LETTERS: TAXI FOR DISABLED NEEDS TO BE EQUAL

To the editor:

This letter is in response to the articles written about handicapped services in Cape Girardeau on Sept. 28, a letter to the editor on Oct. 4 and your editorial of Oct. 6 in which you state "handicapped services have their limits."

When your reporter did the interview for the story, the printed story did not contain a fraction of what I told him. Now I feel it is time the rest of the story is told about my experiences with the local transportation system. Since so much has been written in defense of the taxi service and only lip service paid to the headline feature, I feel justified in writing a somewhat long letter of rebuttal.

As a disabled veteran of the Vietnam War, I fought to secure the basic rights of freedom for my fellow countrymen. I feel I am entitled to the same benefits of any able-bodied citizen of the country and this city. But I am not just speaking for myself, but for others who have a right to equivalent transportation in a city that professes to be concerned and progressive. This service is also subsidized by local government.

First of all, the staff at the Missouri Veterans Home hates to call the transportation office for me, because they are greeted rudely and abruptly, and once was told to tell me "that he should know better than to call on Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday because that's when we transport the people needing kidney dialysis." It is busy between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. at the home, and so when I call early I try to call before it gets busy. The dispatcher doesn't want you to call except between 6 and 7 and to be ready by 9, but that is not easy for the aides to do since it is the busiest time for them. I don't consider this equal transportation to what the taxi system offers, since the taxi company doesn't tell taxi riders not to call only on certain days and at special times. Also, if so many people are need kidney dialysis, why doesn't that agency seek a grant or funding to provide transportation for its patients? There are hospitals and the university that have vans not used all the time that could be used for that purpose. This is discrimination based on type of disability and shows favoritism. The excuses are either not enough ridership or too much ridership. How many more excuses before a solution is found?

Your editorial did not address the fact that I was left without a ride from a restaurant but left to my own devices to find a way home during the evening hours. I was listening to a band at Broussard's, and I called about 11 p.m. and was told they didn't have anyone to pick me up. They drop me off but cannot pick me up. I have a van but am unable to drive it myself, so I wheeled up to the Bel Air Grill on Spanish Street and Independence, and by chance a friend of mine who owns the grill was able to take my keys and drive to the home to bring my van back to me. You might say why not hire a driver for my van? Why should I do that when the city provides what is supposed to be equal transportation options, mandated by law, and should be available at a moment's notice? That is the cab company's job: to provide drivers for anytime during the day or evening, and it is more practical than hiring a driver who may not be available on a moment's notice.

Can you honestly tell me that, as a war veteran, I can risk my life and limb for a country which cannot do the same for me? And is this right? All I am asking for if the freedom to come and go from my home to a destination of my choice when I want to go. This freedom of equality is taken from me when I am restricted to visits to a doctor's office or hospital on days and times convenient for the taxi company. I know this isn't what the city's contract with the taxi system stipulates. I was shown the contract, and it states that persons with disabilities will be treated impartially. It also states transportation is to be provided seven days a week and 24 hours a day. If the company is subsidized by the city to provide transportation and it's not being done, where is the money going? They are in direct violation of the contract, and nobody cares.

Your editorial talks about the compassion of the founder of the transportation system, as if the freedom of someone with a disability should be regarded as a gift of humanity rather than a basic right. It also is demoralizing to have the transportation service flouted in my face as if it were done merely as a charitable gesture and stereotyping people with disabilities and the elderly as pitiable people who should be happy with what they get. I have had enough barricades in my life, and mountains to climb, without having to justify my existence and wanting to take an active part in my community. Call it what you want to, but it is plain discrimination.

The cab driver who reported carrying groceries and helping the elderly in and out of the taxis and comparing waiting for a taxi to waiting in a hospital emergency room says he has sympathy for the handicapped. I drove a cab for five years in St. Louis in the mid-1970s before becoming totally disabled in an accident. I feel helping the riders was a part of my job, nothing to gloat about and marvel at.

People with disabilities do not want pity, do not want favors, do not want charity. We want our basic right. We want the right to the same and equal opportunities as everyone else without having to rely on government intervention to do it. It is a moral right. Becoming disabled is forced on us, and the dependence on others is equally so, without having to justify our needs and feeling we are a burden and inconvenience to society.

You may feel empathy for the cab company, but you view it from a different perspective. I view it as a right the Constitution guarantees to everyone. Everyone talks about transportation issues in Cape Girardeau, but there is nobody who wants to face the real problem. There is a transportation system in Cape. It needs to be improved. It needs regulation. And it needs to abide by a contract issued by the city. In addition, it needs to shape up its attitude.

RON WELCH

Cape Girardeau