Getting in Vehicles

Getting in a vehicle is a simple act for me and I barely think anything of it. However this summer I have witnessed firsthand that for people with disabilities, this requires a lot of planning and unfortunately sometimes humiliation as well. This post aims to highlight the different experiences of people with and without disabilities when traveling by taxi or bus.

Taxi

At ACPACYS, there is an autonomy group designed for adolescents and young adults who need extra support with everyday life skills. Every week, they have an outing in order to practice their social skills and navigating different types of environments as independently as possible with a disability. I have connected especially well with one member of the group and have gotten to know him well because we are often at ACPACYS at the same time. He is currently in a vocational training program that will allow him to work at ACPACYS full time as a social educator. His patience and heart for others is inspiring. He is comfortable initiating a conversation with an older adult and he will give children high fives when he sees them despite the limited mobility he has in his hands. He is mature, level-headed, and really enjoys traveling and playing wheelchair soccer. In many ways, he is just like any other eighteen year old. The difference is just that his body does not work very well.

For one of the outings, we were going to the annual fair in Córdoba and several members of the group met up at ACPACYS to leave together from there. The plan was to go in two separate taxis. I would be leaving from ACPACYS as well and riding in a taxi. One taxi would be for people who could walk while the other taxi would be for my group which included the eighteen-year old who used a wheelchair. The first group's taxi quickly arrived, and they were immediately off to the fair. However, the taxi for my group took much longer. We had to call the staff member to confirm that they had scheduled the taxi. When we found out that wasn't the problem, we called the taxi company to ask them if they had any wheelchair accessible taxis available. Although they did, they anticipated a delay. I was crossing my fingers that the eighteen-year-old wasn't feeling like a burden, because none of this was his fault.

One hour later, the taxi showed up. The taxi was set up in a way where all of the able-bodied people could sit in the first two rows and then the eighteen year old was in the very back by himself, as if we were a suitcase in the trunk. Although, I kept turning my head around to check in with him, I still didn't feel that the setup of the vehicle allowed him to be part of the group.

In the taxi, one of the other employees asked the driver why the company took so long to send an accessible taxi to ACPACYS even though they had scheduled the taxi in advance. The driver said he was sorry but that's just the way it is.

Bus

At one of the bus stops on the way to my internship at ACPACYS every morning, the same man gets on every day. He has significant physical disabilities and uses a wheelchair. Although I have not had the chance to talk to him, I can tell he is the type of person who has learned to persevere despite his challenges and is a good sport about a lot of things. Watching him get on the bus has made me realize how different this everyday experience of getting on the bus is for able-bodied people and people with disabilities. Although I have noticed that able-bodied and disabled people have a lot in common when it comes to values, interests, and relationships, the way they go about their everyday lives is different due to the restrictions and limits that society imposes.

As an able-bodied person, I am able to climb up the step, put my card on the scanner, and choose any available seat that I want on the bus. All of this takes a matter of seconds. No one stares at me, and I don't have to make my presence easily noticeable if I don't want to, as most people are looking down at their phones anyway.

However, in order for the man in the wheelchair to get on the bus he needs to wait a couple minutes for the bus driver to put the ramp down. When the ramp is down, everyone on the bus can hear a beeping noise that sounds similar to a smoke detector but not quite as loud. The sound is certainly loud enough for people to look up from their phones and turn their heads. Most people are looking at the man when he drives his electric wheelchair up the ramp, he is certainly on display.

One day, the bus arrived at the stop and the man was there as usual. However, when the bus driver pressed the button to lower the ramp, the loud beeping sound was activated but the ramp did not lower. He continued pressing the button and the ramp still didn't budge. Next, he got out of the bus to see if he could manually pull the ramp down from the outside, but to no success. Although lots of people were looking to see what was going on, what pleasantly surprised me was that no one complained or expressed any frustration or impatiences. I think that is a benefit of the more relaxed and laid-back Spanish culture. Some people even offered to try to lift the man up onto the bus, which was a nice gesture but they probably did not realize how heavy electric wheelchairs are. Unfortunately, the bus had to keep going and the man wasn't able to get on. I really hoped that the ramp on the next bus would work, but he shouldn't have had to wait that long for a bus in the first place. What if he works, arrives late, and misses an important meeting because he couldn't get on the bus? Would the people at work be understanding?