Still Waiting For An Autism Friendly Bristol After Boots Pharmacy Fail
Another day of accessibility failure in Bristol
Opinion
The wait for Bristol to become an Autism Friendly city continues to pass like an ice age. It’s not just schools, council services, health services, police and social care that need to wake up and start the journey, it’s also nearly every place you can think of going to.
Today’s final straw was the queue in Boots in Broadmead. It’s usually long, slow and not always a fruitful experience when reaching the end. This makes it incredibly difficult, at times entirely inaccessible for Disabled people to wait in. Today was the final straw. A prescription of medication, tantilisingly held in front of us could not be given to us because we were a day late collecting it. We were late because it had to be ordered in and then it was difficult finding a time that the queue was accessible enough to wait in.
Moving on from that issue, the pharmacist would fill the next prescription but only if we came back half an hour and queued again. This might not sound like a big issue but it is. Whilst waiting half an hour for a prescription is fine, a second wait in the queue was just not doable. This is something that really affects neurodivergent people such as autistic people, those with ADHD or a Learning Disability.
Some pharmacists in Boots have allowed us to return at the allocated time and brought it out when they have seen us come back. This works a lot like timed-tickets for virtual queuing. Today this was not to be. The only way to collect the prescription was to wait in the queue a second time. We were told by staff that there were no adjustments in place for Disabled people. It was either queue or “go somewhere else”.
It’s galling that in 2024, Disabled people are told to perform in neurotypical ways simply to access something as simple as medication. That no reasonable adjustments could be put in place.
Unfortunately for Boots, equality law applies to them as well as to every other shop, business or service. But their approach to equality law is to go somewhere else.
We did. There was no queue in the pharmacy in Superdrug, but they told us the medication was not available to order. This was doubly frustrating considering medication ordered and allocated to a Disabled person was sitting in Boots but could not be accessed by what is really discrimination and spite.
The inaccessibility of life continues every day in so many ways for Disabled people. There are not any days where there are no barriers which must be overcome. What is given in abundance is judgement, spite, law-breaking and vilification.
It’s not just Boots in Broadmead which has become an inaccessible obstacle. The last three journeys we have taken with National Express within the last six weeks between Bristol and London Victoria have been an unreliable mess around accessibility arrangements.
Because we have experienced too many access arrangements not put in place, I simply pay more to reserve the seats we need. Then I email National Express to explain they are for Disabled people and requesting additional support for both Bristol and Victoria Coach Station. I have been told by National Express that I do not have to pay to book seats.
A response included in my last complaint states: ‘I also wanted to be clear in stating you do not need to pay for seat reservations for disabled or mobility reasons. Our assisted travel team will always book any reserved seats needed at no additional charge (provided they are still able to be booked and not taken by other passengers).’
But when booking the coach, I need to know what seats are available there and then. Hope that they are available is not a reliable way of booking for Disabled people who need specific arrangements. Sometimes the access arrangements for National Express journeys are not processed until the day before. That’s no good if other customers are reserving seats in the meantime.
Also, phone up and book tickets and do the access arrangements at the same time? Well phoning up can also be a barrier for people with some disabilities.
Yet again we found our reservations were not in place on 27 October returning to Bristol. In fact, we were unceremoniously dumped in front of several coaches departing for Bristol with some kind of driver quibble going on between all of them about who was going which way with which passengers.
There is also an issue in Broadmead and in supermarkets with security guards not being trained to stop profiling neurodivergent shoppers as shoplifters simply because there is clearly something different about the way they move around shops. Despite never having shoplifted in my life, I am almost always targeted by security guards in Broadmead. I suspect it’s the combination of the black hoodie, looking a bit poor and having ADHD.
It’s utterly mortifying having security guards come and stand, staring at you when you’re simply looking at something on sale. I notice other customers done up in Boden, John Lewis or who have that teacher energy in the way they dress do not get the same attention.
So unfortunately, it’s boycott time for stores who operate in this way. I would like to actually browse things that I might buy without being followed and stared at by a security guard with the fixed glare of a Stalin poster.
Bristol is not autism friendly, disability friendly, neurodivergent friendly and not only has a long way to go, it actually needs to get started.
A great way of not doing that is by removing all the seating in Broadmead for the Christmas market each year.
And if you are a theatre, cultural destination, arts venue or tourist attraction stop making Disabled people pay for reasonable adjustments. If neurotypical Jeff next door can decide to pop out for an afternoon to see a show or event and doesn’t have to pay for being non-Disabled, then Disabled people should be able to do the same.
Families with Disabled members usually have to plan, organise and prepare for such outings with military precision. Sometimes, however, when the planets are in alignment, it might be possible to do something radical – like an unplanned stop-off somewhere or a day-trip. But venues are increasingly turning to making Disabled people pay to join some of the access schemes available. This means at the door they are being told they must have filled in a form last month to access support today.
This pretty much means filling in forms the DWP can be proud of. Sending in lots of confidential information to then be judged whether one’s disability is worthy of bestowing upon them a card they must then pay for. If you don’t make non-Disabled people do this then stop targeting Disabled people.
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