Taxi driver education - a positive outcome I helped to achieve!

You may remember in July last year I was harassed by a taxi driver - he said the skin and cream on my face would ruin his car.

I wrote my complaint on my blog, and formally too. I took this case to the Human Rights Commission, the Victorian Taxi Commission and 13Cabs.

One of the outcomes reached in mediation and meetings with all three organisations was to develop better training for taxi drivers - to teach them that disabilities may not be so obvious, and to ask them to treat each customer with respect and patience, regardless of disability.

I'm pleased to share a video that I helped to make (also featuring my friends Kathryn Beaton and Jax Jacki Brown).

 

You can view the video here.

As I said on the video, disability is wider than wheelchairs and guide dogs. And I asked the taxi drivers to think of the way they treat people - what if this was your sister, wife, daughter or child?

I hope to see improvements in the taxi industry as a result.

Thank you for your support - especially to the Mantra Hotel in Melbourne, Graeme Innes, Debra Cerasa, and Kirsty from 13Cabs.

 

A little taxi driver update and a request.

One of the outcomes I requested after being verbally abused in a taxi in July was that all drivers receive ongoing disability awareness training. I don't want them to receive training on entering employment, but at regular intervals, and I'd also like all offending drivers to receive training immediately after a report is made. I asked for people with disabilities to have a high level of input into the training - including direction of and inclusion in education content.

My contact at 13Cabs told me that there is an education DVD being produced, but it's on hold due to a lack of participants.

She's asked me if I know people with a wide range of disabilities who would like to get involved in starring in the DVD. I said OF COURSE I DO!

So, if you are in Melbourne, have a disability, and want to be involved in educating taxi drivers in disability awareness, please let me know (and leave your email address with me) so I can pass your name on. Contact me via the contact form if you want to keep your email off the Internet.

Thank you!

(If I am honest, I am not sure things would have progressed if I had not followed things up. I was told that a disability organisation did not respond to the call for people with disabilities, and the taxi company is waiting for another incident similar to mine to arise to generate greater public interest. Surely my incident generated enough public interest! I dont want this happening to anyone else. And I hope those two responses aren't a final indication of the level of commitment the taxi industry has to educating drivers about disability. Disappointing. BUT - I will continue to progress this issue and hold hope that positive change will occur as a result of driver education.)

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The roundup: Thank you, Uber, MS Australia conference, Voices of 2013, You Am I.

What a busy few days! I'm exhausted! There's been a bit happening, hence the roundup title of this post.

Firstly, a big thank you for all the support you gave me following the taxi driver verbal abuse incident. So many friends, strangers and people in the media have shared my story. While I do encounter many rude people, the amount of lovely people I encounter, often because of the rude people, is multiplied tenfold. I was commissioned by Daily Life to write a personal account - you can read it here. Writing that article is contributing to my savings account for my next big trip (which I am planning for next year). There have been many silver linings. I am, however, still baffled that 13Cabs have not responded to my tweet or Facebook post. While I logged a formal complaint on Saturday, I expected their social media team to at least acknowledge this incident and advise that my tweet has been escalated. Not good enough.

Also, Uber, a luxury taxi service, has given me some credit to ensure I get home safely in future. I used Uber the night before I received verbal abuse in a 13Cabs taxi. I downloaded the free app to my iPhone, registered with Uber including inputting my debit card details. When I was ready to be driven home, I booked a car, and received notification of the driver's name, photo, car registration and estimated time of arrival by SMS and through the app. When the car arrived, I was excited that it was a luxury limousine, and even more impressed my lovely driver opened the door for both Tash and I. He dropped Tash at her destination and drove me home, making interesting conversation along the way. The car smelled nice, the driver was friendly and I got home safely - without being questioned about my skin. Uber is currently in Sydney and Melbourne and also in America. The Uber service is a little more expensive than a regular taxi service, but I highly recommend it. (Please note - I rode Uber complimentary last Wednesday night after attending a media launch, and Uber also contacted me on Twitter after a few friends suggested I use them following the abuse in the taxi. They offered me further credit so I can ride safely.)

On Friday I gave a talk about resilience and my skin at the Multiple Sclerosis Australia conference. I spoke to around 35 people - and while I had a prepared speech, I winged it, talking a lot about the difficult encounters but also how I live life to the full, despite. After my speech, I presented a master class on blogging, and after a presenter shuffle, I talked the group through the basics of social media - so they too can be online activists. I think I convinced a few of them to start using Twitter and even to blog. Debra Cerasa, CEO of MS Australia - pictured below, has been chatting to me on Twitter for about a year, and it was so lovely to be invited to speak, and also to chat to her and Kathie Melocco (conference facilitator) at the dinner and the conference. Debra has a cooking school, and I can't wait to go with my Mum.

I am very excited to announce that I'm a finalist in Parenting and Personal category of the Kidspot Voices of 2013 blogging competition. It's really nice to be recognised in the blogging industry, and to stand with some prominent bloggers - Kelly, Naomi, Kate and Trish. I had a piece published on the Voices of 2013 blog last week. I'll also be writing a few original posts for the competition, so look out for those. Thanks for supporting me, Alex, Bron, Pip, Sam and all at Kidspot, plus you lovely readers.

I went to see You Am I play at The Forum on Saturday night. They played their Hourly Daily and HiFi Way albums live and in full. I think Tim Rogers is the hottest man in Australian rock and roll.

My only regret in life is that I hadn't seen them live until recently. They were so full of energy, so tight and so fun! Tim Rogers works that stage, demading respect (asking the audience not to throw stuff after two pairs of undies were thrown at him) and swaggers sexily. I loved his jumps and arm swings. The new kid in the band, Davey Lane was such a star too, emulating Tim's riffs perfectly - and Tim was ribbing him about his youth, hair, dress sense and cheek bones. There were a few moments where Tim was heartfelt and vulnerable - talking about how much he's given up because of music, how he misses his little girl, but then realising that everything good in his life has come out of You Am I - including his little girl. At the end of the show, he looked physically worn out. He sat down on the drum podium, resting and reflecting. He looked around at the audience, swigging a drink and thanking us. I got a nod and a thanks after I mouthed thanks to Tim. Chrissie Francis took this photo - she was the only photographer in the pit, standing next to me. I love how it captures Tim's vulnerability and his humility. You can see more of Christine's photos here.

Again, thank you to everyone for your support. I feel very loved, and so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life.

 

Discriminatory abuse from a taxi driver. Diversity training is urgently needed in the taxi industry.

Last night I caught a taxi home. The hotel concierge called it for me, from the Mantra on Russell. I got in the taxi, the driver fiddled with the meter for a minute, and then turned around to ask me where I needed to go. He saw my face, and then asked "what's that smell?".

"What smell?" I asked him. He turned on the light and had a better look at me. (Because that's what happens when you have a visible difference. People look twice, to see if they saw it right the first time.)

"What's on your face?" he asked. "You smell".

I asked him if he wanted me out of his taxi. He said no, but he's worried that my face and smell would damage his car. We had not driven anywhere.

I got out straight away. I did not feel safe. Before shutting the car door I looked him the eye and said "fuck you".

I returned to the hotel lobby, asked for another taxi, told them briefly what happened, and burst into tears.

I didn't get the taxi driver's number. But I've since spoken to the hotel concierge who told me that they can track the booking and get those details from the taxi company. I will make a report.

The irony of last night's situation was that I was catching a taxi home because I had just been at a conference dinner. A conference for Multiple Sclerosis Australia, where disability advocacy issues were being discussed, and people with MS were being empowered.

The second irony is that today I will be speaking at the conference. I will be speaking about my skin and how having a visible difference has made me resilient.

I'm resilient. But I should not have to be reslient all the time. I should not have to put up with or rise above or let it go. I should have the right to get on with my day or night without strangers (and especially service people who I pay) intruding on my privacy, questioning my appearance and making judgments on first sight.

While I have met some lovely taxi drivers, this is not the first time within a year that I have been questioned about my skin in a taxi.

I was told not to touch the seats of a taxi as I was taken home from the airport in October last year - the driver was scared my skin would ruin his seats - he told me he was very concerned for future passengers. But what about the current passenger he had a duty of care to get home safely? What about the Disability Discrimination Act and the Victorian Taxi Directorate Code of Conduct including their commitment to people with disabilities?

After a Bob Evans concert in May, a friend and I shared a taxi home. Before I got in, he asked my friend how much I'd had to drink. She let me answer. I had three drinks very early that night. I was not drunk. I was not disruptive. I just wanted to get home at 1.30 am. He thought I was drunk because my face looked flushed, like someone who had been drinking. And he told me that previous passengers had been as red as me and very drunk. It is not my role as a paying passenger to justify how much I've had to drink when I am clearly not behaving drunkly, nor why I look the way I do.

I believe the taxi industry needs mandatory training about diversity, visible difference disability, tolerance, respect and social etiquette. I have been with disabled friends who have been refused a ride because of their disability. I've heard of indigenous Australians who were allegedly refused a taxi because of the colour of their skin. A friend told me that a taxi driver refused her a short trip when she was pregant, telling her she was fat and needed the walk. This treatment from employees within a necessary service industry is not acceptable.

I don't know if writing this will make a difference. I don't know if reporting the taxi driver will change anything either. But after talking about my experience on social media, it appears many others have had enough of this behaviour. Thank you to everyone who sent kind words last night.

I could have caught the train last night. It was just past 9.00. But it was dark and cold and I was tired. The CEO of MS Australia wanted to give me a cab voucher so I'd get home safe. I eventually did, but for a moment, I didn't feel safe. The confines of a closed car, especially when moving, makes these abusive situations all the more scary.

We have the right to get home safely - without physical or verbal assault. If we can't feel safe in a taxi, how will we get home?

There has been an update on this situation: the hotel has tracked down the driver's details from the booking and have made a complaint. I have made a complaint too. The media has also picked up this story - read it on NineMSN.

I don't ask people to share my posts often. But I'd appreciate it if you shared this one. Thank you.