Dealing with the Failure to Yield
I’ve never written about any personal health problems with any great detail but my most recent experience has prompted me to do so for several reasons. Several months ago, I had hip arthroscopy…while it is a minimally invasive procedure…that doesn’t mean it is a pain free experience. Full recovery is between six months to a year. To make a long story short I had a hip labral tear. A hip labral tear involves the ring of soft elastic tissue, called the labrum, that follows the outside rim of the socket of your hip joint. ~ Mayo Clinic. Put simply torn cartilage in your hip. Physical therapy is how it is treated in a lot of instances; it wasn’t an option for me though. How it happened is anyone’s guess. I was pretty physically active with yoga, dance and martial arts classes.
The surgery itself was a piece of cake. I got knocked out and remember nothing. While pre-surgery testing was annoying it was nothing like the post-surgical experience I had. I was given a cane to use the day of the surgery…yes this is a out-patient procedure and they make you walk out that day once you wake up.
I expected to have some trouble navigating the public transportation system in New York, my mother had polio as a child and while she recently started using a cane herself I had seen prior to this how people treated her when she visited. She was slower going up steps and was nearly tripped on more than one occasion. It’s one thing to watch but it is quite another to be the victim of other people’s truly moronic behavior.
Anyone who has met my mom knows she wasn’t too pleased to hear what I was dealing with on the subway almost daily. I told her it was beyond pointless to write the MTA but she did anyway…
Below is the response she received…
This is in response to your recent e-mail to MTA New York City Transit regarding priority seating.
We sincerely regret any difficulty you have experienced. As you know, New York City Transit has seating on buses and subway cars specifically designated for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. The seats marked “Priority Seating” are designated for customers with disabilities, as mandated by federal law. If a customer requests one of these seats and the occupant refuses to move, the bus operator or conductor (if available) must explain the policy and ask the person to vacate the seat. The role of the bus operator or conductor in this case is to remind the customer of the law. This issue is complicated by the fact that not all disabilities are obvious physical ones. The person occupying the Priority Seat might refuse to vacate the seat because the person requesting the seat shows no visible sign of any disability. The person with the disability is not required to state their disability and the bus operator or conductor is not allowed to ask about the disability.
Seats at either end of a subway car, with signs reading, “Won’t you please give this seat to the elderly or disabled,” are considered “courtesy seats” because it is up to customers to voluntarily give up these seats. It may interest you to know that NYC Transit has a public awareness campaign intended to encourage our customers to give up their seats to the elderly and disabled. It should also be noted that while bus operators and conductors are obligated to request compliance with the law, they are not authorized to compel compliance.
If you have further transit-related concerns, you may visit our website at www.mta.info, or call (718) 330-1234, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., daily, or write to Customer Services at 2 Broadway, Room A11.146, New York, NY 10004.
We thank you for taking the time to contact us.
The first time I read this email from the MTA my initial thought was bullocks. I haven’t seen any awareness campaign and I ride the subway pretty much everyday. If the goal of the campaign is awareness well it isn’t working or is so well hidden it’s a Mission Impossible assignment.
If bus operators and conductors are not authorized to compel compliance what exactly is the point.
Seriously…
I was nearly hit by several strollers on the street..and yes they saw me..I was just moving too slowly to get out of the way. One man even jumped to get around me nearly causing me to fall over. He said he was sorry as he was doing it. Right. My response to him was if he was actually sorry he wouldn’t have done it in the first place.
People would rush me to get into an elevator, I love kids but a stroller isn’t a disability the last time I checked. The sign does say people with disabilities and the elderly should be let on first. My mother had the same issue when she was here. I even asked a elderly woman on the subway one day what her experiences were like on the transit system. She used a cane as well. Sadly she’d also had people nearly trip her with strollers, bikes..you name it…it had happened.
Someone said to me perhaps because of my age people assumed I didn’t need a seat. Er, please. People didn’t even get up for an older woman. Crutches, cane, wheelchair…doesn’t matter you become part of the invisible crowd…and yes people do avoid eye contact. My physical limitations were temporary, people deal with this crap everyday. How I don’t know. I was sorely tempted to whack someone with my cane a few times…I’m only half joking.
Well, I’m having knee surgery in a few weeks, not sure I’m ready for another round of that rubbish. But thanks to all the strangers who did give up their seats or stopped me from falling when others bumped into me.
So my plea is this:
- Be more aware of your surroundings and fellow human beings.
- Offer your seat to pregnant women, the elderly and people with disabilities. They shouldn’t have to ask.
by Ilise Benun—author, consultant and national speaker, the founder of 
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