“A Little Less Pity and A Lot More Action”
Community has pity but no accessibility. According to the U.S. Census Bureau “about 12% of the US population is disabled” (Latest 1). Sadly, many Americans express regret to this small percentage of Americans but do very little in the way of making sure that disabled Americans have equal rights to activities of daily living such as making sure that areas in the community are wheelchair accessible. There are many things that are difficult for people with disabilities such as transportation. Many non-disabled Americans don’t realize that they could make a world of difference in the life of a disabled person just by making others aware of the issues that disabled Americans face. Pity is not the answer… ACTION IS!!!
It’s no secret that a big part of anyone’s life is transportation, but for many disabled people getting from Point A to Point B can present enormous challenges. Many disabled people have to rely on public transportation and that makes it harder for them to get around. The City of Mankato publicizes that they have options for public transportation. However, they are not telling you about the limitations of these services. Take AMV for example. AMV stands for AmeriCare Mobility Van. This organization provides transportation for disabled people but they limit this service to medical transportation only. This means that you can only use AMV for transportation to doctor appointments or if you have a dentist appointment. You CAN NOT use AMV for recreational activities such as going to the park on a bright sunny day. If you look up AMV in the Yellow Pages it is listed under Transportation Services but nowhere does it say anything about being just for medical purposes. This could be considered misleading information because a person looking for a taxi service calls AMV for a ride only to discover that they only provide transportation to medical appointments. Businesses need to state clearly what their business does and does not do so that everyone understands. Mankato does have a wheelchair accessible busing system. However the bus system does have flaws. The buses do not run after 6:00 P.M Monday thru Saturday so you can forget about going to McDonald’s for a midnight snack. In addition to the limitations already mentioned the buses do not run on Sundays or holidays. Generally, it is hard for people in wheelchairs to use a taxi service. One reason for this is because the taxi company does not want to pay the cost of vans with ramps in them. Another reason is because the company does not want to compensate their employees for injuries sustained when trying to lift a person out of their wheelchair. Mankato does have The Mobility Bus which is sort of like a makeshift taxi for people in wheelchairs. The bad news is that the buses (including The Mobility Bus) can only be in North Mankato during certain times of the day so that makes it hard for people who need to go to North Mankato such as South Central College students. It’s sort of like the City of Mankato is controlling the disabled community like a puppeteer does to his puppets. They try to control when and where people with disabilities can go and that makes them feel very isolated.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me”. Your mom may have taught you this famous saying as a way to teach you not to let mean words get the better of you. The harsh reality for people with mental or physical disabilities is that there are words in the English language to describe a person based on his or her disability. The catch is that most of these terms are derogatory in nature and can offend someone who has a disability. For example the term “cripple” is used to describe someone who is handicapped in some form or another. In 2003 Ouch!, a blog for people with disabilities created by the British Broadcasting Company held a poll and asked their readers to vote on the worst disability words and which ones they thought caused the most harm (Ouch 1). Retard came in 1st place with 404 votes and spastic came in 2nd place with 373 votes. People need to stop using these words and remember The Golden Rule that we all learned back in kindergarten: Treat others as you would like to be treated!!!
Most of the places you visit now days have a handicap icon above the entrance doors or bathroom stalls. This means that the place that you are about to enter is accessible to wheelchairs. Or is it? The American Disability Act states that public places need only to make reasonable accommodations. This means thing like making sure the doors are wide enough for wheelchairs to pass through. It must be easy to get the stick-on icon because not every place is handicap accessible. A perfect example of this is The American Legion in Nicollet. If you are in a wheelchair, you would have to enter through the back door. If you are in an electric wheelchair you better bring a backup manual wheelchair because the door is not wide enough for the electric wheelchair to squeeze through. HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE YEAH RIGHT!!!
It would seem now days that everything is a disability. Imagine this scenario you are 300 pounds overweight. The doctor looks at you and says you are obese. That could lead to heart problems therefore you are eligible for a handicapped parking sticker. The doctors pass those stickers out to people who don’t need them rather than the people who do really need them.
In Southern Minnesota we often have to improvise because it is so hard to find assistive technology because we often have to make special trips up to the Twin Cites just to find a piece of assistive technology. This is because we live in a rural part of Minnesota. A new wheelchair could be considered a piece of assistive technology but when it breaks down guess where you have to go to get it fixed. That’s right you guessed it. You have to drive 2 hours up to the Cities only to find out there was an easy fix to your problem and be back in your car in 15 minutes or less. In recent years there have been many advances in finding assistive technology resources for Southern Minnesota. Gillete Children’s Specialty Healthcare is in the process of building a satellite clinic that will be open on the weekdays. However assistive technology software makers could reduce the price of software that is sometimes needed by disabled college students needed for completing homework assignments. Voice recognition software such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking or word prediction software such as Cowriter can help students do their homework more efficiently but software like that could cost as much as $300 making it hard for students to afford it.
Over the years people with disabilities in Southern Minnesota have made great strides in the many years. We now have handicap accessible apartments such as Durham Apartments that give us some sort of choice in where we live. Up until the late 1980s we were forced to stay in mental intuitions so this is a big step forward for us. However, there are still some things that I feel people with disabilities need to work on such as the transportation issue but if disabled people and non-disabled people work together as one unit and leave the pity at the door and work together there isn’t any problem that can’t be solved TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!
Works Cited Page
Latest U.S. Disability Statics and Facts. Disabled World, n.d. Web. 12 April 2013.
>http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/census-figres.php>
Ouch Team. Worst Words Vote. BBC, n.d. Web. 14 April 2013.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/play/worst-words-vote.shtml)>
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. EEOC, n.d. Web. 14 April 2013.
http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/history/35th/1990s/ada.html>
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