The joys of commuting as an aspie/autie

girl7000 · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 6:57 am Post subject:

Hi,

I was just wondering what other people's experience was of commuting / public transport as an aspie/autie?? I would be very interested to hear from people on this subject.

I live in the UK and work in London. I have to commute to work 4 days a week in central London and my commute is about 1hour 20 minutes each way.

I have HUGE problems with commuting. It would take me a very long time to detail the various problems I experience, so I'll just produce a list of the main issues:

Announcements are difficult to hear due to echo and background noise. Also, like many people with ASDs I hear mostly in vowels which doesn't help. No surtitles or other speech-to-text interpretation is provided at stations.

I am dyslexic and timetables are therefore very difficult to read. Also, some information such as details of engineering works is only displayed on writing - which is only of limited help to me. I have difficulty using the automated ticket machines as there is a lot of text to read and if you ask staff for help they generally have a very poor attitude.

I often get pushed around and bullied by other passengers.

There are many VERY loud noises which hurt my ears, but although I have complained about this and suggested multi-sensory warning systems rather than just noises (e.g. flashing lights as well as a noise, or a vibrating floor panel to alert people who have profound hearing impairments and people such as aspies who had sensory integration dysfunction who are unable to respond positively to loud noises) but this is not taken seriously by anyone and they say it is a health and safety issue as alarms must be of a certain volume - but if they took the multi-sensory approach this wouldn't be an issue and what about people who are profoundly deaf? No matter how loud a sound is they will still be unable to hear it.

Staff are often rude and unhelpful to people with hidden disabilities (well, I say hidden, I often walk around with my hands over my ears because of the noise and I also walk a little awkwardly and I often end up jogging through the station as I want to get out as fast as possible - people might not be able to spot that I have AS but they can certainly tell that I have, er, 'issues'.)

Staff use a lot of non-verbal communication and ask non-specific questions. When I ask for clarification I am either ignored or greatly patronised.

When I ask staff for help, for example with bullying or understanding a time table or announcement, I am either ignored or patronised or even made fun of!

Wayfinding information is very limited - staff seem to just expect everyone to know their way around London and if you ask them for help they give minimal directions unless you really push them for it - which just leads to them being patronising (again).

People are much more likely to push you and ignore you when you say 'excuse me' or 'you're hurting me' if you are female.

There are always numerous people giving out flyers at stations - there seems to be no concept that this could cause overload and distress (due to multiple incidences of enforced communication from people asking you to take a flyer or sign up to something or whatever).

Trains are overcrowded and noisy- unpleasant for all whether they have ASD or not.

Passengers can behave very badly and anti-socially on trains (I once got sat next to a guy who started masturbating!!!!) and the staff either don't do anything or are not even present.

The complaints department are useless. They don't understand AS.

The 'assisted travel' department who are supposed to help passengers with disabilities don't cater for autism - once I was even asked why I had phoned the number.....because autism is a disability?????

I even emailed the disability rights commission who basically took the side of the company. The attitude seems to be that if you can't cope with the system, don't use it. Well sorry, I WANT to work and there are not very many good jobs where I live (and it is also hard to get a job there once they find out I have AS - have lost 2 jobs because of it, been bullied in 2 jobs and had a job offer withdrawn and 1 interview terminated when they found out. My current job is the FIRST one where my disability has not been seen as an 'issue' by my employer and colleagues).
The DRC say that unless a company provides a service for the general public they can't be expected to do it for people with disabilities. But I'm not asking for anything unreasonable - just don't patronise me, intervene if you see someone being bullied or if someone is behaving illegally, and get some training about autism and hidden disabilities, PLEASE!

Once, a train re-routed without warning because of engineering works and, typical aspie - I had a huge panic attack because I don't cope with sudden changes well! I then had to have an argument with a train guard to help me find a small quantity of water so that I could take a tranquillizer to quell the panic. He persisted in the argument even though I was having as asthma attack so was struggling to speak (and breathe!).

Anyway, I just wondered what other people's experience of public transport and commuting was and if you have any ideas as to what can be done by either me or the powers that be to make it more bearable.

Thanks, and excuse the rant - it's just that this is becoming hard to tolerate for me! Thanks for listening and please feel free to share your own commuting experiences.