I must admit that I have become a bit of a bastard when it comes to the bus wheelchair space. I really have started to stick to my guns when I need to get on a bus, but the wheelchair space is taken by a pram. I used to just let it slide and wait for the next bus, but I have recently started to refuse to let the space which I technically have a right to, be taken by someone who does not ultimately need it. After all, prams can be folded and babies carried, so why should I be left waiting on the pavement?

I’m becoming more and more aggressive in this: these days I have started to put my foot through the open bus doorway so that the driver can’t close the door and drive on, until he puts the ramp out and asks the mother to move her pram. It has had mixed results: yesterday afternoon, en route to Lewisham, I delayed a bus for about ten minutes before my guilty conscience forced me to give up. Today though, coming back from my daily stroll, using this strategy lead to two mums being made to get off the bus to make room for me.

That was not ultimately my intention. It would have been fine if the mums had just moved their prams so we could all ride home together. Nonetheless I got on the bus, feeling guilty but knowing that I can’t let this sort of thing slide. As a wheelchair user I know I have a right to that space; as I describe here it was extremely hard fought for and won by disabled people and our allies. They did not campaign so vigorously just so I can give the space up to any pram-pushing mum who thinks it was their birthright. And if that means standing firm and refusing to let a bus continue it’s journey until a space is made for me, so be it.

I know that means becoming a bit of a bastard. Making mothers get off busses which they have already boarded is not pleasant; nor is delaying the journeys of so many people. It gives you a huge guilty conscience. Yet I have come to realise that it is something I must do, because the alternative is being a total pushover, allowing others to usurp my rights, and never getting anywhere.