Can You Help Me Pick Up My Sister at the Airport?
Yes. You can. Without leaving your chair.
By Brenda Lafferty
My little sister was visiting from Tennessee, and I wanted to pick her up from the airport. I hoped I could share my experience of what it was like trying to do that while using a wheelchair.
CAR
Getting in and out of my chair is the most time-consuming part of getting into any vehicle. First, I have to make sure the car isn’t on any slope where I could lose my balance. The way my disability works is I don’t have a concept of balance—I’m basically always feeling like I’m going to fall.
Once I’m confident the ground is level, I get real close to the passenger seat. I have to turn my whole body to sit on the edge of the wheelchair. Then I have to swing in my legs (which someone else has to do for me because my legs don’t listen to me). Then I kind of pivot onto the car seat. Then someone has to literally plant my feet on the ground. Then I have to use my upper body and my head and my legs to push me back in the seat. And then we go. And then we do it all over again when we get there.
That’s how it works if it’s my car. If it’s not mine, I have to think about a bunch of things like overall vehicle height, seat height, and leg space. But this all relies on my sister, and she wasn’t there to help me, so I couldn’t use a car.
BUS
Most of the time, it’s about figuring out places I can get to that don’t require the bus. If I absolutely need to take the bus, it’s a whole day thing. It’s not like you can just take the bus everywhere and then wheelchair where you need to go. Then there’s my balance issue—if the bus ramps aren’t exactly level with the ground, I feel like I’m going to fall over.
A lot of times, the driver has to repeatedly yell at people to move out of the way because there are only two places on the bus where I can go. Sometimes people won’t move. And sometimes those two spots are already full. Which means I have to wait for the next bus. That's not an option when you're on a time schedule.
RIDESHARE
My experience with rideshare hasn’t been wonderful. There are only a few that are handicap accessible, so most of the time, I have to take a normal one. And these “normal ones” often don’t have the trunk space for my manual chair. I’ve actually had rideshare drivers pull up, see me, and drive off. They don’t even stop.
If they do stop, the drivers often look at me like I’m from another planet. They stand there and they watch my sister put me in the car, because, at that point, it’s easier just to put me in the car than me helping her.
PARATRANSIT
For those who may not know, Access Paratransit is basically a curb-to-curb shared-ride service for people with disabilities.
Except, you have to schedule it 24 hours in advance. You have to know exactly what time you want to leave and what time you want to get picked up a day early. And it’s not a personal ride, it’s a shared ride, so after they pick you up, they might pick someone else up, and drop them off first. Unlike a bus or subway, you never have any idea of a timetable.
Except one—you know you have to stay wherever Paratransit dropped you off for two hours before they’ll pick you up again. If I wanted to take Paratransit to pick up my sister, I would have to be stuck at the airport for two hours before we could get a ride back from my apartment.
So what did I do in the end?
I didn’t pick her up. I couldn’t.
Let me be clear: I know I’m blessed to have any options. To have a sister willing to help me out as much as she does. All I want is to be treated like everyone else.
And that’s what I see self-driving cars doing.
I can already imagine what it would look like—to get in a car and put in where I’m going and just end up there. I can already imagine it opening this whole new world. I know that I’ve lived in this world, and I’ve seen a lot of things, but autonomous vehicles would just open so many doors.
And it would let me pick up my little sister at the airport.
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This post seems to really be about recruiting people to sign up for "Securing America's Innovation Leadership Community"
Clicking on the "Join me at" button rrsulted in a request for permission to be sent some kind of email.
A Google search for "Securing America's Innovation Leadership Community" did not yield a site with that the exact wording.
Anyone more successful in learning more about this advocacy effort?
I get 500 emails a day. I have to prescreen everything using available software. So chances are it would go directly into the Junk or Spam Folders and sit there. But I did not sign up.
@Causes, instead of just this type of hardship story, give more info about the group itself.
I feel it was an attempt to emotionalky manipulate us, but that could just be on me.
As you can see most commenters reacted with empathy, some started problem solving. So far no one mentioned signing up for "Securing America's Innovation Leadership Community." Next time try to be more direct.
Sorry to hear this woman has had a very difficult experience. Services are very uneven depending where you live.
I've experened what it's like on a temporary basis when I was in a large leg cast 2 different times with rollster or crutches, 2 different states and counties and services do vary by County.
My current county has the best services with an on-demand bus service, and a support line offering the following services.
1) CAR is a free referral service that provides adults over 50 and adults with disabilities information about their transportation options for medical services, errands, social activities and more.
2) CAR links callers with public, private, and volunteer transportation services, including escorted transportation.
3) In addition, the program assists callers with their applications for transportation programs like Call-n-Ride and Metro Access.
4) They also offer free workshops on how to use public transportation.
CAR is funded by County and religious organizations
I've also had a very different experience with Uber drivers who were very helpful. The last time I was in a cast with a rollster that like a manual wheel chair doesn't always fit in trunks, every case drivers got out of the car to assist me in stowing the rollster in the trunk or backseat, ice in he passenger seat, and even escorted me to the door to make sure I didn't slip on ice. I did have to endure being compared to their mother so there is that. It may be an age thing while this lady is much younger and living in a county making no provisions for her and populated by people lacking empathy.
I like the idea of self driving cars, but I've seen them in action and just no. People sleeping and causing accidents. This isn't ready for prime time, and I say this as someone who experienced what this person did, because yep, there was that time I couldn't get out of the house with casts on both legs. Thank goodness for family.
Plus, I enjoy driving. As a kid you didn't earn your official driving badge of honor till you'd driven up this hill with a manual transmission. (Now what few manual stick transmissions one can buy today, they have a built in no roll back feature. For wimps.)
Everyone should be required to spend a minimum of one week living in a wheelchair with no ability to stand independently. While there is a law called the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) we still fail to design our buildings, transportation systems, vehicles, mass transit systems, homes, sidewalks, doorways, restaurants, and virtually every public space with the disabled in mind. We are called to serve others. A very good way to learn to do that is to experience some of what they experience, to learn to see the world through their eyes.
I support research and testing of self-driving cars, but I think we're still a few years off from their being safe and ready for wide adoption, let alone affordable.
I do think ride-sharing autonomous vehicles could be a great solution for you, but again we may not be quite ready for those to be safe; all AVs currently in testing still have a human driver just in case.
I'm sorry you weren't able to pick her up at the airport. I wish that mass transit were better equipped for you and others to be able to ride it comfortably and reliably, but we have such resistance to transit funding in this country that it probably won't be anytime soon.
Thanks for sharing your story; I will certainly keep it in mind as I write to my representatives about the AV industry.