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Toronto Transit Authority Believes PWD Shouldn't Ride Buses, Part 2 of an ongoing series
The TTC is putting drivers on wheelchair accessible routes who have never been shown how to use the basic safety equipment provided for people who use wheelchairs.
According to our driver home this evening, he has never been shown how to use any of the equipment required to stabilize a motorized wheelchair on the bus he is driving. He advised us (politely) that our options were getting on the unsafe bus, waiting "maybe all night" while he tried to figure out how to use the safety equipment on the bus, or waiting for the next bus. As you all may recall, our luck with "waiting for buses" has been poor, so we chose the option that was unsafe.
Don's electric wheelchair weights 250 lbs without a person in it. Don, who is 6'10" tall, weighs around the same amount. Can you imagine the injuries that could be sustained by Don, or anyone near him, if his wheelchair tipped over because it was not safely secured? The wheelchair swayed back and forth during the whole trip, and on at least one tight turn I was worried it was going to knock right over into the window. I imagine Don's experience of this was even worse.
Don's disability includes a chronic pain condition that is exacerbated by both movement, and having to brace himself. Right now he's doped up on a full morphine dose just to recover from the bus ride home.
PS: Tried five times today to call Wheel-trans. The line was busy every time.
The TTC is putting untrained drivers on late evening routes. Do you feel safe?
According to our driver home this evening, he has never been shown how to use any of the equipment required to stabilize a motorized wheelchair on the bus he is driving. He advised us (politely) that our options were getting on the unsafe bus, waiting "maybe all night" while he tried to figure out how to use the safety equipment on the bus, or waiting for the next bus. As you all may recall, our luck with "waiting for buses" has been poor, so we chose the option that was unsafe.
Don's electric wheelchair weights 250 lbs without a person in it. Don, who is 6'10" tall, weighs around the same amount. Can you imagine the injuries that could be sustained by Don, or anyone near him, if his wheelchair tipped over because it was not safely secured? The wheelchair swayed back and forth during the whole trip, and on at least one tight turn I was worried it was going to knock right over into the window. I imagine Don's experience of this was even worse.
Don's disability includes a chronic pain condition that is exacerbated by both movement, and having to brace himself. Right now he's doped up on a full morphine dose just to recover from the bus ride home.
PS: Tried five times today to call Wheel-trans. The line was busy every time.
The TTC is putting untrained drivers on late evening routes. Do you feel safe?
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