Equity for people with Disability

Did you know that people with disabilities in Oregon are 13 percent of Oregon's population, which is more than the U.S disabled population percentage of 12 percent (Benton County, 2011). It is so important for them to have a reliable, affordable and accessible transportation service to help them reach their work, school and community in their daily life. By 2030,elderly senior population will grew by 123% in Oregon and the current resources will need to be backed up to keep with this increase (Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TRIMET), 2012).

Most people with disabilities are elderly,forty one percent of whom are 65 years of age or older.Those between  21 and 65 account for 13 percent;  followed by kids between 5 and 20, which make up seven percent of the total (Local wheelchair, 2011). TRIMET reported proper incentives that should be implemented to match the growth including:

• Bus stop improvements to cover more areas covering elderly people living far from current bus stops to ensure an accessible service for them.

• Encourage more Paratransit Feeder services for those who can use a fixed route but can't reach the bus stop, so they can be picked up to the nearest bus stop and continue their trip from there.

• Affording Community-Based Accessible Vans for community organizations, which is cheaper since it is driven by their staff or committed volunteers.

• A pedestrian Master plan adopted by the City Of Portland for the next 20 years. It works by locating elder housing in many counties like Multnomah and shows the nearest location for disability services to encourage them to walk and maintain a friendly health to a gathering point so they can be picked up. They can also have the information needed for trip planning through TriMet website (TriMet Coordinated Transportation Plan Elderly and People with Disability, 2012).

Those were some of the many incentives and services that are afforded for people with disabilities in a way to maintain there right for equity and to have an accessible way for them to live there life depending on their condition.

Tanks for Tom  Shook for editing this blog.

References:

1- http://trimet.org/pdfs/publications/elderly-and-disabled-plan.pdf

2- http://www.co.benton.or.us/health/health_status/socioeconomics19.php

3- http://www.flickr.com/photos/trimet/7563538346/in/photostream/lightbox/

4- http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmchuff/2311845094/in/photostream/ (McHuff, Jason)

5- http://www.aapd.com/resources/publications/transportation-disabilities.pdf