My main job here is Information and Referral—I’m an operator, plain and simple. I am OK with that. It’s what I signed up to do when I left Independent Living. My office is affiliated with the State DD Council and for one reason or another my office has been pulled closer and closer to this other office to the point I am often afraid that our Information and Referral service may loose our identity. I attended a meeting this morning at our local transit authority. It was a transportation meeting. I went because a coupe of months ago I was placed as “staff” of the DD council’s Transportation Committee. So, I was the natural squirrel to attend the transportation meeting. So, even if transportation is not what I was hire for at this position I doing some transportation again.

You all may remember that I was the Transportation Coordinator for nearly 15 years when I was attached to the local independent Living Center. My job was to be the thorn in the transit authority’s side. I was the Authorities reminder they were under serving Salt lake consumer’s with disabilities. It felt like “old home week’ when I pulled into the parking lot this morning. I got there about an hour before the meeting was to start and a half hour before the door o the authority was unlocked. When the doors were finally opened I went inside and headed for the bathroom. I drove my van in and when I drive my van in I basically have to redress myself each time I transfer from the driver’s seat to the power chair. So I beat it to the bathroom redressed by the time I had done that other folks were beginning to show up.

The transit authority provided a continental breakfast—juice and pastries, not bad—we had to twist their arms to provide coffee but eventually a couple of cups of joe were brewed. I once again failed to take images of the pastry pile not a single bagel to be seen. I was pleased to see this. Nothing depresses more then bagels for a continental breakfast. The Authority said they had planned for 60 consumers to be at this event but only 10 or 15 people showed and most of those were people with disabilities or people who served folks with disabilities. Why only crips? Actually there were a couple programs for folks who are low income. Where were the other agency and programs. Those folk who were in attendance happened to be the leaders of the radical disabled community; So we asked lots of questions and made nuisances of ourselves.

In short the system is going to offer less services at a faster rate an call this ‘smoke and mirrors’ operation progress. But it is all smoke and mirrors and nothing changes really. We made the grievances and management said we cannot judge the system until they have a chance to try to implement change. This is going to take at least year to fail but fail this system well. This is OK as long as the system fails everyone not just folks with disabilities.