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@accessallarias

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Wheels on the ground journalism and yaps from your favourite opera singer’s least favourite opera singer.
Main acc: @isabelcantomusic ♿️🎭

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Getting unlawfully denied access to a bus as a wheelchair user, but for a bit of variety, NOT because of a buggy for once!

I wonder to what extent TfL’s tight schedules played a role in this driver prioritising continuing the journey over the law. Would appreciate any input from drivers on this. #wheelchairuser #tfl #disabilityrights by @accessallarias

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13 hours ago

September was my worst month yet for wheelchair access on @transportforlondon buses: 23 failures across 14 journeys, 14 routes and 5 operators.

Three months of documenting this has made one thing clear: this isn’t one bad driver - it’s a pattern.

I’m calling on @mayorofldn publicly and privately to hold TfL to account.

Image description slide 1:
An image of a wheelchair user waiting beside a bus. Title reads:
September was my worst month yet for wheelchair access on London buses
23 failures to follow the law and/or procedure
#wheelchairuser #tfl #disabilityrights

Slide 2
Incidents are rising
Since I started documenting my access issues, there’s been a steady increase month on month.
Total incidents by month
July: 9
August: 13
September: 14
I documented 14 journeys where I had access incidents in September, despite a consistent number of journeys each month.

Slide 3
One journey can involve several failures
14 incidents doesn’t mean only 14 things went wrong. The same journey can involve multiple failures, for example, a driver may fail to clear the wheelchair space and drive off before I’m safely positioned.
In September I recorded 23 individual failures.
Compared with July (13) and August (18).
Failures shown in the chart:
Unlawful denial
Attempted denial
Failed to make the wheelchair space available
Moved off before safely positioned
Ramp fail
Ignored blue bell

Slide 4
What went wrong in September?
The 22 failures I documented in September included:
6 broken ramps/other incidents involving ramps
5 times drivers failed to act to make the wheelchair space available when buggies were occupying it
5 times drivers moved off before I was safely in the wheelchair space
3 unlawful denials
3 times drivers ignored me pressing the blue wheelchair bell, meaning I got carried beyond my stop
1 attempted unlawful denial

Slide 5
Ramp problems have increased dramatically
I documented three times as many ramp failures in September as August, and six times as many as July.
July: 1
August: 2
September: 6
Ramp problems included: drivers starting their shifts in vehicles with a known broken ramp; seeing ramps get broken from colliding with street furniture; and ramps failing by @accessallarias

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2 days ago

Update on the Travelodge situation #wheelchairuser #disabilityrights #ableism by @accessallarias

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2 days ago

I’ve had 57 wheelchair-access failures across the last 3 months, but the issues don’t stop there.

I’ve found myself chasing complaint after complaint, watching vital CCTV get overwritten, and being told parts of my account couldn’t be corroborated because TfL’s own CCTV has no audio.

And despite the same failures appearing across different routes, drivers and operators, I’m still waiting for meaningful acknowledgement of the bigger pattern.

So I’m going to keep complaining. Every case makes the pattern harder to dismiss. And if the human cost isn’t enough to motivate change, perhaps eventually the operational, reputational and financial cost will be.

I’ve put the complaint templates I use in my link in bio, including versions for disabled passengers and allies who witness incidents.

And if you want to help push for clearer wheelchair-space rights, please sign and share my petition too.

@transportforlondon - disabled people deserve a transport system that learns from complaints, not one where complaining becomes a second job.

@mayorofldn and @transportgovuk please help me hold TfL accountable.

ID slide 1
TfL says disabled passengers should report problems so the network can improve
My experience? Evidence gets “lost”, emails go unanswered for 60+ days, complaints need to be chased, and still no acknowledgement of systemic failure.
Screenshot excerpts:
“It’s particularly troubling to hear that you’ve faced similar situations before. While we do not believe this reflects a wider systemic issue, I completely understand why it would feel that way from your perspective.”
“Unfortunately, the CCTV footage was no longer available as it had been overwritten before the investigation could take place. I appreciate this will be particularly frustrating given your request for the footage to be preserved, and I am sorry that a delay in passing your complaint to the operator meant that this evidence could not be reviewed.”
#tfl #wheelchairuser #disabilityrights

ID; Why I started complaining
Like many wheelchair users, I didn’t report every access failure I experienced on the bus.
From time to time, if something particularly serious happened, I would put in a complaint by @accessallarias

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6 days ago

The more money @transportforlondon seems to be putting into accessibility PR right now, the more I wish they would put that same energy into fixing the accessibility failures that have landed them in a PR crisis in the first place.

Because wheelchair users posting videos isn’t the problem - what’s happening to us in those videos is the problem.

I experienced 47 wheelchair access incidents between July and September.

If you want wheelchair users to stop making videos showing how inaccessible your buses can be, there is a clear solution: acknowledge the systemic issue, commit to working with us, and make the changes.

#WheelchairUser #TfL #DisabilityRights by @accessallarias

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9 days ago

My petition to strengthen wheelchair users’ legal rights to designated spaces on buses is now over halfway to the 10,000 signatures needed for a Government response.

One of the questions I’ve had most is: what would stronger legal rights actually mean in practice?

So I drafted a Wheelchair Space (Right of Access) Bill as one possible model.

It covers more than simply saying “wheelchair users have priority”. It sets out what passengers would be required to do, what drivers would be required to do when someone refuses, how genuine competing disability-related needs would be protected, what happens when two disabled passengers genuinely cannot both travel, and what enforcement and accountability could look like.

The basic principle is simple: access to the only space a wheelchair user can safely travel in should not ultimately depend on another passenger’s goodwill.

This is a draft proposal, not legislation currently before Parliament. The carousel explains what I have proposed and I hope it’s a helpful example for law makers to build from.

We’re already over halfway to the Government-response threshold.

If you support the petition after reading it, you can sign via the link in my bio.

And if everyone who has already signed sent it to just one other person who decided to sign too, we would pass 10,000.

Read it. Decide what you think. And if you support it, sign and share.

Thank you so much. #DisabilityRights #Accessibility #WheelchairUser by @accessallarias

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10 days ago

I had an incredibly stressful experience trying to access this @travelodgeuk as a wheelchair user, and I fear what happened to me will happen to other wheelchair users too if Travelodge don’t make urgent changes.

I reached out to them privately, but I’m anxious they may not respond for some time. So please tag them in this video and encourage their immediate attention on this issue.
#wheelchairuser #accessibility #disabilityrights by @accessallarias

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11 days ago

As a wheelchair user, I’ve felt a shift in recent months. Have you? #wheelchairuser #disabilityrights #ableism

Image description:
Slide 1
Is disability hate on the rise?
The newest data hasn’t fully caught up yet, but there are warning signs...

Slide 2
I’ve noticed the change personally as a wheelchair user
Strangers heckle me in public more often than they used to.

Mostly men shouting childish things like “zoom zoom” as I roll past.

Recently someone shouted from their car: “I saw that!” after I moved my legs.

As though moving my legs was evidence that I’d been caught faking my disability.

Slide 3: And it isn’t just happening in the street
My social media has increasingly included:
* disability-related slurs
* accusations that I’m faking
* and even threats of violence.

So I wanted to know: is there any evidence that hostility towards disabled people is getting worse?

The statistics don’t give us a simple answer. Yet.

The latest complete police figures only cover the year ending March 2025.

Police-recorded disability hate crime actually fell 8% that year. But that does not necessarily mean disabled people experienced less hostility. Police statistics only capture incidents that are reported, recognised and recorded as hate crimes. And disability hate is massively under-recorded.

Pretty much every disabled person I know has experienced a hate crime, but few of them have taken it to the police for complex reasons.

Source: Home Office, Hate Crime in England and Wales 2024/25.

The scale of under reporting is huge

A government evidence review published in 2026 found that disability hate crime makes up around 1 in 3 hate crimes estimated by the Crime Survey, but only 8% of police-recorded hate crimes.

In other words, what reaches the police statistics is only part of the picture.
The review also found disabled people experience harassment in neighbourhoods, on public transport and online.
Source: UK Government Disability Unit, 2026.

And “hate crime” is only the most extreme end of the problem
72% of disabled people have experienced negative attitudes or behaviour within five years
25% have been accused of faking their disability or being lazy
39% have e by @accessallarias

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13 days ago

Would you notice this access barrier if you were walking down this street?

Wheelchair users run into (well, roll) these constantly, and they force us to make a decision between abandoning a journey, taking a long detour, or taking a risk by rolling in the road.

Complaints of this nature are often de-prioritised by councils, so even when we report these things - there’s rarely a quick fix. #WheelchairUser #DisabilityRights by @accessallarias

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14 days ago

Wheelchair users are over a quarter of the way there to the government having to consider our legal protections surrounding the wheelchair space on buses!

But I need your help. Please sign the petition if you haven’t already, and once you have, share it with someone else who will care about this 💛 #WheelchairUser #DisabilityRights by @accessallarias

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15 days ago

Please sign and share my petition to strengthen wheelchair users’ legal access to designated wheelchair spaces on buses. The link is in my bio, and sharing it with friends, family or on your story really helps.

Most buggy users I meet are more than willing to share the wheelchair space, reposition their buggy or fold when necessary. I’ve had some genuinely lovely conversations with parents while travelling. But, as with so many things, an inconsiderate minority can expose the weakness of a system that ultimately relies on goodwill.

I don’t want this campaign to become anti-child or anti-parent, so please be critical of inconsiderate buggy users who are making this campaign necessary, but don’t lump all people who travel with buggies in one category.

I would eagerly support a campaign for buses to have a separate, designated buggy space. Parents deserve public transport that works for them too, and I’m not unsympathetic to the inconvenience caused by having to reposition or fold a buggy.

My concern is that a separate buggy space alone would not solve the legal problem. Unless wheelchair users’ access to the wheelchair space is clearly protected first, I worry that the response to calls for more buggy provision could simply be to turn the wheelchair space into a broader “priority” space - effectively making access first-come, first-served, and making the access issues for wheelchair users even worse.

The change I’m proposing is about making sure that, where there is no genuine competing disability-related or exceptional need, a wheelchair user cannot be prevented from travelling because someone chooses not to share, reposition or fold.

Please sign the petition, send it to someone who would support it, tag or contact your local MP, and help get this issue in front of Parliament. ♿️📣

IMAGE DESCRIPTION IN PINNED COMMENTS.
@transportgovuk @andy.burnham
#WheelchairUser #DisabilityRights #TfL by @accessallarias

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17 days ago

The other night, Big Brother 2026 launched on ITV, a guilty pleasure show of mine.

As a disabled person, I was so excited to see our community represented by Charlotte. However, seconds in to her entrance… disaster struck. An unforeseen shoe malfunction.

My stomach dropped and I felt devastated for Charlotte and angry at ITV for allowing it to happen. But after some research, my mind has been changed, and this post explains why.

Image description below and in comments.
#BBUK #DisabilityInclusion #Accessibility

A disabled person struggling does not automatically mean accessibility has failed.
And the Big Brother launch is an interesting example of that.
When Charlotte, a quadruple amputee, entered the Big Brother house, one of her shoes came off.
Then the heel broke.
She eventually removed her prosthetic legs and climbed the entrance stairs on her residual limbs.
My immediate reaction was:
WHY ON EARTH WASN’T THERE A RAMP?
And judging by social media, a lot of people felt the same…
But then ITV clarified something important: Charlotte had been offered a ramp.
She declined, saying she’d prefer to use the stairs.
AND THAT’S THE DANGER OF TURNING DISABILITY ETIQUETTE INTO RIGID RULES

* “Always stand up.”
* “Always crouch down.”
* “Always use the ramp.”
* “Never offer help.”
* “Always offer help.”
Accessibility shouldn’t be a checklist of things you do TO disabled people.
It should be something you work out WITH us.
THAT COMPLETELY CHANGES HOW I VIEW WHAT HAPPENED
Because accessibility teaches us not to look at a disabled person and assume or decide what we think would be easiest or safest for them.
Disabled people deserve autonomy.
Charlotte knew the ramp was an option, but she had the right to choose the stairs.
Sometimes organisations become so frightened of something going wrong that the solution becomes: “Disabled people just shouldn’t do it.”
And that isn’t accessibility either.
Disabled people are allowed to take risks.
We’re allowed to choose the harder route.
We’re allowed to change our minds.
We’re allowed to need help halfway through. by @accessallarias

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18 days ago