Sitting at the bar in a public house is a rare treat for me nowadays as it is not often that I get the chance to drink alcohol. In the past, I would have been out every night, but since spending most of my time with Andrew, this does not happen frequently. It is not that I don’t drink, simply that it is better if I do not do so as heavily as once I did. Last night, therefore, was most pleasant as I was sat in the Barley Mow public house in Bedford with a friend. All was well, after all I had seized the Mayoralty¹ rom Paul Antony Keep until my friend popped out to have a smoke in the back passage, and a bar man arrived to remove his stool. He asked for mine as well, but as I was sitting on it, this proved quite an obstacle for Ash. Another hour passed, and he returned, saying

I have to take the stool. My boss says so.

Both my friend and I pointed out that I am disabled. Really it can be very hard for me to be standing up for prolonged periods of time. However, no argument could sway him:

Don’t blame me, it’s my boss

Section 21(4) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (c.50) states:

Where an auxiliary aid or service (for example, the provision of information on audio tape or of a sign language interpreter) would–
(a) enable disabled persons to make use of a service which a provider of services provides, or is prepared to provide, to members of the public, or
(b) facilitate the use by disabled persons of such a service,
It is the duty of the provider of that service to take such steps as is reasonable, in all the circumstances of the case, for him to have to take in order to provide that auxiliary aid or service.

It is my contention that as a disabled person it was reasonable to have been allowed the use of an auxiliary aid – in this case a bar stool – to facilitate my use of the service provided by the public house. It really is quite clear.

It does not help that my disability is one that is ‘hidden’. It is not obvious that I am disabled, but I most certainly am, and this is confirmed by Schedule 1 of the DDA. It is, perhaps, naïve to think that in a gay-friendly bar there would be a more sensitive understanding of the issue surrounding HIV and discrimination in general, but it should be made clearer.

I didn’t blame Ash, the bar man, and later on, we agreed that it was not his fault, when we met in the Gentlemen’s Convenience, but I do wonder what it is that makes a publican feel that he must remove all bar stools from the public bar of his establishment at about ten o’clock in the evening when there not a few hours left to run with it open. What is more interesting is that on Friday evening, the auxiliary aid (bar stool) on which I was sitting was not removed.

We’ll see what happens this evening as I feel sure that we will be back in the bar, and on Tuesday there’ll be the star attraction of ‘Quiz on my sheets’ with ‘Fat Ian’ who played Ted Fisk in Grange Hill.

Footnotes

¹ Not wanting to use the American term preferred by Foursquare of Mayorship. Being in the United Kingdom, it seems to me that Mayoralty would be much preferable.