The ADA Freedom Bus is coming to Utah and more specifically Salt Lake City. We got word the Freedom Tour was going to happen a couple of months ago. My boss , of course, got an email on the event an asked that I facilitate the Salt Lake leg of the tour. Hosting this event would be a good way to bring focus on my operation a little. This project seemed like a fairly simple task: make a couple of calls, find a place to park the bus, get some media lined up and have an event; Simple as that.The Freedom Tour is a federally funded project. The tour has a 35 foot shrink rapped, wheelchair accessible bus and nine seven foot tall two foot wide panel image exhibit, traveling state to state exhibiting the best face of the Americans with disabilities Act. I have only talked to two people the driver of the bus and the coordinator who running the project and the coordinator over the project now is not the same coordinator when I first got involved. The now coordinator, I found yesterday, is very pregnant. Who in fact is set to deliver in the first of June. I thought the coordinator was in Washington DC but no, she is in Colorado running the operation from her home. Then there is the diver who is driving this huge vehicle all round the country. I think the driver and the coordinator rely heavily on the locals for support, set up and what have you.
When I called the Freedom Tour office to find out about the project and how my office might be part of the event I found out that a local state person, highly visible in the independent living movement was already listed as the state contact. I was happy with this news. I am fond of his person and have great faith in her abilities. It took a while but I finally got hold of my counter part to offer my services and she eas glad to get them. Then I got an email from her indicating that I needed to make a budget, work on getting $5000.00, consider refreshments and a host of other items which greatly raised my “defense shields” and wonder how this event could have gotten so far out of control so quickly. I printed out the emails I had received so far and rolled in and had a meeting with my boss. She freaked as I had when she saw the 5 000.00.
I have not had them opportunity to visit with my “partner” to the North t see what she has in mind. There are a number of other organizations in the area who might wish to partner with us to bring this operation off. I just might be pleasantly surprised. There might be a coming together of all the community operations which serve folks with disabilities and we might have a great stress free opportunity to educate the community on this important piece of legislation. I don’t think this is going to happen though. I foresee stress and a lot of work which will wind up in a lot of frustration for the month of May.
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