LancesWorld.com Journal

So I know I already posted an entry today, but this story is just too good to pass up. I'm not one to make fun of the handicapped, so I won't do so here. I am, however, prone to laughing at others who seem pretty much clueless when it comes to dealing with people with disabilities.

Those of you familiar with BART, or really any subway or other public transit vehicle, know that it is not only good practice but also federal law that seats near the entry doors be made available for people with disabilities. I would consider blindness to be a disability, but that's just me apparently. So here I am sitting on BART minding my own business when a blind man boards at one of the stations. For some unknown reason, despite the fact that the car was virtually empty (I was riding during a very non-peak afternoon hour), three of the four seating areas near the boarding doors were occupied. If it were me in those seats, I would immediately stand up upon seeing a blind person board. Again, apparently I'm the only one. I watched as the blind man made his way to the first set of seats... oops, there's someone sitting there. "Pardon me," the blind man says, and makes his way clockwise to option number two. Meanwhile, the guy who had been sitting in option number one gets up and scambles around behind the blind guy for a few moments, saying nothing, because why would you bother to tell a blind man you had just vacated a seat for him - surely he should see that. You might imagine that the blind man wasn't aware that the seat had just been vacated.

So my dear blind friend makes it so option number two. The guy sitting in option 2 sees the blind man and just sits there. Whoops... the blind man whacks the guy with his walking stick. "Sorry," the blind man says and moves on. Man #2 sets his bag back down on the seat next to him and tries to fall asleep. Classic.

Off goes the blind man to option number 3, which happens to be occupied by a cyclist. Whack, goes the walking stick against the bicycle. "Bicyclist," says the owner of the bike as if this is some excuse for occupying the blind man's seat. Then up stands the bicyclist, but not with the intention of moving his bike to make room for the blind man, no, instead he tells the blind man, "there's a seat over there." The blind man has at this point turned around in some confusion and is obviously not sure where he's going to be sitting. "Where?" asks the blind man. The cyclist, exuding class and consideration, points his finger across the way and says, "there." Brilliant... point out a seat on the other side of a train to a blind man. It is at about this point that the train finally decides to start moving (all of the above probably took place over the course of about 20-30 seconds while the train was stopped in the station). I was very concerned because the blind man was standing in the middle of the entry space with not much around him to stabilze himself. Thankfully, he was able to feel his way for a pole and prevent himself from toppling over. Finally, the cyclist walked over to the empty seats and said, "I'm standing next to them." The blind man, following the cyclist's voice, walked over and sat down.

Remember - the train was virtually empty. There were at least 20-30 other seats that any of these interlopers could have occupied, and yet, they decided not only to occupy the seats reserved for the elderly and handicapped, but they basically ignored the needs of the blind man. What did they think - that he would just casually glance around and see an empty seat somewhere?

Pretty ridiculous if you ask me...