Holy Cow !

Holy Cow it’s already 3:30 and I have yet to do something constructive so, if I can get something written and posted the day will not be in vain. Actually today’s loss of productive is typical for the first day back to work following a holiday.

Staff meeting, saying good bye to the boss and then I had a meeting across town and I did not bring my van in today. So, I had to leave the luncheon early and dash and I was surprised to get to the meeting only ten minutes late which was great for motoring across town in my power chair. Then the hilarious thing was I was the only person to have attended. NOT ONE other person showed yup! Not from the able bodied community and especially not from the disabled community! I find that no one person with a disability attended. I ended up having a great and long,one to one conversation with the Americans With Disabilities(ADA)
Coordinator. The ADA guy outlined that he had become bit frustrated with the fact he has tried to canvas the community but no one has shown any interest.

I must admit for a city our size we do have a fairly accessibly transportation system. “Fairly Accessible” does not translate to fully accessible transportation network. The buses are accessible but run on very strange times after 6:00 pm. There is my age old issue of the “mini-high blocks and the UTA Tracks refusal to honor the “Pull up-law and of course the price of the fare continues to rise. The fares may just rise out of reach of consumers so disabled and so poor these folks will be “ERASED” from the community. Now, I am not saying this is not what the authority and it’s board is trying to do but I find the actions continuously suspicious. I am not really mention the fact that non of the cab companies in the community have accessible rides and they got round the law by hiring an ambulance when folks with mobility disabilities need to ride. And hey what about the damn hotels? As I read the ADA if you offer one level of service to one class of people the other classes should have comparable service.

So, I would very much like to see a working committee, independent of the local transit authority, up and running to smooth out some of these bumps in the local fabric of accessible, public transit. I also want the other players at the table, Easter Seals, MS, MDA, Senior Services and Independent Living. The preceding are just the big players in this community but there are many other folks and groups out their I believe would have an interest in these issues. And next, we will revist the issue of accessible and affordable housing. I am also adding some images I took this morning. The time is early morning just before 7:00 am it was a great time for some images of flowers Why are these images here? Because I have dreadfully and sadly neglected images on this blog.