Listening to Anne Wafula distressing story about wetting herself on a train – the disabled toilet was out of order; had a lot of empathy with me. Having lived with Multiple Sclerosis for over 20 years and now reliant on a wheelchair, I’ve had my own share of wet underpants and the subtle woft of urine cutting through the air.

My condition means urinary incontinence – in particular urgency, can be a problem. Whilst Anne and I differ physically – if things get desperate, I can always syphon the python into an emergency bottle; when it comes to her plight however, as part of the Disabled community – we are as one.

Her experience illustrates society’s failure to dismantle the barriers we face – an eyes wide shut approach, with added lip service, that does little to embrace us for what we’re worth.

Most of us whatever our condition get on with it stoically – shit happens and you deal with it. However the cards are always stacked against us, which festers frustration and ultimately anger especially when a little tweeking and understanding by society, could make our lot so much better.

I fully appreciate that Planes, trains and automobiles were never designed for people in wheelchairs. Although adaptions and new designs have helped to improve accessibility, things will never be perfect. I’m resigned to my Hanibal Lecter cameo when getting dragged through an aeroplane in an aisle chair and scaling the Eiger, when getting helped up the ramp into a black cab.

However I don’t expect to be forced from my car when travelling on the Wightlink ferry service because it constituted a health & safety issue – hello it was a 35 minute journey, or refused access to a bus because the wheelchair space is taken by a child in a pram.

What really irritates me though is the way Disabled people are lamponed for societies excesses, helping deflect the blame from the true culprits of our precarious economy. Accused of being to lazy to get off our fat asses and subsequently dragging the rest of the human race down with us – nothing could be further from the truth.

Most people I meet with a disability are chomping at the bit to improve their lot but a distinct lack of opportunity and blatant discrimination constantly holds them back.

We face much higher levels of unemployment, poverty, sub standard housing, education, poor transport, higher levels of depression which forces many underground – to live it out, in their own little bubble. The chances of connection are much reduced and families and friends who live and breath the ailment with us, inevitably face their lives being stifled too.

Anne’s story should act as a catalyst for us all to come out fighting. The injustice she faced is only the tip of the iceberg and as a community we have a duty to not only defend ourselves, against constant attack, but also to safeguard the interests of the countless millions to follow in our wake.

There are over 11 million disabled people in the UK, that figures continues to rise – no-one is immune. Mental health and dementia are on the march and benevolent prejudice amongst Joe Public needs to stop. Society needs to come to terms with its fear of disability, embracing it to finally understand we are not a burden and more than capable of making a difference if given half a chance.

The government could do so much more. The last 6 years and its draconian policies such as the bedroom tax have helped eradicate any chance of a level playing field for Disabled people – they have become even more isolated.

On current trends we are likely to see the employment gap widen further, despite the Conservative manifesto of 2015 committing to halving the disability employment rate. Much of which is a hollow promise.

Why for example are not all medium to large organisations by law, forced to employ a percentage of staff with disabilities? I worked with L’Oreal London, helping set up an employment program for disabled people which has been hugely succesful. It has helped integrate disabled staff into their workforce. It didn’t take rocket science to set it up, just commitment and a vision from all parties involved.

Other companies should follow the L’Oreal lead. It’s one thing to have a disabled toilet in your building, but it will stand largely symbolic, if you have no-one with genuine needs, whose going to use it.

Local authorities could also be more pro-active, helping generate more income for their communities. The purple or wheel pound as I like to coin it, is worth £80b a year – that’s not loose change.

The improvement of public services would encourage more disabled people to escape their bubble. Grants for businesses to install ramps and loyalty card schemes to connect disabled people and their careers, could help to re-build lost communities, bringing a sense of worth and respect for all involved.

For many people with mobility issues a step into a shop, is a step to far – you might as well hang a sign up saying ‘No Disabled or carers welcome’ In many ways it’s a hidden but accepted throw back to the 60’s when immigrants from the Caribbean and Ireland had to endure similar discrimination, all be it more directly. Things eventually changed for those minorities by protest and never giving in – perhaps we need to take a leaf from their book.

Maybe my hopes for a better deal are just pipe dreams. The current climate of austerity, with its brutal cuts in social services, capped by the demonisation of new minorities does not bode well for us. Disability hate crime is on the increase and ignorance still pursues. Only the other day when walking the dog, I got chatting to Yazzi – who’d suffered an appalling brain injury 12 years ago in a racist attack.

The assault has left him with paralysis down one side of his body, a 10″ scar across his head and speech problems, but he’s still out there grafting, dragging himself daily across the green, to get to the mosque. Yet unforgivably, he was recently verbally abused by a passer by who labelled him a terrorist and now faces the DWP trying to claw back his benefits – In the name of whatever god you believe in….give the guy a break!

On top of Yazzi’s predicament playing on my mind, later on that day I faced some ‘hate crime’ of my own, when intervening in a dog fight – not involving mine for your information. I was accosted by one of the owners screaming ‘I’ll put you fucking down’, shaking her finger in my face.

This touched a raw nerve considering the Nazi’s had murdered 300k of us in the holocaust. After ‘putting her down’, with a few choice words of my own, a history lesson
and my best Clint Eastwood glare, I was left to ponder – as the attack bitch, dragged her dog across the grass, giving me the middle finger – where on earth did our society disappear too.

As originally quoted by a saint and not a villain, ‘where there is despair, may we bring hope’ Anne’s brave revelations have

en-powered disabled people to speak out and have a voice. The battle outside is raging and her story has helped mobilise us for the fight ahead. No longer should we be forced to hold the line, now is the time to take it forward, driving diversity, creating inclusion and building a fairer society for all, that everyone has a place in.