Autistic boy thrown off Bus because he didn't "look" disabled.

[Mr Allen]

Link.

A teenager with autism was thrown off a bus because he didn’t look disabled, it was claimed. Connor McEndoor, 18, showed the driver his disability pass when he boarded on Thursday to go to college. However, his photo is four years old because he finds taking pictures stressful, so the driver refused to believe it was him. He took the pass off him accusing him of fraud, telling Connor he wasn’t disabled. Connor, who has speech and learning difficulties as well as suffering from memory loss and confusion, was left standing at the roadside. Arriva bus company says it’s looking into the incident ‘as a matter of urgency’ and has apologised to Connor and his family for any ‘distress and concern’ caused. Now his mum is calling for better awareness about ‘invisible’ disabilities after the incident. The first ever letter Connor wrote to his mother, after he attempted to take his own life due to his disabilities (Picture: Sarah Mulgrew/NCJ Media) Sarah Mulgrew, from Thorntree, Middlesbrough, has branded Connor’s treatment ‘disgusting’ after it caused Connor to have a ‘major meltdown’. She’s calling for better education for drivers as ‘not all disabilities are obvious.’ Sarah said: ‘Connor has had the same picture for four years, as he doesn’t like having his picture taken or to be on show. ‘He came bursting through the door in floods of tears, hysterical, he couldn’t get the words out. ‘He said the driver’s taken my pass’. ‘We tried to calm him down and get him to breathe.’ Sarah’s husband Cashel went to the Redcar depot to retrieve the ID. Connor’s disability isn’t immediately obvious (Picture: Sarah Mulgrew/NCJ Media) ‘The attitude came across that he doesn’t really look disabled,’ said Sarah. ‘I find this a disgusting way to look at anyone let alone disabled people as not all disabilities are obvious. ‘Connor isn’t going to have that trust now, to get on a bus; it will take another couple of months. Just that slight action has put my son into a major meltdown. ‘He will blame himself for this. You try to give him some kind of independence in life, then this happens. ‘A lot of people don’t have a clue about things like autism and ADHD, even in the 21st Century. Drivers need to be brought to task on this, they need training.’ Nick Knox, Arriva area manager director said: ‘Firstly we would like to apologise for any distress and concern this has caused Connor and his family. ‘We are looking into this as a matter of urgency to fully understand what happened. ‘Following this internal investigation we will take any necessary steps identified to ensure this doesn’t happen again.’


Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2018/05/20/autistic-boy-thrown-off-bus-didnt-look-disabled-7563018/?ito=cbshare

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MetroUK | Facebook: Metro

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I have a photo on my Bus pass that was taken at least 5 years ago and is still valid, I obviously look disabled, as well as wearing a hearing aid... Jesus wept.

 

[aspieoutlaw89]

that's just dumb.

 

[Mary Anne]

Again with bus drivers? Sheesh! Bus drivers routinely have to check people for fake i.d., wrong age, and other issues. They just glance at a person quickly, because they have a bus load of people and a time schedule to keep. Honestly, I wonder why a person does not get a more up to date I.d. So that the bus driver does not make mistakes.

Also, it’s time for people to understand how the non-disabled world works. If one does not look or act “ disabled,” How is someone supposed to know? How was that bus driver supposed to do his job and follow the rules of his employment, and not make these common mistakes? How was he supposed to know the kid was not using a fake I.d.?

 

[kay]

It's just a bus ride. The driver shouldn't take the risk of leaving someone along the curb scared. There has to be a better way of handling such situations. Particularly in a situation concerning ID for a simple bus ride. No one was going to be terribly harmed if it was a fake. There should be a simple way for the transportation system to keep track. What exactly are computers and stuff for? What year is this? @Mary Anne , there really isn't a such thing as the non-disabled world. It is just as much the disabled's as it is the abled world. The abled need to learn that they are not the center of the Universe and adjust accordingly. It's time we weren't expected to do all the adjusting.

 

[Mr Allen]

Again with bus drivers? Sheesh! Bus drivers routinely have to check people for fake i.d., wrong age, and other issues. They just glance at a person quickly, because they have a bus load of people and a time schedule to keep. Honestly, I wonder why a person does not get a more up to date I.d. So that the bus driver does not make mistakes.

Also, it’s time for people to understand how the non-disabled world works. If one does not look or act “ disabled,” How is someone supposed to know? How was that bus driver supposed to do his job and follow the rules of his employment, and not make these common mistakes? How was he supposed to know the kid was not using a fake I.d.?

Blakey would've sorted this Bus driver out!

 

[Progster]

I'm guessing that since the bus driver didn't recognise the picture as being the person holding the bus pass, Connor must have changed his appearance quite considerably over those 4 years. In which case, Conner needs to renew the picture if he wants to continue using the bus pass. He needs to find a way to tolerate the picture taking if he wants to use the bus pass, because if it happened once it will probably happen again, and what is more distressing for him, having his photo taking, or not being allowed on the bus? Since he tolerated having his picture taken once, then he can find a way to tolerate it again. Now Connor is 18: he is not likely to change appearance for a good few years, so he just needs to get it done and make sure that his appearance matches the photo (no change of hair colour or other radical changes to his appearance) and then he shouldn't need to change it for a good few years.

 

[Bolletje]

From reading the article, he was kicked off of the bus because he no longer resembled the picture on the card. Which gives the bus driver every right to question if he is the person the pass was issued for, and if he's committing fraud.
If I no longer look like the picture on my bus pass I get kicked off of the bus too. Bit of a sensationalist spin, if you ask me.

 

[Mary Anne]

It's just a bus ride. The driver shouldn't take the risk of leaving someone along the curb scared. There has to be a better way of handling such situations. Particularly in a situation concerning ID for a simple bus ride. No one was going to be terribly harmed if it was a fake. There should be a simple way for the transportation system to keep track. What exactly are computers and stuff for? What year is this? @Mary Anne , there really isn't a such thing as the non-disabled world. It is just as much the disabled's as it is the abled world. The abled need to learn that they are not the center of the Universe and adjust accordingly. It's time we weren't expected to do all the adjusting.

The bus driver can lose his job for overlooking a potential fake id. Transit companies regularly have assessors take busses who pose as regular people, to monitor driver behavior. People try to scam transit systems all the time. I have seen it.

It’s time that disabled people who do not immediately look or act disabled be more aware that their ids, photos, etc be up to date, just like drivers licenses, passports, and other forms of identification. The rest of the world understands this! We disabled have to fit into a world that is not custom made for us. We disabled people need to be responsible.

There is no way currently to identify disabled people other than a special bus pass when riding transit systems. Which is supposed to be kept updated. It’s not the drivers fault if the bus pass photo did not match the person getting on the bus.

Not all disabled want a instant universal way to identify them as disabled either! Have you heard of HIPPA? Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a US law designed to provide privacy standards to protect patients' medical records.

 

[StephF]

This is so disgusting, that bus driver should be sacked ! The company should also make good for the distress caused and not just a simple apology.

 

[Ezra]

I think perhaps the bus driver acted poorly.

But at the same time in the article I read about it it featured two what looked like recent photos of him that he was posing for, not looking the least bit uncomfortable to me. So it kinda contradicts what he's saying in my opinion of why he has an ID with a picture of a 13 year old.

If it were me I'd look very uncomfortable and be looking down at the ground, not right into the camera.

 

[55853]

But at the same time in the article I read about it it featured two what looked like recent photos of him that he was posing for, not looking the least bit uncomfortable to me. So it kinda contradicts what he's saying in my opinion.

If it were me I'd look very uncomfortable and be looking down at the ground, not right into the camera

Have you never had your photo taken for official documentation before? He may find those stressful but not family photos like the ones in the article. For those, you have to go to somewhere that takes them, they're taken in a bright room, and you have to be looking straight ahead with a completely neutral expression. Plenty of things to be stressed about there. The photos in the article would not be used on any identification cards. As well as that, people can and do tolerate stressful things without it being immediately visible. Maybe he is stressed there, but he's posing because he knows his parents want him to.

 

[Ezra]

I won't allow anyone at all to take a photo of me period unless it's absolutely necessary. I wouldn't expect my school ID etc to be considered valid if it had a picture of me from 4 years ago. I've changed quite a bit since then. I have to get a state ID at the dreaded DMV when I turn 18 in 3 months and I'm just going to have to go through with it.

Now I feel bad for Connor. I also have speech and learning difficulties as well as suffering from memory loss and confusion. And I would have been messed up by such a situation. Although in my case I look pretty clearly disabled because of a disorder outside of autism. I can imagine it's difficult in its own way to be disabled and not appear so. But I think that's all the more reason why a disability ID must be up to date for such people. I don't think driver's need to be trained to play detective or whatever. The ID should be able to speak for itself.

 

[kay]

Four years isn't that long. My drivers license only needs to be renewed every six years and obviously a person can go through a lot of change in six years. If I were to gain 50 pounds and get a blond crew cut not likely anyone would recognize me from my current id, yet who gets a new id with every weight gain and loss and hair color change? The transport system would be who decides how often a picture is taken and if they allow the same picture for 4 years. Besides, that's like 14 to 18 for this kid. It's not like age 4 to 18. They give out disability passes to plenty of people with all kinds of disabilities who might not be obvious. People change appearance considerably over shorter times than 4 years. No reason to for things like this to happen.

I really don't think it's up to people with disabilities to constantly jump through more hoops than everyone else just to get by in a society which insist that one size should fit all and lacks basic consideration of differences. Should women just continue to put up with crap from rude men in male dominated industries just because the work space isn't set up particularly well for women? Is it an individual women's responsibility or is it the places they work? When cabs won't stop to pick up a black guy should he just accept that it's a white man's world and find another form of transport? Of course not because it's not a white man's world and the idea that anyone who is not a white man is a minority is about as stupid a concept as ever was invented. (I do not hate white men, even married one, but I do hate the way things are set up as though they are the gold standard.)

Of course we can't adapt enough for every disability, there is nothing we can do about some things no matter how much we might like to, but we can have a more understanding society and human created situations should always take into consideration all types of people.

 

[Smiley]

I once rode a town bus for four days using an ID that I'd found on the sidewalk. I had mine with me, it was just an experiment to check whether drivers looked at the card. The ID card that I found belonged to a large black man, and I'm a small white woman. The man who lost the card wasn't able to retrieve it from me for a few days, so I ran my experiment as long as I had the card. Not one driver said anything. I rode 2-4 times daily.

This was about 25 years ago. Maybe they look now.

 

[Mr Allen]

Like I said in the OP, the photo on my pass is at least 5 years old and gets accepted every time, I don't see what the Bus driver's problem was here.

 

[Smiley]

Probably there is more to the story.

 

[Judge]

We don't really know what may or may not have taken place between the bus driver and his employer for him to have taken such action. And for legal purposes it's doubtful the transit company is going to be totally transparent about it.

Those of us on the spectrum can all choose to take this personally. Always an option with such stories.

But the flip side of the issue is transit fraud and where drivers must draw lines in determining such things. And the possibility of pressure placed on him by his own employer in a pursuit to curtail transit fraud.

And there's no mention I found of such prior occurrences of this particular driver. The guy may have simply made a bad call in judgment. It happens.

 

[Mr Allen]

Probably there is more to the story.

Yeah, like Bus drivers who are prejudiced against the disabled.

Jesus wept.

 

[xyzzy]

Yeah, like Bus drivers who are prejudiced against the disabled.

Jesus wept.

Not necessarily. It's important to remember that we only have the disabled person's word for it. We don't have the bus driver's side recorded.

As an autist myself, I naturally sympathize with the passenger. Yet, in fairness, I have to acknowledge that the bus driver may very well have had "reasonable cause" to turn this person away.

 

[Judge]

Another thing to consider is the duty owed by the transit company and driver to ensure the safety of their passengers. A consideration that is elevated given the vulnerability of these particular passengers.

If they are lackadaisical about who boards the bus, that also could potentially result in some nasty losses in both property and bodily injury. So while the driver may have messed up this time, it doesn't disqualify him from a fundamental obligation to monitor who boards his bus. A more serious exposure than just transit fraud when it comes to the disabled.

With such considerations, would it have been better for the driver to just ignore a passenger whose photo doesn't seem to match their appearance? Maybe not.

This isn't about prejudice. It's about liability. With the driver damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't.