Disabled can’t use new buses
The town of Skelmersdale has recently purchased several buses from Wirral in England. The new buses were the double decker style and were supposedly much more comfortable and the customers really liked them. However, after putting them on the roads it was discovered that there was no way to get a wheelchair onto the bus. These buses were the older type that did not dip down to road level and let wheelchairs roll onto the main deck. This leaves the disabled community without public transportation and those that were using the disabled travel passes have no way to get around. The work around at this point is for the disabled to pay for taxi service to take them to their destination. However. most of the disabled cannot afford taxis for functions like going to the doctor or the grocery store. The city has promised to fix all of the buses so that they are fully accessible to the disabled but gave no time frame of this work having a completion date. (Source: OSAdvisor.co.uk)
It is hard to believe that the officials did not look over the buses they were purchasing to make sure that they at least gave the same level of service as the older ones did. It took rider complaints for anyone to look over the buses and find out that they do not drop down to the street level so wheelchairs can roll on. The able bodied have forgotten about the disabled many times in the US. but this boneheaded stunt takes the cake. Now the city is going to have to spend money that is not in any budget to fix the buses to get them to the service level they already had. Evidently city officials need to9 either bring on a disabled person to the board (what a concept!) or bring a wheelchair to all events so they know what the disabled have to contend with on a daily basis.
Making sure that a disabled person is on the board can solve many issues because they can bring a new dimension to the meetings and what should be done to be as accessible as possible. The able bodied cannot possibly understand why a pull open door that has a strong spring to close it is almost impossible for a paraplegic to open safely. It is easy for the able bodied, just grab the door and put your weight into it to open – good luck with that if you are in a wheelchair. This is why it is important for doors to either automatically open, or to have a button that activates a motor. To those store owners that say they never get anyone in that is disabled, maybe it is because it is impossible to get into your store. Did they every think of that? If you make it easy for the disabled to get into your store, they will come in and buy things from you. Just as you make it easy for the able bodied to get into your store, it works both ways.
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