How to get a seat on a public bus...

So I got on a bus, after having just stood out in a snow storm for 25 minutes waiting on the bus to arrive…I was tired, cold, wet, and carrying a reusable grocery bag full of items I just bought at IKEA.  I looked around, with no luck of finding a seat, I stood.  For me, I suppose I try to be the same as everyone else and stand because that was what was necessary…

The same though… that’s hard to be when I’m not… when I was born without all of my muscles… Something that is often not initially noticed by others, that others can’t initially see…

Well, I was standing, trying to hold on, no one could tell I have a disability that I really wanted a seat; no one else could know that.  So, I stood, I held on and of course, in the snowy weather on the way down the hill, the bus took a quick stop…I went flying toward the front of the bus, thankfully, there was another person there, one I could land on, one that stopped me from slamming into the front of the bus near the driver.  After my initial shock, I did apologize; I said “pardon,” after all, I am in Belgium.   After falling, someone did notice and opened a seat for me, just for me because she saw that I fell.

So, I try to be the same, I try to do what others have to do when it comes to life, sometimes, I fall short.  I can’t do everything the same.  In this case though, I wouldn’t know how to ask for a seat how would I say or tell a complete stranger that I have a disability, when they can’t see it, that I would really like to take their seat away from them.  To me it would create an awkward conversation one that I don’t really want to talk about with people on the bus, one that I have an even harder time discussing in French to people on the bus.

So, through this experience, I believe I found the best way for me to get a seat, actually be to the exhaustion level to fall, and then the people will surely make space!