Category: the Rant Board
First off I know everyone wants to date a sighted person because they know they'll have someone to drive them around wherever they'd like to go whether if it's going on dates, going grocery shopping, or what not. Then again I have to point out that you have to think about the driver's needs whether if it's your gf/bf or one of your family memebers and their schedules because there may be times when they are not able to drive you around because of work schedules, cleaning house, luandry, or homework for college class. All sorts of issues can come up.
I think in this day in age as the world continues to grow, our generations of blind individuals these days tend to be on the lazy side if you ask me and complain about all sorts of stuff. This for those living in a large city. I know a ton of lazy people out there who complain about going places because of how much time it consumes to wait to ride on a bus or to wait on a taxi. I mean if buses and taxis is all that you have to rely on then don't bitch about it.
I live in relatively small town with no transportaion for the blind whatsoever and I'm pretty sure there are others out there who'll agree it's a pain in the ass when it comes to needing to go places. I have my family here to help me out with my trasportaion issue but then again I don't feel as independent as I should, if you get my drift, considering they work all the time and I have to wait until they either have a day off or to get off work. Since it's all i got to go on I guess I can't complain as much. Sometimes I wished I lived closer to the grocery store and the post office then I wouldn't have these problems. What do you all think about all this?
I was just venting here about what I think about all this stuff.
I agree mate though I think your'e generalising about everyone wanting a sighted partner.However, why don't you and the moaning creatures get together, to lobby the transport providers to improve their service, surely this kind of crap is illegal under the ADA .
Well how would I go about doing that? I had a coupld of things in mind but wouldn't I need to set up an appointment with the mayor or the transportaion department manager?
I've talked with several people about getting a transportaion system running here and they all thought it was a great idea not just for those with disabilities for the community as well. I wasn't neccessarly moaning about individuals having a sighted partner. I just don't want to rely on the sighted whenever I need something done. I was more so thinking about my independence. That was what I was trying to put out that first post yeah I made quite a few good points when I was writing it I was thinking how I could piece it all together. I wrote underneith it that I was venting, but I respect your response also. I can see where you came to the conclusion that I was moaning and such.
The problem I have is when paratransit does not show up to take you to work, then when you ask them where are you at they say they don't have you in the system. I have a good one for you. Last saturday I was taken to work but was not picked up, now here comes the good part. When I called and asked where my ride was they said that they don't have me working today. Now how could you not have me working today when you took me to work? I mean come on, doesn't make any cence at all. If I wasn't working then you wouldn't of picked me up to go to work either.
Troy
Troy, I don't know where you're from, but I live in Maryland, and this sounds like the kind of thing our paratransit service would say.
Divine Dragon, you do indeed raise some good points. I live on the outskirts of a large city. My wife who is sighted wants to move into the country. The price (namely independence) is too high for me. I feel fortunate that I can hop a bus and get wherever I need to go. Yes, she does give me rides, but I have the option. I'm not lording this over you or anyone else, just providing some background. I don't know how you've reached out so far, but you might see what groups are available who share the same concerns about some kind of transit for people with disabilities. i've seen some occasions when the Department of Aging has been of assistance. If you'd like to private mail me, maybe I can come up with more specific suggestions as to tactics you can use to begin development of a decent paratransist service in your area.
Lou
Cant you think of any way to effect change there are many ways mate shame them in the press,get some radical disability orgs ect on your side, use the Ada, I can't believe you are willing to give up this easily and let them away with it.
I didn't say I was giving up, just having trouble getting all this done. It takes time.
Transportation problems bloody finished me folks. I'd like where I live now, if only we had a better rail service and bus service. I can't go up to EastAnglia, the middlands or anywhere to see friends unless I arrange for my friends, parents to come and pick me up from my place and take me back to theirs, mum to drive me there and Grandad to drive me home again and viseverser, whereas, it's so much easier if you live somewhere like Birmingham, Nottingham or leeds, as the trains'll take you anywhere you want to go. If I wanted to go anywhere on the train right now, the only way I could do it, is catch a train from Farnham railway station to Waterloo station in London go from there across London to another station and go on from there up to the Midlands. Either that way, or someone'd have to drive me all the way up to Reading from Farnham and I'd hop on a train there and go the rest of the way to my mates, neck of the woods. I just can't see why the line stops at Reading. Why can't the railway be like the roads and spread all over the south-east of England? You'd have a lot more people in work than out of work if you got them all working on building a much better rail network which would make things so much easier for a disabled or visually impaired person like myself, registered blind in 1984 and who doesn't have any useful vision other than light and dark. absolutely stupid. I either have to do what I mentioned above, or go all the way up to bloody Birmingham, change trains there, then backtrack almost as far as I've come to get to Bedford, Nottingham, Leicester Etc Etc. It's absolutely bloody mad. And I've heard the assistants aren't always very helpful or useful at various stations if you had to change trains or anything, so I'm trapped here unless a member of my family's able to go anywhere other than maybe in to town. At least we have a decent bus service, but that doesn't help either as they only go about five or six miles of your 120-mile journey.
I have a service called metrolift. The downside is they don't go very far, and they have limited hours. I've taken numerous taxies, but they charge a fortune. One thing I just don't like is if I want to go to my grandparents, metrolift doesn't go that far, and it would cost about $50 or more for a taxi one way. Instead of ranting, be thankful you have these transportation services.
No, don't be thankful you have these transportation services, work to try to effect change. Oh, and for the first poster of this board, the word is transportation, T R A N S P O R T A T I O N.
Oh, and about transportation. I hate waiting a long time to get from one place to another because I don't have patience. However, I couldn't imagine not having transportation. The transportation, usually is on time, and I can usually get anywhere I want to get in the Denver Metropolitan area.
WOW! Haven't seen this board up in a long time. Thanks Voldemort for recognizing my spelling error but I'm well aware that may have made mistakes while trying to write this out as far as mispelling goes that is.
That's cool.
Katie. Can't your mother or father drive you to your grandparents' house? Are your grandparents still mobile and independent enough that they might be able to come to your house and pick you up on the weekend, or whenever? How far away is their place of residence, really?
Chris. I lived in a town for sixteen years that not only had no transportation service specifically for the blind, but didn't have any sidewalks, bus routes, or a local train station. And there weren't any taxi-cabs, either. Welcome to the world of relying on your relatives to drive you everywhere, or learning to walk to certain, feasible places.
Kenny. In a situation such as I've just described, effecting change is practically fruitless. Where the heck would one drum up support for a grassroots movement in a town with, so far as I knew, one totally blind person in it? Everyone else has their own forms of transportation, so no trains, or taxis are necessary, much less a fully functioning bus-stop. There is one of those live and make due cases, I believe.
I was coming back from Shropshire to Glasgow on the 22 of September and they left me on the train in Glassgow centrol. Fortunatly that was the last stop. I had booked assistence but they didn't bother exsept to get me a cup of coffee. That's virgin trains for you. As for buses I don't know much about publick buses. I use private ones to get to college. There is the dyl a bus but it only goes so far not to my college or anything.
Yeah Greyhound doesn't give good assistance either... but that's another story for a different day. I don't want to write it out right now.
Last week, metro lift was supposed to pick me up from college at 1:30, but they ended upshowing up at 2:30. That makes me so dang mad when transportation is late! My mom was coming home as I got home, which means no home alone time.
sounds like our paratransit here. And speaking of paratransit, why is it that we have to renew every three years in my case or in some people's case(depending on the state you're in) every year? It doesn't make much sense especially if the blindness is perminent like in my case. The doctor can even varify that. Even somebody with fake eyes still has to recertify for paratransit. That just makes no sense to me.
Kerby
I don't agree with that eather. I have to renue with metrolift every three years.
I was so pissed off with metrolift yesterday. I spacifically told them to pick me up at 1, and they picked me up at 2. That makes me so mad, especially that I wasted time waiting on them.