Emily F. Keller: Journalist

Messenger of Peace: U.N. Celebrates International Day of People with Disabilities

    Disability rights groups from all over the world celebrated the International Day of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations, Dec. 3rd.

    The 2009 theme was the inclusion of people with disabilities in the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals that aim to reduce extreme poverty, child mortality and AIDS by 2015.

    The day’s events included a panel discussion of the theme, a disability film festival and the appointment of musician, singer and songwriter Stevie Wonder as a U.N. Messenger of Peace.

    This article was published in Able News. Photo by the U.N. Link to full article will be posted shortly.

MTA Approves Plans to Cut Subway, Bus and Access-A-Ride

    The Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority passed a budget and financial plan that would shrink service options for disabled riders beginning in April 2010.

    The service cuts are similar to those that were approved and then rescinded earlier this year when the state government provided a $2.3 billion annual funding package.

     However, the paratransit cuts have changed. In lieu of the proposed fare hike that drew strong criticism, the MTA has proposed changing the nature of the service, bringing customers to accessible subway and bus stops rather than their destinations.

    This article was published on Transportation Access. Click here to read the article.

Handcycle Controversy

    A three-wheel mobility device that sits low to the ground and is powered by an athlete's arms has become the subject of great controversy at the New York City Marathon.

    Handcycles, which draw more disabled participants to the marathon than push-rim wheelchairs, remained in a limbo position this year when the athletes who use them received substantially lower prize money than other athletes.

    Published in Able News. Click here to read page one. Click here to read page two.

Athletes with Disabilities Compete in N.Y. Marathon

    More than 250 athletes with disabilities competed in the New York City Marathon Nov. 1, 200 of which were Achilles Track Club members.

    According to the New York Road Runners Club, the nonprofit organization that manages the race, 50 push-rim wheelchair athletes crossed the finish line.

    Published in Able News. Click here to read page one. Click here to read page two.

Advocates See Improvements With House Bill

    The U.S. House of Representatives passed a landmark bill Nov. 7 that promises more choices and greater access to services for people with disabilities.

    The Affordable Health Care for America Act, or H.R. 3962, is expected to expand health care coverage to an additional 5 percent of Americans - or 40 million people - and to improve existing coverage, for a cost of $891 billion. The House passed the bill with a vote of 220-215.

    Published in Able News. Click here to read the article.

Fifty-Ninth Street Station Elevators are Operational

    The 59th Street - Columbus Circle subway station has four working elevators to take disabled travelers and others from street level to turnstiles and subway platforms. However, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not informed the public that they exist.   

    An elevator at the corner of 58th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan takes passengers to the gate and booth level of the station. There is one elevator that takes passengers from there to the platform of the downtown A, B, C, D and 1 trains. Another two elevators take passengers from the booth level to the uptown platform for the same trains. One more elevator is still under construction.

    Edith Prentiss (pictured), an advocate for accessible transit and a member of the New York City Transit Riders Council – an independent advisory board to the MTA – explored the station last week to locate the elevators. “We’re path finding,” she said.

    Published on Transportation Access. Click here to read the article.

A Trip to Dance

     As Clara Bailon pushed over sidewalk cracks outside her home in the Bronx, she told stories about the old days.

    She remembered being left on the curb on her way to the beach with friends by a bus with a broken lift in the 1980s. She recalled quitting her job at a bank in lower Manhattan after graduating from college because glitches in the transit system made it difficult to show up on time. She talked about harassment and indifference from transit workers and commuters. She remembered being tripped over on the subway stairs during rush hour.

    “You have to learn to be a little assertive having a disability,” Bailon said about her experience with Access-A-Ride and the subway and bus systems.

    Bailon has spent decades asserting herself within a complex transit system that expands its accessible options gradually but incompletely. She praises the “good Samaritans” who have stepped in where the system falls short, lifting her wheelchair over gaps between subways and platforms where wheels sometimes stall, and offering directions to accessible subway stops that comprise less than one-fifth of the subway system.

    Published on Transportation Access. Click here to read the article.

County Considers Combining Office for the Physically Challenged with Senior Affairs Department

    Nassau County is proposing to merge the local Office for the Physically Challenged with the Department of Senior Citizen Affairs following the retirement of three staff members and Director Don Dreyer.

    The office provides parking permits to people with disabilities, performs advocacy work and assists the county in complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements for accessible accommodations. It now has three department employees and an attorney while the seniors department has 33 full-time staff members.

    Published in Able News. Click here to read page one and here to read page two.

Utah Transit Authority Cuts Monthly Paratransit Pass and Service Area

    The Utah Transit Authority has made new cuts to its specialized transportation service for people with disabilities, where ridership has already dropped by more than 50 percent since 2000.   

    Starting today, paratransit riders in Salt Lake City are no longer able to purchase unlimited monthly trip passes. By next October, trips beyond three-quarters of a mile from mass transit bus stops will also be eliminated.

    The UTA board of trustees voted in late August to eliminate the $84 unlimited ride pass for the shared ride service, citing agency-wide cuts stemming from declining tax revenue. Customers who made more than 16 round trips per month – at a cost of $2.50 per trip – benefited from the pass.

    UTA also voted to discontinue rides outside the legally required service area of three-quarters of a mile from mass transit bus and rail stops. UTA will phase out the additional trips over the next 12 months while working with customers to identify alternative methods of travel. The primary substitute is a new deviated route service that picks up riders in the vicinity of a set area for an extra $1 but is not regulated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

    Published on Transportation Access. Click here to read the article.

Assemblyman Kellner Evaluates Taxi Dispatch System

    Assemblyman Micah Kellner (Dist, 65-D) has released a report on the accessible taxi dispatch system in New York City.

    The June report, "Stranded: How the TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission) is Failing Wheelchair Users," criticizes the Taxi and Limousine Commission's Central Dispatch pilot program that has matched customers with accessible taxis using the 311 call center since July 2008.

    Kellner based his findings on 20 monitored calls to the system, and additional research. He concluded that accessible taxis have been subject to a more rigorous approval process than hybrid vehicles, the accessible dispatch program has not been well advertised, and service through the program is unreliable on nights and weekends and outside of Manhattan.

   Published in Able News. Click here to read the story.