Helen Deborah Vecht wrote:
I sat in the chair waiting for the bus. When it came, the driver did not
offer use of the ramp and my partner struggled to push me through the
front doors.

Taking a small tangent - I was told recently, that upon successfully
boarding a bus, a wheelchair user was confronted with a mother and pram
in the designated space. The mother indicated that she felt her needs
were greater before eventually but reluctantly giving way.

While it is true that 'mothers and prams' were not provided for in the
past, we seem to have come to the opposite extreme where the space
offered to them now (with the disabled priority proviso) is seen as an
inalienable right to be constantly exploited to the full. What passes
for a 'pram' or 'buggy' these days is nothing short of a mini,
all-terrain vehicle with a wide wheelbase and armour plating, capable of
carrying at least two children, their toys du jour, the week's shopping
and a couple of spare car batteries. More often than not, they are fully
loaded, batteries et al. ready for all eventualities like a change of
nappy or a thermonuclear war.

There is generally a sense of irresistible force meeting immovable
object when two prams compete for the same space on a bus. The resulting
diplomatic efforts, sometimes entertaining in themselves, usually block
the aisle, exit or both. Oh joy.

I can recall the days when a mother fully laden with shopping, two small
children and a pram, could, without a moment's hesitation, deftly lift
one child out of the pram and over the shoulder, fold the pram and board
the bus whilst holding the shopping and the toddler. Alas such skills
and dexterity have been lost to the world and the notion of actually
folding the modern 'pram' is now only a theoretical possibility if not
outright heresy.

ESB