INCLUSION IS A MUST!
Well, this
is one of 3 wheelchair ramped houses on the short side street of SW 18 Ave between
SW 14-16 Aves.
That much
need for access is proof positive that:
Disability
is NOT an outlier.
Inclusion is
a MUST!
CLOSERS FOOLISHLY FORCE MULTIPLE CROSSINGS
OF DANGEROUS TRAFFIC TO COMPLETE A JOURNEY
Tragically,
dozens of downtown Miami sidewalks are closed for construction — putting people
on peril.
AND EVERY BIT AS LOATHSOMELY BIGOTED AS RACISTS
Every time I
post a picture of neglected landscaping blocking sidewalk accessibility, I get
"If it bothers you, why don't you trim it." snotty response.
Many find
requests for the basic dignity/civil rights of wheelchair access so offensive,
that they demonize the person requesting them.
No one would
tell a burglarized person to become police and solve it.
But
underscore a barrier and they scream at you to fix it yourself.
Diminishing
the needs of people with disabilities is ableism.
Ableism is toxic.
PLEASE HAVE INCLUSIVE SEATING THIS YEAR
Last year’s
book fair had an outdoor food court produced by Smorgasboard Miami.
It had 24
picnic tables and another 12 metal tables.
Not one had
a space for wheelchair users.
We reported this
10 minutes into the opening day of the street fair.
Nothing was
done.
This kind of
ableism and exclusion cannot be repeated.
AS THE ACCESSIBLE BOOKLEGGERS LIBRARY MOBILE TRAILER
Ramping both sides of a moving
trailer filled with used books = a huge commitment to accessibility and
inclusion for all.
Kudos to this small nonprofit’s
commitment to people with disabilities.
ILLUMINATED CROSSWALK STRIPS IN DOWNTOWN MEDELLIN
Crosswalk edges light up neon green to
tell pedestrians it is time to cross safely.
Most of these are in La Candelaria
Medellin Colombia — the congested and chaotic centro.
Alternately, the edge of crosswalks in
the urban core light up neon bright red — to signal pedestrians that it is not
safe to cross.
The red-green “walk” system helps
combat the ambient noise confusion created by motorcycles, cars and booming
music.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
The
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to trains and train stations.
Here are a few key points.
Train
cars
Train
stations
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
Both noted that it is difficult to walk down a plane aisle to a restroom that
is too tiny to fit a second person to assist.
“The Red Caps must have good training because they are polite, accommodating, and don’t look at you like you have three heads,” Leah says.
“Travel by train is very relaxed.”
Train travel does have some drawbacks:
It can take more time than flying or driving, and service and accessibility are inconsistent nationally.
However, in some cases, these disadvantages are
outweighed by the opportunity to travel with greater access and dignity.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
She notes that Amtrak’s Red Caps help with her luggage on board the train and
deliver a meal to her room.
“As a person with a disability, you have an accessible restroom right in your room,” Vanessa says.
“On a plane, the restrooms are typically extremely small.
Many people that I know
must dehydrate for a few days before flying, as the restroom is not accessible
or large enough to accommodate them.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“The accessible sleeper is the first room from the boarding door. It’s a pretty good size and has windows to take in the view.
The in-room bathroom is big enough to fit a wheelchair in
the shower,” she says.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
She travels twice a year on
Amtrak’s Floridian from Winter Park, Florida, to Raleigh-Durham, North
Carolina, to visit family and see specialists at Duke University.
Although a nonstop flight from Orlando
to Raleigh-Durham would take less than two hours, Vanessa swears by the
overnight, 13-hour Amtrak trip.
“I used to drive it before my diagnosis. Since then, I take the train,” Vanessa says.
“I have a breathing disorder, and my physician says the train’s air is much better than the air on a plane.
The station in Raleigh-Durham has excellent access.
The one in Winter
Park is a quaint little whistle stop, but I can make do with the access.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
She says the aisles were too narrow to
maneuver her power wheelchair easily.
There were tie-down restraints to
secure her wheelchair; however, the Red Caps (Amtrak attendants) didn’t offer
to help, so her personal care attendant (PCA) did the work.
The dining area was up steps with no
ramp or lift, so her PCA also did the food run.
Overall, Mindy rated the experience
higher than flying, but because of significant delays during her train trip to
Dallas, she would prefer driving in an accessible van to taking the train for a
journey of that length.
ARE DISRCIMINATING AGAINST PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Illegal car
parking destroys pedestrian safety and forces people with disabilities into
Miami’s dangerous street traffic.
Perpetually
2 or 3 cars park on NE 9 St @ Marina Blue mixed use tower.
Miami has a Downton
Development Authority that has a quality of life team in the streets each day.
I wonder if
they have any training on ADA accessibility.
I fear they
do not spend one day out of 365 trying to make mobility better for people with disabilities
in the city center.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
She described the five-hour trip from her home in Austin, Texas, to Dallas as a
“mixed bag.”
“Getting on the train was dreamy compared to air travel.
I could stay in my chair, and I didn’t have to worry about being lifted or dropped,” she says.
“The portable ramp from the platform
to the train was a bit steep, but the staff were good about standing behind me
so I didn’t flip.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“From my home in Queens, I can take an accessible bus to the Long Island Railroad to the Amtrak station. From there, I can get to DC, Boston, and Philly,” he says.
“For most of my life, I couldn’t take trips independently.
I can’t tell you how liberating it is to be totally
independent.”
While the heavily traveled Northeast
corridor has many modern, accessible train cars, experiences on trains can vary
in other regions.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“Trains, in general, are more accessible than air travel,” Dr. Rosa says.
“Amtrak is still a work in progress, with some of the 30- to 40-year-old trains requiring a sharp turn while boarding and aisles too narrow to access the dining car, but I find accessibility in the Northeast corridor is trending in a more inclusive direction.
Newer cars
have design features that make them generally more accessible to passengers
with disabilities.”
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
“I’ve used the accessible bedroom cars on the Auto Train,” David Capozzi says, describing a special Amtrak train that transports passengers and their vehicles nonstop from Washington, DC, to Orlando.
“They take my wheelchair van onto the train, offload it, and I have it
in Florida without having to drive 810 miles one way,” he says.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
Amtrak is boosting accessibility on trains with 576 new long-distance cars, 28 next-generation Acela cars between Boston and Washington, DC, and 83 new Airo trains on several train lines.
According to Amtrak, the new trains will have more spacious vestibules and restrooms, accessible café cars, and wheelchair lifts.
Amtrak also offers
wheelchair-accessible sleeper cars on overnight routes.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
Roughly half of the train stations Amtrak uses are
accessible now, and 173 station construction projects are scheduled through
2029.
David prefers to use stations that have platforms level with the train, so only a portable bridge plate is needed to fill the small gap between the train and the platform.
He suggests that
travelers who use wheelchairs look up their Amtrak stations to learn about
their accessibility before booking.
ALTERNATIVE TO FLYING OR DRIVING?
However,
he understands the nation’s passenger rail agency did a poor job of addressing
ADA issues in the first 20 years after the legislation passed.
