We Can Attest: Blind Travel is Often Humiliating

Eurostar labelled ‘shameful’ after abandoning blind man in Brussels

 

Excerpted article from Kentnews

 

Eurostar has been forced to apologise amidst threats of legal action after a blind man was abandoned on a train to Brussels.

Dr Tom Pey, chief executive of the Royal London Society for the Blind, which runs Dorton House School in Seal, Sevenoaks, was helped onto the train at Ebbsfleet by a friend, who told the conductor to guide him off when it reached the Belgium capital.

However, when the other passengers left the train there was no help waiting for him and after an hour and a half he left to try and find a taxi.

Dr Pey is now taking legal advice about suing Eurostar for disability discrimination.

(Click on the Kentnews link above for full story.)

 

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It takes emotional intelligence and stamina to travel when you can’t see. Finding your your way in strange cities is hard enough, but Dr. Pey’s story above illustrates what I think is the most common problem blind and visually impaired people face: discrimination from transportation employees.

Here is a post I wrote last summer after having a lousy time in New York City:

http://www.planet-of-the-blind.com/2010/07/so-i-went-to-new-york.html 

The point of course is that these stories are legion and they are discouraging.

Here is a story I wrote not long ago about some humiliation I endured with Delta Airlines:

http://www.planet-of-the-blind.com/2011/02/delta-is-ready-when-you-are.html 

I do not speak for all blind and visually impaired people—but my general rule of thumb is that “if it happens to me” then it’s gotta be happening to others.

We wish Dr. Pey many wonderful future trips with his beloved guide dog. We wish dignity for everyone with a disability who travels, even if the trip is just outside your house.

 

S.K.