10 Things That Piss Off Powerchair Users

⚠️ Please read with care: This blog shares personal, sometimes painful experiences. My intention is to support and speak honestly not to harm. I’m not a professional, just someone who understands how hard it can get. If you're struggling, you're not alone please reach out for professional help.

Being in a powerchair turns you into an unwilling educator. Every trip outside is a crash course in society’s blind spots, usually delivered through insults, inconvenience, or straight-up ignorance. People love to say “we’ve come so far with accessibility.” Sure if by “far” you mean the distance between a broken lift and a locked “accessible” toilet.

Here’s a list of ten everyday things that piss off powerchair users. Read it, wince, and maybe think twice before you become Exhibit A.

1. People Using Your Chair as a Leaning Post

Public service announcement: my wheelchair is not furniture. It’s not a pub bar, not a bus pole, not a handy little shelf for your latte. It’s my legs, my freedom, my independence. Treating it like a prop is like leaning on a stranger’s shoulders in the street you’d get smacked.

When people pull this stunt, they’re lucky if they don’t go flying backwards when I tap the joystick forward. That’s not malice, that’s karma in motion. You lean, you lose. One little jolt and you’ll learn the hard way that powerchairs have horsepower.

2. Doorways Designed by Sadists

Doctors, dentists, even bloody hospitals the very places disabled people should be prioritised are often fortresses of inaccessibility. Narrow doors that scrape your knuckles, heavy ones that require the strength of Thor, and automatic doors that open just enough to wedge you halfway in, like Winnie the Pooh stuck in Rabbit’s hole.

Dentists are the worst: treatment rooms upstairs, lifts “out of order,” and a receptionist shrugging while suggesting you “find another practice.” Translation: go away, you’re inconvenient.

And don’t get me started on “accessible toilets” crammed with mop buckets and bins. Accessibility isn’t about token ramps or box-ticking. It’s about being able to live your life without negotiating with bad architecture. Right now, every doorway is a gamble and too often the house wins.

3. The Classic: “Wow, You’re So Fast!”

Yes, it’s a powerchair. Of course it moves fast. Did you expect pedals? Flintstone feet? The patronising tone is the real kicker, like I’m a toddler on a tricycle. Keep it up and you’ll discover just how fast this chair can spin on its axis right onto your toes. A&E will love explaining why you limped in.

4. Potholes and “Accessible” Kerbs That Aren’t

Kerbs with pathetic half-inch dips aren’t accessible they’re traps. Councils save money while my suspension gets battered like a carnival ride. Potholes lurk like landmines; hit one and your coffee becomes an abstract painting on your lap while your spine auditions for Cirque du Soleil. It’s not just inconvenient, it’s dangerous. But hey, there’s always money for another “disability awareness week” poster.

5. Strangers Asking, “What’s Wrong With You Then?”

This one deserves an Olympic medal for sheer audacity. You’re minding your own business and some random blurts out: “So what’s wrong with you then?” Not “hello,” not “how are you,” just straight for the jugular.

I like to lean in and whisper, “It’s a highly infectious disease. If I breathe too heavily, you might catch it. Best step back.” Watching the colour drain from their face is priceless. They shuffle off, and I get the luxury of personal space.

The truth? That question isn’t curiosity, it’s entitlement. It says, “You don’t look normal, so explain yourself.” If I want you to know, I’ll tell you. Otherwise, assume I’m just living my life—only with more horsepower under my seat.

6. Restaurants Proudly Announcing They’re “Accessible”…

Slap “accessible” on the website, job done. In reality? A step at the door, tables bolted in place like medieval stocks, bathrooms barely big enough for a broom, and emergency cords tied neatly out of reach. Accessibility isn’t a PR stunt. It’s the difference between being a customer and being excluded. Too many places still don’t get it or don’t care.

7. People Who Talk to Your Companion Instead of You

The dehumanisation is casual but brutal. “Does she take sugar?” they ask your friend, while you sit right there. My favourite move? Answer loudly before anyone else can. “Yes, she takes sugar and she also takes no prisoners.” Watch their eyes flicker with embarrassment, suddenly forced to acknowledge the person they just pretended didn’t exist.

8. Lifts That Break or Are Hijacked by Lazy Legs

When lifts break, you’re stranded. When lifts work, some healthy office drone barges in first with their Pret salad, glaring like you’re the inconvenience. Stairs are right there, mate try them. I fantasise about a trapdoor: anyone who uses the lift needlessly drops into a pit of angry mobility scooters. That would sort it.

9. Public Transport Roulette

Every bus journey is a gamble. Will the ramp work, or will the driver groan like you’ve ruined their day? Trains are worse staff “forget” the ramp, and you’re left waving goodbye from the platform while the carriage rolls off. They call it public transport, but for wheelchair users it’s more like a lottery. And the prize? Public humiliation.

10. Being Treated Like an Inspiration Just for Existing

“Wow, you’re so brave.” Brave for what buying milk? Surviving outside without bursting into grateful tears? This isn’t courage, it’s survival. You don’t call someone inspiring for walking to the corner shop. When people lay that label on you, what they’re really saying is: “I can’t imagine living like you, so I’ll frame your existence as heroism to make myself feel better.”

Save your pity dressed as praise. If you want to be inspired, fix your pavements, build real ramps, and design toilets that don’t double as janitor cupboards.

Final Word

Every one of these daily irritations isn’t just an annoyance they’re reminders of how the world still excludes people who don’t fit the narrow definition of “normal.” Dark humour is how many of us survive it, but the truth underneath is deadly serious: accessibility is not optional, and disabled people are not public property.

The world wasn’t built for us but that doesn’t mean we’ll stay quiet while it pretends otherwise.

I write in ink and fury, in breath and broken bone.
Through storm and silence, I survive. That is the crime and the miracle.