Prejudice and disability

Matthew ryan

Prejudice is a powerful, emotive word, often used in association with words such as discrimination, inequality and intolerance.  Unfortunately, in today’s secular society it is not uncommon for a disabled person to encounter prejudice, whether it be intentional, unintentional, infrastructural, institutional or simply the result of ignorance. 

In this article I will provide just a few anecdotes, some of which are quite amusing about what a wheelchair user faces and how our faith community should set the lead for the benefits of our wider society. 

A common problem is ignorance and stereotyping.  Shortly after I became a wheelchair user, I was out shopping for a new suit with my future wife.  We entered a well-known retailer and I was admiring the Italian style suits that were a trademark of this particular high-street brand.  The shop assistant came over and then proceeded to ask Amanda what ‘I’ wanted.  Needless to say, that store did not get my business.  

Disabled parking is another contentious subject.  I have had some odd looks over the years, when I drive my car, as I obviously fit the stereotype of an arrogant, but good looking (!) boy racer who likes to abuse parking privileges.  I was once told by quite a mature lady that: ‘These parking spaces are for disabled people’.  But in hindsight the funniest incident occurred in Egham, when a gentleman came up to us and told us off for taking up the space that a disabled person might need.  He had seen Amanda getting out of the car and obviously decided he would do his bit as a good up-standing citizen of Runnymede.  He promptly reprimanded us for our unscrupulous behaviour.  He said ‘I am a member of the St. Johns Ambulance you know’!  It was only when he saw me getting my wheelchair out of the car that he back-tracked so quickly that he probably joined the Red Cross out of sheer embarrassment.  Joking aside, it does show society’s issues with stereotyping based on disability. 

‘Unintentional Prejudice’ is a big problem in the country today;  mainly this revolves around infrastructural issues that act as barriers to disabled people.  The most common of these are the lack of ramps to access buildings, lifts or disability accessible washrooms.  You may say that buildings are old and modifications are expensive or even equivalent to architectural vandalism.  Indeed, it is a common excuse, but failing to make provisions for disabled people is a result of prejudice and simply not wanting to spend the money to make the necessary change to make buildings and facilities accessible for all.  Often entertainment venues give a discount to wheelchair users because seats are at the end of rows or at the back of theatres.  I often have no choice about where to sit – it’s at the back or nowhere.  Surely, it not too much to ask for a little more equality in the 21st century. 

When my daughter was young we took her to the newly opened ‘Peppa Pig World’ in the New Forest area.  You would have thought that being ‘new’ it would have been accessible to wheelchair users.  On first impression everything looked good, it was a flat area with no steps.  That is however as good as it got;  I couldn’t access one single ride with my 4 year-old.  It left us all deeply disappointed.  Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in UK theme parks.  One local attraction even ‘ripped off’ an accessible ride from Disney World and made the UK version inaccessible! – Health and safety is the excuse that is trotted out all too often!  However, it is just another poor reason to save the parks from having to invest in making their facilities accessible for all.  Venues are happy to take your money but they won’t cater for your disabled friends and relatives.  Outrageous! 

I did get quite annoyed when we visited Bath many years ago.  It is a beautiful but totally inaccessible city.  After failing to get into a single attraction or restaurant I was venting my frustrations to my wife, and then out of nowhere a lady appeared and asked whether I would like to contribute to a newspaper article on accessibility for wheelchair users in Bath.  Looking back it was a ‘fingerprint moment’.  I ended up being quoted in the Bath Chronicle:  ‘Dr Ryan from Surrey said he will not be coming back to Bath’.  I can only imagine the locals choking over their cornflakes the next morning with words of ‘good riddance’ - ‘we don’t want Surrey types telling us to change our city’!  Needless to say, I haven’t been back to Bath to see if things have improved! 

I have so many other examples, from the lack of wheelchair accessible family hotel rooms (obviously hoteliers don’t expect disabled people to have families), being nearly stranded by an airline due to a ‘jobsworth employee’, being evicted from a branch of McDonalds in Paris for taking up too much space and even, on rare occasions coming across barriers while undertaking my professional activities. 

Sometimes individuals for whatever reason can’t deal with disabled people, whether this is due to inbuilt programming or societal influences I have no idea.  Learning to forgive someone’s ignorance can be hard.  You would think that folks should know better, but you can never assume this to be the case.  I should probably be more angry, but that is where faith and tolerance comes in.  Jesus teaches us to be tolerant of the intolerant and there are many examples of him reaching out to people on the fringes of society - from the women at the well in Samaria to the many healings of disabled people.  We are all equal and this is never more apparent than in the writings of Paul “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. 

We can show the wider community the love of Christ, in how we act, what we say and how we positively perceive others.  If we take the lead and set the bar high then hopefully the rest of society will follow.  The Church of England has at times been slow off the mark, and has not been immune from criticism.  But, we must be proud of a church that has made significant strides in recent years. In my lifetime, we have had the first female clergy, the first black Archbishop and the first female black Bishop.  Maybe we will one day see the first wheelchair user appointed to the House of Bishops (…..is that an ambition?). 

I will end on a few positive notes.  Firstly, people tend to remember me as I tend not to blend in with a crowd, as they associate me with my wheels (although this is not always an advantage!).  Secondly, when we got married the Reverend Canon Barnes, the then Vicar of Hythe, asked if we would mind if everyone remained seated during the service.  This was a beautiful act of respect – everyone was equal for the duration of our special service! 

Finally, our church family in Wisley and Pyrford is amazing and very special.  Apart from one occasion when a lady shouted at the top of her voice ‘let the chair through’ (yes, chairs do have personalities), I can honestly say I have never felt out of place or unwelcomed.  When I go to church whether on a Sunday morning or for a curry night, I am respected for who I am – as an equal among equals in the eyes of God.  

Thank you for reading and God bless.