On Tuesday we shared the new policy the Disabled Adult Transportation wants to shift into gear Sept. 1 and have users cancel their rides two hours in advance. We received many emails and tweets from users who are very unhappy with the decision, claiming — and rightly so — their independence is being taken away. We also received an e-mail from DATS director Deanna Crozier asking for a meeting. She said she wants to explain the system wants to do more trips. But at what cost? Clearly, someone will lose out. We’ll find out more after the Monday meeting.
The very fact DATS is trying to make such a policy is another example of people with disabilities, perhaps, being too complacent. As a person with a disability, and a DATS user, I think we need to change the perception politicians and bureaucrats have. A classic example of this was how the provincial government and Alberta Health Services made sweeping changes to home care without consulting users. They felt they could do this because, after all, who would object?
They were wrong. They awoke a sleeping giant, and the responses to the changes spoke volumes. Perhaps, then, the City of Edmonton felt they could do the same thing with this ridiculous new two-hour policy. They might have a fight on their hands. Because, as a very well-respected DATS user pointed out on the bus Tuesday, there’s a civic election in Edmonton in the fall. The new policy comes into effect Sept. 1. So, let’s make the official proclamation right now: people with disabilities in Edmonton are making the new DATS cancellation a election issue. Try steamrolling us now, folks.
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The recent announcement from the Disabled Adult Transportation System about a new policy coming into effect Sept. 1 is a sad reflection in today’s society. DATS is changing their late cancel policy from 30 minutes to two hours.
The reasoning: DATS officials say they can schedule a ride for someone who cancels But two hours prior in advance? C’mon. Let’s be real. And, if you do not cancel within that two-hour time frame you get marked a no-show: even if you cancel, say, 60 minutes before your ride. And if you get three no-shows, you could be suspended from the service.
How lovely. This is an insult to the independence of people with disabilities in Edmonton. So we have questions. Does that mean if you’re working, you have to go to the boss 2 1/2 hours before you’re scheduled to go home to see if you have to work late? Does that mean you can’t go the extra mile and stay when the boss gives you a project they need done at the end of the day? Does this mean if you’re having such a good time at a social outing that you want to stay, you have to make that decision two hours in advance? Where’s the spontaneity here?
And what if you are on one of those 90-minute DATS rides, getting to your destination a half hour before you’re scheduled to return? Does this mean you only have 30 minutes at your destination because you didn’t call in the two-hour window? It is indeed most curious, considering we live in a society where we can get updated information by the second and DATS is going in reverse, asking their clients for an unreasonable amount of notice. Someone within the City of Edmonton needs to apply the brakes to this, sooner than later.
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