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

Joy Relton jrelton at verizon.net
Wed Feb 17 18:11:39 UTC 2010


Mark,

I'm fairly certain that all of the doors can be locked. This is a security
issue when the buses are empty and I have seen the back doors locked in
instances when someone was trying to exit the back door when they hadn't
paid and the door was locked so that they had no choice but to come through
the front door. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Mark J. Cadigan
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 12:39 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Fw: [nabs-l] Discrimination in Oakland


Unless it is the back seat of a police car, is it possible to get locked 
into a vehicle? I mean, couldn't that couple somehow open the door on the 
buss and get out? Also there is an emergency exit in busses, I would assume,

that can't be locked.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 10:29 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Fw: [nabs-l] Discrimination in Oakland


> Good grief!  Yes, a lot of why's.
>
> I have another question:  Since disability is now included in hate 
> crimes legislation, does that apply?  I mean, there was false 
> imprisonment (or whatever it's correctly called) involved when the 
> driver locked the couple in the bus and walked away.  Isn't that 
> tantamount to minor kidnapping?  I haven't read the hate crimes 
> legistlation word for word, but I seem to remember hearing the word 
> "assault" in the news reports.  Would all of yelling and arm waving 
> and door slamming and other aggressive behaviors by the driver 
> constitute assault, even though it didn't technically escalate into 
> battery?
>
> Whatever the finer legal points are, that is a very disturbing story.
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of Nicole B. Torcolini
> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 5:34 PM
> To: NAGDU
> Subject: [nagdu] Fw: [nabs-l] Discrimination in Oakland
>
>
> ----- 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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>
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