To make the most of an Irish summer, it's essential to be able to drop everything and rush to the beach as soon as a rare sunny day dawns. Disposing of work and other commitments may be a problem but for most people, transport is a minor consideration.
Not for me. I am 23 years old and have cerebral palsy. I use both crutches and a motorised wheelchair to get out and about. Like so many disabled people in this country, a day at the beach requires a lot of preplanning.
For example, the Dublin city bus service is totally inaccessible because the wheelchair is unable to cope with the high steps. So I am left with only one option - the DART.
For my most recent outing, I set off with a packed lunch to enjoy the good weather of the late summer. I decide to go to the strand at Sandycove. This is when my problems begin.
I live in Raheny, but closer to the Kilbarrack station. When I get as far as St John the Evangelist church I have to come off the pavement and go the rest of the way to the station on the road because pavements from here to the station do not have slopes or dips on them. It's a treacherous manoeuvre because I cannot cross the busy road and must face the oncoming traffic. It's a game of cat and mouse as I battle my way to the station.
At least Kilbarrack station is accessible and there's no problem getting to the platform. But the next problem arises when the train comes into the station: I have to get someone to tip the wheelchair up like a wheelbarrow because the DART train is not level with the platform. There is an 18inch gap between the two.
When I eventually get into the train I have to sit beside the door because otherwise I'd block the aisle.
On reaching Sandycove I have to ask somebody to stand behind the wheelchair to make sure I don't topple over. And when I get into the station, I have to ask the station master to help me down a two-foot step on to the pavement.
The journey down to the strand requires going on and off the pavement because of the lack of accessible pavements, yet again. After more games with the traffic I arrive at the strand - starving after my adventurous journey. So I sit on the promenade and eat my lunch.
After my break I attempt to go down on to the strand but the front wheels of the chair get stuck in the pebbled walk-way - so no sand-castles for me today! I settle for a short drive along the promenade before setting out on the arduous journey home.
The return journey is filled with all the same problems, and thrown in as an added bonus are irritable rush-hour commuters who make me feel awkward in the chair, and I get that squashed-sardine-in-a-can sensation. It's one huge relief to get home.
I believe there should be a special carriage on each train with a ramp to allow wheelchair-users on and off independently. This would not only help disabled people but pensioners as well as people with prams and buggies.
I have travelled through many parts of the Continent on school trips, etc, and found that most of the public transport systems are fully accessible. We are supposed to be a First World country but we do not have accessible transport for one in 20 of the population. I think it's a disgrace.
It's not as if disabled people are a new phenomenon. The DART is a relatively new transport system. If nothing is done about this now, I will probably still be writing similar articles in another 20 years.
The amusing fact about all this is that the Department of Social Welfare gives the disabled a free travel pass for all train and State bus services - but most of them are inaccessible.
