WE THINK EVERY MAYOR IN THE US SHOULD DO THIS – TO EXPERIENCE HOW ACCESSIBLE MOBILITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IS WOEFULLY INADEQUATE
This should truly become a challenge to every mayor in every city in America.
We would start with every mayor of a city with population above 500,000, down to every city with a population of 50,000 or more.
Mayors serve
ALL people.
They create
city budgets for services that must accommodate EVERYONE.
They oversee
transit systems and public works department that by charter and law MUST be
inclusive.
Mayors (and
city managers) need to experience what it is really like to try to hold a job,
get to school, make it to the grocery, visit a park, immerse in the arts, visit
a neighbor -- while using a wheelchair for mobility.
This should
be as solemn, impactful and high profile as Black Lives Matter.
It could
become, on many positive levels and in a push for equity, the BLM of people
with disabilities.
Dear Mayor
Bowser, I challenge you to travel for one week in DC using a wheelchair,
getting no assistance with scheduling accessible vehicles, and being able to
make all of your meetings and appointments on time.
After
repeatedly not being able to get wheelchair accessible taxis (regardless of
method of payment) I decided that your intimate engagement will hopefully
produce knowledge that can change the way we as wheelchair users are expected
to tolerate these discretions.
We, like
you, have busy schedules that are repeatedly interrupted because of
unreliability and rudeness on the part of the Transport DC system.
https://www.facebook.com/TheHeumannPerspective
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