I had to go to Crewe today to pick up a few books from the library. While I was there, I headed into town for a quick scout round. Needless to say, I didn’t find much, except one charity shop was selling the entire seven seasons of ds9 on vhs for seventeen quid; I almost bought it, but I realised I’d have trouble getting all 70 videos home.

What was odd about this trip, however, was that I was refused entry onto a bus not once but twice. It wasn’t as if they were full – the driver just gave some bullshit excuse and refused to let me on. I have a feeling it was the same driver both times, but I am not sure.

Now, I know some people who would cry disabledism at this. they would accuse the driver of hating disabled people, having a vendetta against them, and so on. I no longer think such talk is either accurate or helpful; for one, it smacks of paranoia, and for another making such accusations is hardly going to help the problem, or make such drivers more inclined towards letting people like me onto their busses. There are lots of reasons why those drivers wouldn’t let me on, only some of them to do with hatred. Perhaps the driver was unsure about the rules governing wheelchairs, or had had a bad experience with one.

My point is that we should look deeper than the obvious; we should avoid paranoia. Although I was initially very angry at the driver I must admit, we should never resort to the simplistic cry of hatred. If we do, we risk descending into a pit of bitterness, and the prophecy would surely forfil itself.