[Travelandtourism] {Spam?} Members participation to get issues taken care of! Was: Greyhound to Settle ADA Complaints

[Cheryl Echevarria]

We have been working on this issues. We have been working on these issues
since 2014, when I was asked by the Para Legal team and a member to look
into them.

We have monthly teleconference calls for this division and have had
discussions on this topic, and have or wanted to have a teleconference call
with Greyhound with this division, but none of the members show up for
meetings. That is the god's honest truth! Only 1 member and the officers are
the only ones that show up for meetings.

If we do not have participation, we do not have a division.

It is just a group of 6 people to come together to talk. 

If you, Bibi, and others want to work on these issues with National, we need
to work on it as a division, or we will not be taken seriously. 

We just cannot sit back and complain, we do have this vehicle as a division
to work together, and it cannot just be done at national convention. 

Think about it, you may not be able to come to convention, but this division
doesn't stop there, none of our divisions stop at National, these are
ongoing year round.


Cheryl Echevarria, President
National Federation of the Blind - Travel & Tourism Division
Vice President
631-236-5138
cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com
"Live the Life You Want"

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
between blind people and our dreams. You can have the life you want;
blindness is not what holds you back.


Cheryl Echevarria was awarded by Governor Cuomo in 2012, New York State
Disabled Entrepreneur or the year, and is the owner of Echevarria Travel 






-----Original Message-----
From: Travelandtourism [mailto:travelandtourism-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Criminal Justice Major Extraordinaire via Travelandtourism
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 4:03 AM
To: NFB Travel and Tourism Division List <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Criminal Justice Major Extraordinaire <orleans24 at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [Travelandtourism] Greyhound to Settle ADA Complaints

Dear Cheryl,
There's been ADA issues with Greyhound for years.
Last incident I had was almost eight years ago when I had to fight with
several bus drivers as far as seating.
Odie and I went to a convention on the bus.
In their ADA section, it states that if a service dog is on board, no other
passengers may be seated in the assigned seating area, if both dog and
handler are on a particular side.
A driver put Odie and I in serious danger by having me sit on the right hand
side with Odie underneath and I had to have mny feet hanging over the wall
in front of me.
I was very lucky and fortunate that I had plenty of passengers there to back
me up on top of filing jmany complaints.
Needless to say, a few staff members were fired immediately, including the
bus driver that also caused the problem just as much.
What concerns me the most is how I was told by a few Greyhound
representatives in the Accessibility department what the ADA states what,
how or not the bus drivers and other staff of a Greyhound station can do or
not.
It's frustrating when I'm told one thing and then, something else...
Greyhound did provide me with a balcher to get half price off the next time
I were to use them.
Ever since that incident, I didn't feel comfortable using Greyhound again.
I did have a good experience with Amtraak almost four years back and I found
the environment on the train less stressful and they accomodated Odie and I
really well.
I had another guide dog user with me on the train and she also found the
travel less stressful.
I wanted to mention that those who work with service dogs aren't the only
ones who have had trouble with Greyhound.
My late husband, Dale Gilmore had to file a complaint on behalf of a
wheelchair mobile individual as the bus he was supposed to get on had a
broken wheelchair lift and that person had to probably wait either for a
couple of hours or the next day.
I know ther's an option for flying, but I'm not comfortable with it, due to
two type of seizures, but also the high amount of tightened security
measures that were put in place after the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks here
in the US and other countries.
I'm apart of the Colorado Disability Coalision organization here in Denver,
Colorado and I may also get some thoughts from them on this too.
Bibi
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