my attention this morning that NZ Bus have put in an order for 120 new buses from the UK. “Great!”, I thought, having recently traveled and experienced the wonders of automatic ramps (see video below). Given my well-documented loathing for Auckland bus drivers and their complete disregard for disabled passengers, the idea of automatic ramps (saving drivers the evidently gut-wrenching task of unfolding the ramp themselves) seems like a great idea.

But no. Once again, NZ Bus show blatant disregard for the diverse needs of their traveling public, and order 120 buses with the same old manual ramps. If you think I’m being too harsh, or find my tone unnecessarily disparaging, take a ride on a bus with a wheelchair user.

Or at least, try to. You’ll be lucky if the driver lets you on.

• An example of an awesome, wheelchair-accessible bus with an automatic ramp from my travels in Vancouver:

I was eating brunch at a cafe this morning, and about 10 minutes after I’d settled in, another wheelchair user came through the door. “Huh!”, I thought, noting the relative rarity of this situation. Still, cool.

As we left, the other wheelchair user left the cafe right behind me. As she wheeled away, my Uncle remarked, “It’s wheelchair central out here!”. Now, make what you will of that comment, but it just hit me how strange it was that two wheelchairs in one location was notable, even remarkable. If “wheelchair central” is defined by two wheelchairs, I wonder what you’d call 3 or more? A stampede?!

I guess my point is, it would be nice if 2011 was a year where seeing more than one wheelchair in one place became a regular occurrence, or at least not as noteworthy.

Did you know – at Rhythm & Vines 2010, I was the only wheelchair user there? The only one. Out of 25,000 people. Come on team – let’s get out there and prove we exist!

So I stumbled upon this great blog post by WildKat, entitled 5 Things You Shouldn’t Do When Interacting With a Wheelchair User. It’s a great read, and two of her points in particular rang true for me. So I’ve decided to steal those two and add three more of my own.

Behold: 5 Things You Shouldn’t Do When Hanging With a Wheelchair User

Hi everyone,

I’m so pleased the issue of wheelchair users having to pay more than everyone else for U2 tickets has caught the attention of the mainstream media, sometimes there’s nothing more powerful than the voice of a reporter on your side when you’re trying to affect change! I just wanted to point out a couple of things:

• We’ve succeeded in changing the minds of the promoters! They’ve decided to make some of the wheelchair seats available in the cheaper price categories, so to my fellow wheelchair users, I hope you can make it to the show by taking up this offer!
• For what it’s worth, not once have I contacted the media myself, all coverage of this has been initiated by reporters calling me, and I’m so grateful for their support of this cause

I’ve blogged once or twice before about the foibles of the so-called ‘accessible’ Auckland public transport system, which in reality is anything but.

So imagine my delight when I visited Vancouver as part of my Wheely Big OE, and found automated, truly wheelchair friendly buses and bus drivers! It might have helped that their former mayor was a wheelchair user himself, but nonetheless Vancouver currently stands as the most accessible city I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting.

Click the ‘read more’ link to check out the video!

After writing that wee rant last week about Countdown’s wonderful new inaccessible self-service checkout kiosks, it got me thinking about better alternatives. I struggled at first to think of any company, either in NZ or overseas, that takes universal access seriously enough to incorporate it into any of its product design. And then it hit me. Our much-lauded national carrier, Air New Zealand, have these amazing checkin kiosks in their domestic terminal, one of which is not only totally accessible to those in wheelchairs but clearly signposted too!

You can see the great signage in the picture above, and let me tell you, these are an absolute treat to use. I fly with Air NZ quite frequently, and even though my visits require a trip to the special assistance counter to speak with airport staff, I always check in using the kiosks first, because it’s just such a wonderful experience. Sure, the user interface is great, and the process is simple, but the fact they care enough to put in a dedicated kiosk for those with limited mobility?

Well that, as they say, is priceless.

Halfway through my weekly pilgrimage to my local supermarket, I noticed they’d installed these fancy new self-service checkouts. Wonderful, I thought, this will save me some time!

Wrong.

Unbelievably, despite them installing four new DIY checkouts, not one was accessible for a wheelchair user. The screens were all positioned quite high up, and the EFTPOS terminals even higher, way out of reach for anyone sitting down! Of course, this also excludes children and some elderly folk who might also want to use them.

I find this kinda bewildering, really! It seems like every time we take a step forward in terms of access, someone jumps in and sends us flying 8 steps backward. Good one, Countdown.