Rehab matchmaker and Utilize Health founder lights a fire in Ben

by Ben Trockman

Utilize Health founder, Jessica

My hometown of Evansville, Indiana, is one of those little big cities. We are big enough to have very successful business men and women, but also small enough for your local farmer to prosper. It is a town where I can tell a story to a friend over lunch, and count on half of the city knowing that exact story the next week (well, maybe not the exact same story, but close).

The spinal cord injury (SCI) community in Evansville is the same way. Although there may not be more than 20 people with SCI’s in our little big city, we are all there to support each other. When someone is injured nearby, the families of the injured can count on a hospital visit from one of us.

I’d like to think the families are appreciative of these visits, especially when they are in a situation when they don’t know what in the world to do, and where to turn next. After my accident in 2006, my family and I were in this same lost and confused situation, but we were lucky enough to have the guidance from a kind and sincere family from Evansville: the Greenfields.

At age 17, Jessica Greenfield Harthcock was injured while practicing gymnastics, and became paralyzed from the chest down. Doctors told her that she would never walk again, but that devastating news did not deter her spirits. Since her injury, Jessica has graduated with a Master’s degree from Vanderbilt University and married her athletic and personal trainer Adam Harthcock, who is now one of the business partners helping her launch her own company, Utilize Health.

Utilize Health is an online-based company dedicated to making the perfect match of people with disabilities to a perspective rehab hospital. The idea of the company was derived from her own experiences after her spinal cord injury. Jessica and her family vigorously searched for the appropriate rehab hospitals to help treat her injury, and there was no clear-cut way to try to figure out what might be the best thing to do. I can tell you from my own experience that it took a tremendous amount of time for my family to find the right rehab hospital that had the most beneficial therapy for me. This is why Jessica created Utilize Health — to help people who are in need find insightful and knowledgeable information, and lead them in the right direction.

Jessica is one of the most enthusiastic and outgoing people that I have ever met. She is definitely someone I looked up to after my injury, and she showed me that the future was bright, even though tough times laid ahead. I have tremendous respect for Jessica – she continues to set the bar high, especially now that she has set her entrepreneurial sites on starting this new company.

Utilize Health is currently in a crowdfunding stage, and I encourage you to visit their IndieGoGo page and see what they are doing to help guide people and their families!

With guidance provided by people and companies like Utilize Health, folks who sustain injuries like the ones Jessica and I have can be properly matched to find the right therapies.

In fact – here is your success story – after years of hard work at multiple rehab institutes, Jessica is now walking. She has gone from using the assistance of canes and walkers to walking without any assistance whatsoever — take that, doctors!

It is amazing to know that there are people out there like Jessica, who go through crazy life changing experiences, take them on with a head full of steam, and come out better than before. Not only is she conquering her disability, but she is dedicating her life to fixing a problem that she encountered herself.

People like Jessica inspire me to continue working hard, fixing the wrongs, improving the status quo, and making a difference in people’s lives. Helping people should never go unnoticed, and should never be underrated. I hope my sharing Jessica’s story inspires you to do something special, and make a difference. She sure got me!

#DeafInTheAir aims to improve airport accessibility

by Sara Fair

I can list so many things that make my air travel difficult.

Let’s begin with a few: Imagine sitting at the airport, waiting for your flight to be called…but the flight never comes. It has been delayed, and you didn’t know. The flight delay was announced through the speakers, but you can’t hear. Or what about when your flight gets cancelled?

I shy away from telling flight attendants that I’m deaf, because with the “deaf card” attendants will shuttle me to the front of the line at boarding and hand-hold me down the terminal to make sure I arrive at my correct destination. I don’t ask for help, because I don’t need the “shuttling” and “hand holding” through the airport or the airplane itself. I always feel guilty and embarrassed when I bypass the line, even sometimes bypassing older people who use wheelchairs.

And oh, what about the amazing in-flight entertainment? There are times I’ve thought, “I haven’t seen this movie before”, and I settle in my seat and “oh…it’s not captioned.” Others can turn on other language subtitles, but there are no English subtitles. So I turn to my book.

Why is this still happening in this modern technology era, 2014?

I’ve been through multiple embarrassing and annoying plane rides, but there’s one plane trip I remember most vividly. It could’ve gone poorly, but turned out amazing, and here’s why: The flight staff didn’t know I was deaf, so I wasn’t “shuttled” or “hand-held” down the terminal. I was seated at the emergency exit, though, so I was required to tell a flight attendant that I had a disability (people with disabilities are not encouraged to sit in an exit row, as they’d need to be “able-bodied” to help others off the plane in case of an emergency). Airline policy would not allow them to downgrade my seat to the back of the plane, so I got upgraded…to FIRST class!

The letter that the stewardess wrote to me.

Even better, I got a fabulous note from the stewardess asking me if I knew where the nearest emergency exit was, what was the best way to communicate with me and what was the best way I could be assisted in case of an emergency. We had a back and forth dialogue about the questions she asked, just by writing notes to each other. This was a first.

This stewardess didn’t take over and help me without me asking, but she made it clear that she would be there if I needed anything. This was an amazing flight!

But, most flights aren’t so amazing for the deaf community, and there is someone doing something to help. I first heard of Elena Mayer’s National Association of the Deaf Youth Ambassador Program presentation through a couple of tweets from National Association for the Deaf (NAD), plus from my friends who attended Elena’s presentation.

I was thrilled to have an interview with her last week — she’s 20, from St. Louis and is a current student at California State University at Northridge. She has been increasingly frustrated with the lack of accessibility at airports for people who are deaf. She knows the younger generation is very social-media savvy (a benefit to the deaf community), so she decided to do something about the lack of accessibility using #DeafInTheAir.

In Elena’s presentation, she mentioned that of 20,000 disability related complaints at airports, only 214 were from people who were deaf. Elena hopes that #DeafInTheAir will encourage more people who are deaf to speak out about their complaints and make them public.

By having #DeafInTheAir available, people who are deaf will be able to share their stories about the lack of accessibility in airports or on airplanes via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. For example, if I were to write a tweet to an airline complaining of the lack of captioning in their in-flight entertainment, I would type out the complaint and add #DeafInTheAir. This way, other people that are tracking the hashtag will be able to re-tweet me and spread the message.

Elena is hoping to work with NAD and various airlines to get English movie/TV captioning on flights and have a special sign posted next to the gate that will allow for communication between a deaf passenger and the flight attendant/gate attendant when needed — a back-forth typing screen or, if you want to go low-tech, a whiteboard with markers.

Elena’s dream for more accessibility in airports can come true with your help! If you see something that could disrupt a person’s travel because of lack of accessibility with captioning, or if you notice educational about people who are deaf that others should know about, use Facebook/Twitter/Instagram with the hashtag #DeafInTheAir!

With this hashtag campaign, maybe things at airports will change. People who are deaf, like me, have been fighting the airlines about movie captions for so long, and we’ve made very little progress. A united front with repeated messages through #DeafInTheAir might make our captioning dreams come true.

No one should ever feel embarrassed to board a plane, or feel lost when it comes to communicating delays/cancellations. If you have a story to tell, please use #DeafInTheAir and spread awareness about changing the airports/airlines’ policy on modes of communication or captions.

If you want to contact Elena Mayer, please contact her via Twitter — @DeafInTheAir. Connect on the official Instagram for #DeafInTheAir here.

Learn about accessible transportation options from Easter Seals too, with Easter Seals ProjectACTION.

A unique way to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the ADA

by Beth Finke

I started losing my eyesight in 1984, when I was 25 years old. At first I didn’t use a white cane or a guide dog. I quit driving or riding my bike, but I could still see well enough to walk to work. I had a job at University of Illinois in Champaign, and most of my day was spent counseling college students on study abroad options — I could have done that with my eyes closed.

As my eyesight got worse, though, I started making mistakes in the office. I still remember spilling grounds all over the floor on my way to make the morning coffee. I had to sit close to my computer screen to see the words. I ran into tabletops. At one point my boss took me aside and told me I wouldn’t be going to the annual convention with my colleagues. “You’ll embarrass the office,” she said. Months later, my contract was terminated. I had nowhere to turn. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) wasn’t passed until five years later.

Kyle, a 2010 Easter Seals Child representative, all grown up and working

We’ve come a long way since George H. W. Bush signed the ADA into law in 1990. This weekend we celebrate the 24th anniversary of the ADA, and I’m happy to know that so many more people are on board now with the idea that those of us with disabilities can — and should — be employed. Still, the unemployment rate among adults with disabilities is double than what it is for those without disabilities. Only two in 10 people with disabilities are in the labor force compared to seven in 10 individuals without disabilities. So many people with disabilities want to work and can contribute but find it difficult to overcome attitudinal barriers and other challenges.

We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. That’s where Easter Seals workforce development services come in. We provide an individualized approach to assisting persons with disabilities and other needs to make smart choices and find employment. Contact Easter Seals to learn more about Easter Seals Workforce Development services in your area, and if you run a business or are interviewing candidates for a position at your job, hey, here’s an idea of how to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act: consider hiring someone who has a disability. We’re a resourceful bunch.

Should athletes with disabilities have to pay more to participate?

by Beth Finke

My friend Eliza Cooper is blind, and she was planning to race in last Sunday’s NYC Swim’s Brooklyn Bridge Swim across the East River. Eliza is a strong swimmer – she’s completed six, count them, six, triathlons already. (That’s Eliza on the right with her guide Megan Leigh.) The distance from Manhattan to Brooklyn is less than a mile, but last week NYC Swim director Morty Berger decided that athletes with disabilities would have to pay an extra fee to swim in the race, so Eliza didn’t participate.

Eliza is 28 years old, and I got to know her in Morristown, N.J., when I was training with my third Seeing Eye dog, Harper. We liked each other the minute we met, and when she got matched with Harper’s brother Harris, we knew it was fate, and that we’d stay in touch. She trains with Achilles International (they help athletes with disabilities prepare for races) and NY Info published an article last week after she and five other Achilles athletes were told they’d have to pay extra to participate in Sunday’s swim.

NYC Swim director Morty Berger said he added extra requirements for athletes with disabilities because of construction around the South Street Seaport and Brooklyn Bridge Park. Due to the construction, all athletes had to jump off a water taxi docked on the Manhattan side to start the race. They had to climb onto what Berger calls an “uneven” exit at the Brooklyn Bridge Park to end the race, too. And so, Berger decided that Achilles would have to ensure that its swimmers were covered under Achilles’ policy if they wanted to participate, and Achilles would have had to pay $700 for boats to trail swimmers with disabilities in case they needed help. “I am the lifeguard and I have to make the calls as it relates to safety,” Berger said. “It’s like someone saying, ‘I want to go swimming when there’s lightning out,'”

Achilles rejected the additional demands. “I told them if it was unsafe for my athletes, it was unsafe for everyone else,” Achilles coach Kathleen Bateman said in the article. Eliza was quoted in the article, too, questioning whether any other minority group would feel okay about paying extra to participate in an event like this: “We do not need extra boats or extra help,” she told the reporter.

I believe her: a few years ago Eliza was featured in a piece Eleanor Goldberg wrote after competing in the New York City triathlon with Eliza and 11 other Achilles athletes. They swam 1 mile, biked 26 miles up and down hill terrain, and ran 6.2 miles in Central Park. Eliza managed to fix three flat tires during the event and never once considered giving up. She told the reporter last week that being asked to pay extra fees to participate in Sunday’s swim was especially unfair when the race organizers don’t realize how hard she and her fellow Achilles athletes trained or how much of their heart and soul goes into the training they do. “We always find a way to do things, that’s how our team works,” she said. “For someone to say ‘no,’ it’s really disheartening.”

Eliza is busy training for her first half Ironman now. Based on her previous times, she stood a pretty good chance of winning an award if she’d been able to swim in Sunday’s race, but when I contacted her Monday, she seemed pretty resigned to it all. “Even though we didn’t get to swim yesterday, getting the word out there made me feel a lot better about what happened,” she said. She was glad the stories in the media drew attention to the injustice of it all, and pleased they generated conversation and support. “And you know what? There are always bigger and better races to be raced!”

So what do you think? I understand the organizer’s concern, but I’ve learned a lot from Eliza. If the NYC Swims director thought swimming across the East River was too dangerous this year, maybe they should have cancelled the race entirely. The other swimmers were given the option to decide for themselves whether or not to swim under those conditions, so it seems to me that the Achilles athletes should have been given that choice, too, without any extra — and expensive — requirements.

We want to hear what you think! Share your comments below or on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

A millennial’s take on caring for, and about, veterans

by Elsa Remak

Last week I wrote a post about Amy Adams, an award winning actress who gave up her first class seat to a military serviceman. Adams is no stranger to attention through her acting, and her kindness did not go unnoticed, but, unfortunately, the good things our soldiers do for us overseas — and in our communities — often do.

Let’s face it. We live in a society where a lot of people think “reality” means a bunch of housewives living in Orange County. And okay, okay, I admit I indulge in this trash television myself, but I think of it as a getaway from the realities that are harder to face, like the tragedies in the Middle East and within our nation’s borders.

In a blog post I wrote last fall I talked about what it felt like to see the movie The Hornet’s Nest for the first time – I still remember the impact that first showing had on my life. To put it modestly, The Hornet’s Nest is as real as it gets. The film follows Mike Boettcher, an award winning war correspondent (and superhero Easter Seals board member) as he travels to Afghanistan’s front line with his son, Carlos. Viewers follow the father-son duo throughout their mission with 101st Airborne, an elite group of U.S. troops.

For 90 captivating minutes, I was taken to the trenches of Afghanistan, watching soldiers, some younger than me, fight for their lives. I laughed and cried together with other audience members, and all of us in the theater vowed to do all we could to make a change to the heartbreak within our nation’s borders. But at the end of the night, we all returned to our comfortable lives. I was able to return to my typical college student lifestyle where my only “tragedy” was math and Friday classes.

Some of the soldiers featured in the film, who have accomplished more in 20 years than I will in a lifetime, do not have that privilege. These young veterans are some of our nation’s brightest, embodying courage and an unmatchable work ethic. They should be an employer’s dream, yet they face high unemployment rates.

Films like the Hornet’s Nest open our eyes to a necessary reality we may not want to see. I encourage everyone to watch the Hornet’s Nest, and after you’ve seen it once, request a screening in your town so you can see it again. When the film is finished, think of ways your community can support our returning heroes.

Many communities and employers simply lack the resources to support our new generation of veterans and caregivers. That’s where Easter Seals Dixon Center comes in. Easter Seals Dixon Center strengthens communities and enables veteran families to thrive where they live. In June, Easter Seals Dixon Center and the Dole Foundation launched a series of free webinars for military caregivers. Our brave military service men and women served us, now it’s our time to serve them.

Watch the free military caregiving webinar on demand on Easterseals.com/carewebinar.

A Soldier’s Story: Ask your local theater to screen this movie

by Rachel Talen

“Never give up. Never quit.” That is Travis Mills’ motto.  And if Travis Mills has no excuses, no one else should either! An injury in Afghanistan may have left him a quadruple amputee, but it didn’t change his goofy personality, his determination to be there for his family, or his motivation to walk and run again and participate in all the activities he used to.

A co-worker here at Easter Seals recommended I see Travis: A Soldier’s Story, and thanks to Easter Seals Dixon Center’s work in serving veterans, I had the privilege of attending a screening. I got to meet Travis at the screening, and I just loved him. He is an all-around good (and hilarious) guy, and that’s not all: he is a Detroit Lions fan, too!

Travis: A Soldier’s Story is a documentary and true story of United States Army Staff Sergeant Travis Mills of the 82nd Airborne. Travis lost portions of both arms and both legs as the result of an IED (improvised explosive device) on April 10, 2012, while on patrol during his third tour of duty in Afghanistan. Travis is one of just five quadruple-amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive their injuries.

Watch this trailer and you’ll get a hint of what I think this documentary is all about: that family is everything for our soldiers. The goal to come home to his wife, Kelsey, and their daughter, Chloe, motivated Travis to press on during rehabilitation.

The movie takes viewers through some of Travis’ therapy and rehabilitation process. It’s real, it’s tough, and it’s this hard work and perseverance that makes our soldiers heroes.

Some may refer to Travis as a wounded soldier, but he doesn’t consider himself wounded. He is a role model through the foundations he works with and his love for giving back. Help spread his story by encouraging your local theaters to screen the movie this Veterans Day.

And as for soldiers who don’t have a strong support system waiting for them at home — if you or someone you know is a military service member, veteran or military family, Easter Seals Dixon Center may be a good resource for help with anything from financial planning for military families and job training for veterans to respite services for military caregivers and more.

Should ride-sharing services adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act?

by Beth Finke

I wrote an op-ed piece for the Chicago Tribune called “Should ride-sharing services adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act?” in April, and it seems now that the ride-sharing vs. registered taxi driver issue is heating up all over the country. Our bartender friend Billy Balducci is the first person I remember telling me about ride-sharing. Billy can get off pretty late from work at Hackney’s, our local tavern, and he says going home using UberX works great.

Ride-sharing services like UberX, Lyft and Sidecar allow regular people to offer their personal cars for hire. The rides are usually cheaper, you can order and pay for it with your Smartphone, and you don’t have to tip the driver. “The picture of the guy who’s picking you up comes up right on your phone, so you know who to expect when they pull up,” Billy marveled, leaning over the bar to show me his phone before giving it a little more thought. “Guess that might not work so great for you, Beth!”

We both laughed. I was confident I could figure out a way to tackle that problem. What I was more concerned about was what might happen if a ride-sharing driver showed up and didn’t want to let my Seeing Eye dog in the car, and that’s what my piece in the Chicago Tribune is all about. It opens with an account of me heading to court in 2007 to testify against a cab driver who had refused to pick my Seeing Eye dog Hanni and me up outside the Chicago Hilton on Michigan Avenue back in 2007. Now how could a cab driver ever refuse these two smiley faces? My husband Mike can see, and he helped me hail a cab outside our apartment building the morning I had to go testify. And yes, truth really is stranger than fiction: A cab driver refused to pick me up on the way to court! The guy slowed down for Mike, but then when he saw me standing there on the curb with Hanni, he said, “No dogs!” and sped off. Mike took down his license number and I reported the second cab driver, too.

Chicago cab drivers are required to take classes to learn about service dogs, and they have to pass a Public Chauffeur Licensing Exam before getting a livery license. They know they are required to pick us up, and the cab drivers I reported were fined for refusing to do so. More importantly, each had their livery license temporarily suspended.

I found an NBC News story that said a blind man in San Francisco complained to UberX after one of their drivers refused to pick him up with his guide dog. UberX apologized and gave him $20 credit toward his next ride. The driver was not penalized. From my Tribune article:

The Americans with Disabilities Act states that “public transportation authorities may not discriminate against people with disabilities in the provision of their services,” but since the vehicles used by ride-sharing companies are privately owned and operated by independent contractors, this is a legal gray area.

The blind man who was refused the ride might take civil action, but that could take a lot of time. And money. And that’s my problem with this whole ride-sharing thing. I didn’t have to pay a cent to report the Chicago cab drivers who disregarded the law, the cases were resolved quickly and efficiently, and the drivers were penalized. If a driver from a ride-sharing service refuses to pick me up with Whitney, my current Seeing Eye dog, I will have little recourse. The burden will be on me to pay to take the ride-sharing service and the driver to court.

So for now, I’m sticking with rides in regulated Chicago cabs. As it says in the final line of my op-ed piece, “I’m not against innovation, but I believe the new services should be subject to some regulation and required training — just like cabs.”

Amy Adams’ first class seat for a first class citizen

by Elsa Remak

Amy Adams photo by Sachyn Mital

As a self-proclaimed pop culture junkie, I get a kick out of the “Stars, they’re just like us” column in my weekly light reading. Society puts celebrities on such a pedestal that pictures of our favorite stars pumping gas, reading a book, and (gasp!) grocery shopping, are considered newsworthy.

On June 27, one simple act of kindness broke into Twitter, the entertainment world and major global news outlets. Amy Adams, one of Hollywood’s top stars, quietly gave up her first-class seat to a serviceman sitting in coach. Adams didn’t trade her seat for publicity reasons, and if an ESPN reporter with a large following hadn’t been on the same flight and seen the exchange, this would not be news.

Jemele Hill, a co-host of ESPN2′s “Numbers Never Lie” show was on that flight with Amy Adams, though, and she tweeted about what she saw.  “I noticed Ms. Adams was in first-class and as I was getting seated, I saw the flight attendant guide the soldier to Ms. Adams’ seat. She was no longer in it, but it was pretty clear that she’d given up her seat for him,” Hill said in a story on ABC News. “I was incredibly impressed, and I’m not even sure if the soldier knew who gave him that seat. I guess he will now!”

An act like this headlining ABC News tells us just how rare a gesture it is. The deed is praiseworthy and shows Adams as a class act.

We view celebrities as selfish and aloof, focused on their own popularity and out of touch with those outside of the Hollywood scene. This phenomenon begs the question…would WE [“average” Americans] do the same?

I love random acts of kindness. One of my favorite college memories involved girls leaving “you are beautiful” notes on bathroom mirrors throughout campus. During the holiday season I am quick to buy a coffee for the person behind me in the Starbucks drive-thru line. Yet I am mortified to realize that if I had a first-class seat, I would not have thought to give it up for a first-class citizen.

My hope is that Adams’ deed will inspire a trend of honoring those whom have done so much to honor our country. Not everyone can afford a first-class ticket, but a genuine “thank you” doesn’t cost a thing. I am challenging myself to thank the service men and women in my community, and I encourage you all to do the same.

Get in touch with Easter Seals Dixon Center’s many military services that assist service men and women, veterans and their families.

Before Sunday’s World Cup finale, watch this blind soccer video

by Cameron Robbins

I love soccer, so this past month I’ve been in World Cup heaven!

Futbol, futebol, soccer…no matter what you call it, you probably also know it as The Beautiful Game. And, for me, it really is. When my friends and I talk about a match, we describe plays as beautiful or pretty. We’ll talk about how graceful a player is or how fluid his footwork is. For me, the game is very visual.

Not so for Liwiston and his Urece teammates. They play Football 5-a-side, or blind soccer. Their game is based on audio clues, everything from someone knocking on goal posts to listening for a ball that sounds like a maraca. And, boy, do they play a mean game of futebol!

This terrific video from The New York Times chronicles Liwiston and his team as they defend their regional title and hope to win a slot on Brazil’s national team. If they make the team, they’ll get to play at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio. I’m rooting for Liwiston and his Urece teammates – they show me that it’s the players’ passion that truly make soccer The Beautiful Game it is.

PS: For those that may think that there’s any kind of advantage to playing with no out of bounds…I’ve played indoor soccer (with barriers) and trust me, it’s faster and harder than playing on the pitch!

Best ways to get around rural areas without a car

by Beth Finke

Donna Smith is the Director of Training with Easter Seals Project Action, which supports accessible transportation across the nation. Here she is with a guest post.

Getting from A to B

by Donna Smith

Have you ever considered how you would travel in small town America if you didn’t drive a car? This is a concern for many people who live in rural or small town areas across the country — either they don’t have a car, can’t drive a car, or are part of a household that only has one car.

Alternatives to driving (bus, subway, rail, trolley or taxi service) are not always available outside of large urban areas of the country. Even when alternative transportation options are available, there can be many restrictions: limited hours of operation, restricted coverage area, eligible only to certain populations, lack of connectivity between service areas, just to name a few. So what do people without the option of driving do to get around in rural America? It often comes down to learning to use a patchwork of available options.

Travel training is the profession of teaching independent travel skills to people with disabilities, older adults and people with limited English proficiency. Easter Seals Project ACTION recently modified the “Introduction to Travel Training” curriculum—now we teach travel skills in rural settings, too.

Our Introduction to Travel workshops start out with making an assessment of a person’s abilities and skills for independent travel, planning out the trip and assessing the trip for safety and accessibility for the person who will be making the trip. After that, the person taking the trip is taught additional skills needed to successfully reach their destination.

Most trips in rural areas are made with a combination of walking, bus transportation and, sometimes, carpooling or volunteer drivers. How much of the trip can be made as a pedestrian depends not only on the traveler’s ability to walk or roll, but the safety and accessibility of the environment. Some questions we consider:

• Are there sidewalks?
• If so, are those sidewalks passable?
• If there are no sidewalks, and the person must travel along the shoulder of the road, is it wide enough to allow for a safe distance from moving traffic?
• Is there sufficient lighting to make walking on the shoulder feasible?
• What kind of intersections must be crossed?
• Is there a pedestrian crossing cycle?
• If there is no pedestrian crossing cycle, is there clearly a safe opportunity for a pedestrian to cross?
• Is there enough time to make the crossing?

These sorts of considerations are taken for granted in a lot of urban areas, but in rural and small town locations, there can be a very mixed bag of responses to these questions. When transportation is available to the public in rural areas, most often it is some kind of bus system. It can be a fixed-route system that runs one or more defined routes with either specific bus stops or flag stop service, or it might be a flexible route system that allows for slight deviations to pick up people at home or other locations such as a supermarket or workplace.

Even in places where bus service like this exists, people have to figure out how they can get to the bus service. If walking or rolling isn’t an option, then asking a friend or family member for a ride, finding a carpool, or using a volunteer driver are all options. Working out the details for each of these is up to the individuals involved. However, some kind of compensation is typically offered — paying for fuel, offering a rate per mile, or paying a set fee for the trip.

The National Research & Training Center on Blindness & Low Vision
offers a Transportation Guide that is a very good resource for learning more about how to find and make use of the possible transportation options in your local area. Easter Seals Project ACTION was pleased to serve on the advisory council for this research project and contribute to this resource guide.

Easter Seals Project ACTION also offered a free webinar called “Getting from A to B: Connecting Individuals to Transportation Resources in Your Community” last month, and if you missed it, then don’t worry – you can still access it online at the “event resources” section of our event page. To learn more about travel training, check out the resources at the Project ACTION web site.