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Where is the outrage from the public? From the civil rights groups? From the human rights groups? From the Congress? From state legislatures? Wherever transit eugenics is occurring?

Are paratransit riders allowing it to happen?

Paratransit riders are being manipulated to accept policies that oppress them over a perod of time or divide them so they are

Are they being punished for being disabled and unable to ride the bus or train?

It is quite risky for most persons who are disabled to take the Chicago elevated train with its roller coaster ride over 100+ year-old tracks that toss, bump and thump the riders whose backs need to remain stable and secure (guess he or she never expecetd to be kicked off the paratransit).  Wheelchairs unsecured, trains crowded with intense onlookers stare in awe as if at a zoo, staring at the lone wheelchair rider, rider with a seated walker, or rider with a  missing limb who cannot grasp and maintain his balance a the same time. Trains screech in agony at various turns,  and reek of one toxic odor after another from artificial designer fragrances, and the foul smells of being underground and aligned witht the sewers and the rats that patrol them.

Transit eugenics is a new way to oppress people using oppressive techniques and ridership population control that reminds one of the fear tactics, deceit  and control of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany and mass enslavement of a group of people who are different from their oppressors (i.e. Afrikan slave trade; and persecution of Jews, Blacks and Jehovah Witnesses by Nazis).

Unsafe and poorly engineered emission and suspension systems have become the modern day gas chamber and experimental outpatient procedure for the paratransit rider.

Taking away choice, holding seceretive meetings closed to the public, and not allowing comments or ignoring their testimony, and closing public hearings to certain paratranist riders is akin to suspending democracy.  It is a socil policy that is dangerous and self-serving to the service provider.

Circulate and get Declaration of Transit Freedom and Justice signed for paratransit riders in NE IL who will also partner with riders in other states.  Support our federal litigation on Pace paratransit to return transit equity in NE IL and stop injury to people who are disabled.  Want to take to Congress, Obama Administration, and United Nations.

Visit IMPRUVELegal blog at www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/1036458  and
Go to www.groups.yahoo.com/group/IMPRUVE

If they complain and most who do, complain to IMPRUVE, the Pace ADA Advisory Committee or the carrier, they often fail to complain to the service provider, which is Pace, unless reminded.

Moreover, they  live in constant fear based on experience that somehow retaliation will occur in the form of false no shows that count against them, suspension for behavior determined to be illegal even though illegal has not been defined.

For example, violent behavior, which is illegal, is not defined.    Can one be considerd violent for being upset at their ride being 6 hours late or riding around 3 hours for a trip that even on a crowded fixed route bus might only take an hour. Not a joke.  It actually happens.

The ADA (Americans with Disabilties Act) allows for a reasonable accommodation to be granted to allow someone to eat or use the toilet during a long wait past the scheduled pickup for a ride  or lengthy trip past the scheduled dropoff time.   

Yet, because of these very transit eugenics, the rider is denied toilet time to relive himself or hersfl or eat after having had dialysis or missing one's insulin shot or a meal. For those who depend on meals served by a personal care assistant or in an assisted living setting, being late may mean missing a meal or having no assistance when one arrives home unles the personal care assistant rode with them. Unfortunately, too many riders have to pay full fare for themselves and the PCA at $2.25 each per trip, so a roundtrip can cost $9.00.

On an income of  $674 a month, just 10 trips a week can cost $ 180 a month if one travels with a PCA for who they have to pay.  Factor in an extra $3 for each suburban trip.

By the way, the ride for the PCA must be paid for in cash even though ride tickets are $2.25, the same as cash.  So there is the additional burden of having to have exact change for both or at least the PCA and traveling to one spot, a downtown currency exchange, to purchase trip vouchers (10  in a pack).

Is the paratransit in NE IL an experiment to determine how best to reduce ridership without calling it a capacity constraint or service cut?

Answer1:  Double the cost of a monthly pass from $75 to $150 even though you know this will put the pass and its savings out of the reach of the people who most benefit by it and can least afford the high cost. 

Answer2:  Reduce capacity using aggressive measures and some certification team members who resent having to ride the bus while many people who are disabled cannot; and limit ridership of the paratransit by coding most people in wheelchairs or who use white canes in the category of seasonal, conditional or transitional even though medical documentation clearly states and the client demonstrates that he or she cannot ride the type of trains and buses operated on fixed route public transit.

How does transit eugenics look:

Ask most Pace riders who live in Pace Paratransit Chicago Zone 1 or 3, or travel the south suburban route that is coverd by MV Transportation who face:

Isolation, lack of choice, random policy and restrictions made up as they go along,  little or no advance communication from Pace when new policies go into effect, crappy service, long, circuitous rides ("out of the way", illogical routing).

The Paratranst riders are working with Green Paratransit Think Tank of Green Think Tank of Disability Community to gain public control of paratransit, too, by 2016.   See Declaration of Transit Freedom and Justice (updated copy in files at)

 www.home.comcast.net/~ayomaat

Watch for Dr. Maat at the Green Fest to be held in Chicago May 16-17 at Navy Pier. She will be speaking on Green Think Tank for Disability Community and how it plans to  bring persons who are disabled from poverty to sustainable income and green living.

Inquire about March 19 seminar to be held in Chicago to raise funds for IMPRUVE.  (At AIMMC 836 W. Wellington Olson Auditorium 1st floor  Chicago IL 60657)

Love and Peace, Maat