Melinda Beuf's Page

Oh thanks that is so sweet!  I was really shocked when I talked to the manager of the program twice about this.  Like my doctor is in Woodstock, so I cannot get to her with them.  The bus goes to and from Woodstock once each day, and she's not on the route, so they won't cover that.  And with the fibro, sometimes standing in humid heat and the riding on a bus with chemical cleaning products and noise and then waiting at the mall for the parabus and all that isn't possible.  I have met with Fran at Kingston's Resource Center for Assessble Living though and this area is very bad for inclusivity and assessibility -  I was stunned when she told me half the voting polling stations are not wheelchair assessible even that is the law!  She kinda motivated me to start bringing this issue up, when we say community are we saying people with cars? People who can climb stairs?  The first meeting I held years ago where a woman in a wheel chair came totally humiliated me!  And now that I have fibro, I am much more aware of this stuff, and also the needs of elders.  many persons with disabilties are the PERFECT allies for any organic food or green movement - if you have a child diagnosed with autism or have chronic fatigue or whatever, these are very important issues to you.  Plus there are those who give up cars for eco reasons or because they are in poverty or are too elderly to drive, and the blocks like lack of seating with backs, stairs, hiking (for a "short distance"), that leaves out so many people, but I think I have already said enough!  LOL. Sorry I went on! Inclusivity has always been a civic activism for me. Thanks for checking into it for me, that is so kind. Peace.

Thanks for getting back to me! UCATs paratransit isn't door to door. They told me I have to take a bus to the mall and wait for the paratransit van (the guy on the phone at UCAT said they have one van for the whole county which is odd), and that will only take me to what is on the bus routes.  The bus where I am doesn't run much on Sat or at all on Sunday or evenings, so I cannot use it to get to most events because UCAT's paratransit only will allow me to use it when the S bus is running and I can get to the mall.  I never saw anything like that before!