Getting on the right track….
Today’s guest blogger is Laura Volcheff, a physiotherapy student from Pacific University, Oregon in America. Laura is currently volunteering with Trailblazers and helped organise yesterday’s All Party Parliamentary Group for Young Disabled People , where Trailblazers joined MPs to quiz representatives from some of the country’s major train operators.
To be completely honest, I felt like a bit of a train wreck coming to London from the US this summer. But, as all potentially fiscally irresponsible decisions seem to begin, my mind refused to stray from the idea — here I am.
This decision has already led me to experiences that I am overwhelmingly thankful for. The first being the APPG for Young Disabled People rail transport session (16 June). For those of you who attended the session, you witnessed the profond questions and comments from Trailblazers and MPs as well as both positive and frustrating moments in many of the responses from the panel of Transport bosses. I would like to particularly applaud Mr. Maynard for his excellent direction of the session as he created an atmosphere for productive communication, future growth and relationships.
One such relationship I developed from this session occured with another Trailblazer at the meeting – Tmara. I am here as a student from the US but more importantly a student of the MDC Trailblazers, and Tmara did not hesitate to guide me through this learning process:
As I accompanied her to her journey home on the train, we discussed her thoughts on public attitudes towards people with disabilities and her ideas around remedying such issues. Ironically, when we arrived at the train station, I witnessed an interesting contrast in the exact attitudes we had discussed:
Tmara needed a later train ticket and requested assistance from an employee. This man kindly directed us to another employee — as he was in the middle of a different job — yet the second train staffer quietly refused to help us. Immediately, the first train staffer grabbed his peer’s name tag and told him he would report him if he did not help. Needless to say, the second staffer helped us and Tmara received a later ticket.
Spending this time with Tmara was very helpful for me. I am currently doing research on the impact of cultural differences on social attitudes toward people with disabilities. If you would be willing to meet with me and discuss your thoughts on this topic, please contact me at lvolcheff@zagmail.gonzaga.edu.
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