[nabs-l] Discrimination in Oakland

Mon Feb 8 22:24:17 UTC 2010

I agree.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "alena roberts" <alena.roberts2282 at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 2:19 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Discrimination in Oakland

> In 2010 this is an unacceptable tragedy. I think what that couple 
> experienced should never happen, especially not on a para transit bus. I 
> think the head of police in Oakland needs to be notified that his officers 
> aren't aware of the law, and the couple should consider bringing a lawsuit 
> against the bus company.
>
> Alena
> On Feb 8, 2010, at 12:29 PM, Anne Ward wrote:
>
>> This was sent to me this morning by Judith Lesner, who asked me to 
>> distribute it widely.
>>
>> Anne Ward
>>
>>
>>
>> Discrimination in Oakland?
>>
>>
>>
>> Last night my very good friend Marvelena Quesada was told that she had to 
>> "sit in the back of the bus".  In this case, an East Bay ParaTransit bus. 
>> The person givithng the order was the bus's dispatcher.  Marvelena's 
>> status that led up to the banishment to the back of the bus was her 
>> traveling with Darla.  Marvelena is blind and Darla is her seeing eye 
>> dog.
>>
>>
>>
>> To start at the beginning, Marvelena and her husband Chris Gray came to 
>> my house for dinner.  They are both blind and Chris is the past president 
>> of the American Council of the Blind which is a national consumer group. 
>> They had arranged to be picked up by East Bay ParaTransit for a ride 
>> home.  At about 9:15 they got a call that their ride was outside.  I 
>> walked out with them to bus number 352.  The driver asked if the dog was 
>> going along too.  Marvelena replied that it was.  The driver then decided 
>> that her bus was not positioned correctly and drove about a half block 
>> down the street.  By the time we got to her she was on her cell phone and 
>> refused entry to Chris and Marvelena, yelling at them through the 
>> partially opened door that no one had said anything about a dog and that 
>> she had "issues" with dogs.  She said they had to wait for another 
>> paratransit  bus to come and take them.  Chris said that they had a legal 
>> right to get on the bus with the dog and forced his way through the 
>> partially opened door and got on the bus.  The driver slammed the door 
>> and wouldn't let Marvelena and Darla on the bus.
>>
>>
>>
>> Meanwhile the driver was speaking to her dispatcher on a speaker phone. 
>> That was when the dispatcher made her Solomon like decision to end the 
>> impasse, "Go take the dog and sit in the back of the bus".  I informed 
>> the driver and dispatcher that it was no longer the 50's where they could 
>> get away with that.  Chris and Marvelena said that she would not move to 
>> the back.  While this was going on, Marvelena and Darla managed to get on 
>> the bus.  Marvelena was calling paratransit and she and I and another 
>> friend were conferring through the open door.  At that point the 
>> passenger on the bus said that she had had it with waiting so long and 
>> would walk the rest of the way home.  She got off the bus and left.  The 
>> driver reported that the passenger had left the bus because of the dog 
>> which was a baldfaced lie.  The driver then said that the company was 
>> sending another bus to take them home.
>>
>>
>>
>> This all went on for some time when the driver closed the doors so that 
>> we could no longer talk to Chris and Marvelena, turned out the lights and 
>> left the bus.  Marvelena and Chris were left alone in a locked bus while 
>> the driver walked half a block away and spoke on her cell phone.  Chris 
>> then called 911 and two Oakland policemen arrived shortly there after.
>>
>>
>>
>> One of the police asked my friend and I what was happening.  I explained 
>> the situation.  The policeman said something to the effect that it 
>> depended on the bus company's policy.  I said that was nonsense.  That it 
>> had nothing to do with the bus company, it was a federal law called the 
>> ADA.  Marvelena and her dog had the same right of access to public places 
>> as Marvelena did on her own.  He seemed unaware of the law.
>>
>>
>>
>> Finally, after the police arrived, another bus arrived to take them home. 
>> The altercation took about an hour and involved the waste of two bus 
>> drivers' time as well as that of two Oakland police personnel.
>>
>>
>>
>> Questions that arise:
>>
>>  1.. Why when so many people with disabilities are using service animals 
>> does a company whose sole clientele are people with disabilities hire a 
>> driver who will not drive a bus with a dog on it?
>>  2.. If the company feels compelled to hire folks who are afraid of dogs, 
>> why do they not routinely ask passengers if they are traveling with 
>> service animals so that they can send a not-afraid driver?
>>  3.. Why were the driver and the dispatcher not trained by the company to 
>> know the laws about access and seeing eye dogs?
>>  4.. Why was the driver not trained in basic courtesy?  She routinely 
>> yelled at us, slammed doors and at one point told me to "move him."  She 
>> was referring to Chris.  I explained that he was a person and he moved 
>> himself, I did not move him.
>>  5.. Why are the Oakland Police not trained in the fundamentals of ADA 
>> access laws?
>>
>>
>> Issues to note:
>>
>>  1.. Darla was wearing a regulation Seeing Eye harness, did not make any 
>> noise, did not show any aggression despite the shouting of the driver and 
>> lay on the floor of the bus near Marvelena's feet the entire time.
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>
>
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