Never Walked In High Heels

I’ve lived in London most of my life, and by most people’s definitions I’m a born and bred Londoner.  I consider myself to have quite a good grip of London geography and attractions, but recently I’ve realised I have a huge blind spot in my knowledge . . .  I know hardly anything about the Underground.  I seem to subconsciously block out virtually every reference to the Underground system. I rarely consider it as a travel option, apart from the small part of the Jubilee Line I can use without the challenge of huge gaps or massive steps, but recently the Underground has kept popping up in my life.

It started a few weeks ago when a friend highlighted to me the proposal for TFL that they will be scaling-down their plans to make the access to more Tube stations step-free.  Scaling back accessibility plans seems short-sighted to me, especially with the Olympics and Paralympics descending on London in two years. However, I didn’t think the lack of future access on the Underground would really impact on my life as I’m so used to navigating London without the Underground. Then it struck me that until fifteen years ago most buses weren’t accessible to wheelchair-users and if that was still the case I would be incredibly frustrated and pissed off.  I certainly wouldn’t have the type of life I have because without buses I would be trapped and isolated, rarely able to travel, especially with friends.

How would the way I live my life change if I had wider access to more of the Underground? After this week I can say one thing for sure - I would have more free time!  Although I spend more time than most of my friends thinking about the practicalities of doing things like going on a night out to applying for a job, I’d like to think that when I decide I want something I don’t let being disabled get in my way (a trait which has got me into some interesting scenarios over the years).

A few months ago I decided with a friend that we wanted to see Kelly Clarkson in concert at Wembley so we booked tickets.  At the time I knew getting to and from the gig wouldn’t be easy as I live on the other side of London, but I wasn’t expecting the mammoth trek that going to a simple concert would involve. The Wembley area is quite well serviced by the Underground and local railway stations.  Unfortunately none of them work comfortably with me travelling independently in my electric wheelchair so I made the decision to stay over in a local hotel instead of attempting to get home in the middle of the night after the gig, and boy am I glad I did.  What if I could fully access the Underground would be a three-hour round trip became an eight-hour exploration of London by bus. Don’t get me wrong, the bus journey was really interesting and I got to see lots of the different sides of London but I can’t help but feel  I wasted a lot of time.

I LOVE buses and I depend on them most days to get me where I need to go and live the life I want, but the last week has got me wondering what am I missing.  Now I know the Underground is the bane of most commuters’ existence, but, as unpredictable as it can be, I think people often take for granted how liberating the Underground is to their lives.

I, like most human beings, enjoy having choice, and I know this sounds stupid, but until I received the report from my friend, I never really processed just how much my travel options are determined by whether an organisation or individual deems accessibility important, and that scares me.

Most of the time I forget how the lack of access to the Underground changes the way I live but after this week  I  realised that the Underground or lack of it really does change the way you think about London.  Without the Tube, London feels much bigger and inaccessible.

Now I believe in equality, even if that means dealing with a few sweaty and rude fellow travellers, as long as I get equality in service as well, but at the moment, and unfortunately for the foreseeable future, it seems I am asking too much.