The Don't-Care-Van

And I thought school transportation was bad.....

This past Saturday I hosted a get-together of professionals who are interested in advocating for people with disabilities, college graduate students, mentor families, and self-advocates. One of the self-advocates was a woman, Barbara, who appeared to be around 30 years old. She used a hi-tech power wheelchair and a communication board. She typed out what she wanted to say by touching a straw held in her mouth to the keyboard of the communication device. She moved her chair independently though slowly since she had only the slightest movement in one of her hands. She was funny and beautiful and had a wicked sense of humor.

She traveled to my house using a van service in our area called Care-Van. It is operated by our local bus transportation company, and its only purpose is to transport people with disabilities.

Over the years I have heard many nightmare stories about the unreliable service provided by Care-Van, and I had the chance to experience that first hand with Barbara. First, they had a tough time, so they said, finding my house to drop Barbara off. My house is probably one of the easiest houses to find in my city - truly. It is one turn off a main road, and it is easy to figure out which house in the neighborhood is mine because of the prominent wheelchair ramp. But Care-Van claimed they had a tough time finding it. I wonder if they have heard of GPS devices...

Care-Van finally did find my house, and Barbara joined in the fun. When she was dropped off, Barbara had already made arrangements to be picked up three hours later. Sounds simple, right? Apparently not.

Care-Van showed up - same driver - same wheelchair van. Barbara had already started down our ramp heading to the van when the driver appeared to tell her that he couldn't take her because his van was already full. He said he would be back in about an hour....

So Barbara had to work very hard to turn her chair around, get back in the house, and wait another hour. I personally enjoyed the extra time with Barbara, but I could tell she was anxious to get home. She explained that she had booked these travel arrangements well in advance, but that she wasn't surprised because this always happened. She couldn't begin to count the number of times she had been late for work because of Care-Van. And I have heard that from many others.

So, you've got someone, many someones, with disabilities who have a tough time finding employment in the first place, and then because a transportation company can't seem to understand scheduling and travel, the person is at risk of losing their job. And even worse than that to me is that someone like Barbara, who works very hard to have control over things in her life, things which are extremely difficult at best, and she is at the mercy of a transportation provider.

I'll say the same thing I've said about school transportation services - I know it must be a complicated task to schedule the transportation, BUT THIS IS THEIR JOB. It's what they are in business to do. And right now, they are doing a really crappy job....