Disgusted by elevator riders not letting a wheelchair user enter (at light rail station)

I broke my foot and am temporarily disabled, using a knee scooter or crutches to get around. When I was at the University district light rail station today, I struggled to get to the elevator on time. I yelled for people to hold the door but they didn’t look up from their phones. When I finally got there, the elevator was full of people who were seemingly able-bodied. Maybe someone in there was disabled (because not all disabilities are visible). But all 7-9 people in that elevator seemed able-bodied and did not have bikes, luggage, carts, canes, or mobility aids. None of them were visibly pregnant or elderly. They were all young people with backpacks using their phones.

What disgusted me the most was not how they treated me, but rather another individual. There was a person in a motorized wheelchair with their careraker also trying to get into the elevator. No one in the elevator made any move to exit, to allow the person in the wheelchair inside. I tried to motion for the wheelchair user and caregiver to go instead of me, but they said they would wait for the next one. I reluctantly got on because I was trying to get somewhere on time.

I was so repulsed that no one gave up their spot in the elevator to the visibly disabled person in the wheelchair that needed it. And they didn’t even try to hold the door for me, when I was using a mobility aid myself. I had to wedge my knee scooter wheels into the doors to get them to stop closing.

Half of the people in the elevator were wearing headphones, so I didn’t feel speaking up would have been effective. I would need to get their attention, wait for them to take out their earbuds, and then explain how what they did was inconsiderate. The elevator ride was short so it would have been tough to get everyone to hear what I had to say. And then what? Them avoid eye contact and say nothing?

When the doors opened at the surface, no one wanted to wait for me to back up in the knee scooter. They tried to pushed past me, almost knocking me over.

I know this is probably nothing new to anyone who lives as a disabled person in Seattle. I am only temporarily disabled. This experience is new to me and I never saw this sort of behavior before. Plus the elevators are frequently out of order, dirty and smelly, or filled with trash. Yet to see presumably able-bodied locals use the elevator instead of the escalator or stairs, when there were two disabled people trying to get on the elevator, was horrible. It’s the only way to get up to the surface when you are reliant on wheels to move. The experience was absolutely shameful.

Please be aware of your surroundings when using elevators at the light rail station, or any public place. If there are disabled or elderly people around, give them priority to use the elevator or the disability seating on trains and buses. If you see disabled people struggling to get either of these things, please speak up to others. For a city that prides itself on inclusion, this behavior was abhorrent.