[nagdu] Fw: [nabs-l] Discrimination in Oakland

[Nicole B. Torcolini]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Anne Ward" <inland2wards at att.net>
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient: ;@smtp127.sbc.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Sent: Monday, February 08, 2010 12:29 PM
Subject: [nabs-l] Discrimination in Oakland


> 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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