On a recent adventure in Sydney, we were waiting in line at a taxi rank in the pouring rain for a cab. The NRL crowd were on fire and there was a mixture of winners and losers – but all pumped up after a good game.
As we approached our turn for a cab, a maxi taxi rolled up (T3519). The driver stated to the guy managing the line (Do they have a name? As they are not ‘security’ are they? You know who I mean!), that he wanted 5 passengers and he would not accept anything else.
Stepping to the front, I advised him that I had a disability and asked if he could he please take us. There were only two of us. No other cabs were in sight, and there was a long queue behind us.
A response of judgement came out of his mouth. You don’t have a disability. Prove it to me.
Prove it to me? Did I hear that right? I was wearing a dress, and I was looking fab after a great night out ….. but in front of a crowd I was not going to lift my dress to show my prosthetic legs! Those who know me might say “Why not?” – this was one of those moments where ‘proving’ I have a disability was not going to happen. My word should have been enough.
The ‘security taxi man’ then approached the cab driver where I then discreetly displayed that I had a disability. Then, the NRL crowd went ‘wild’. In shock, the cab driver just took off without any fare at all.
It was the first time in my life I have heard someone say ‘prove it to me’. In hindsight though, I don’t take this personally. Back to the principles of you don’t know what you don’t know. He had a perception that a person with disability can’t look fab!
Shame I didn’t take the opportunity to prove him wrong!
They say in life, it is the journey and not the destination that is the key. However sometimes even staring that journey can be difficult. Even more so if you have a disability and all you are trying to do is get a cab to your destination!