anyone take paratransit?

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i take Paratransit to get to work the system in this county is hell though it came an hour late tis morning anyone else have expirences with paratransit

i actually can take regular bus system when is a simple route without transfers, or if in a very familiar place with one transfer at a major transfer spot but other wise i use paratransit

I used to take paratransit a long time ago. Sometimes they were reliable but other times it was horrible. There were a few times where they forgot to come! Other times I had to wait and wait forever. I used to go to a socialization group. It was part of an organization called "BHR" which is stupid. It stands for Behavioral Health Resources. This is the group that paratransit used to take me to. There were a few times where they took me to BHR very early. Then I became bored (there is nothing to do at BHR while waiting for the group). Sadly I got kicked out of the socialization group. It was because I had a very bad day. My mom was about to go through a dangerous procedure and I was suicidal because of it. I don't know why I went that day. It is just its hard to cancel at the last minute. And it was a group that goes places so I was also looking forward to going to that place. Right now there is a slight chance that I might be accepted back into the group after 3 years later.

Hi Ravenclawgurl,

My Paratransit card expires this summer, but I've never "officially" used it. I did use a "free" ride once by private drivers under a State program that applies only when Paratransit "doesn't go there" (time schedule requirements don't qualify, so this only works for medical appointments outside the county). Other California counties have much better bus services than my current county, but they usually have more & very stringent qualification requirements for Paratransit qualifications.

I posted previously about my still current county:
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postp4016355.html#4016355


Sometimes, the police & federal courts become involved:

When the Police called my nearest living relative, my whole situation felt like I was under House False Arrest. All the wonderful concerned professional people, who all were "burnt-out" with doing much of anything actually positive long ago, backed-off considerably once I filed the first set of legal documents initiating the start of the "administrative remedies" that buffer filing suit in Federal District Court.

My medical clinic called the Police the first time just after I left the clinic, and by the time logs, while I was drinking my bottle of Gatorade, outside the clinic and under the canopy of shade from the old Bus-Stop. I had carried the Gatorade with me so I would be hydrated for the little less than a mile walk back home in moderately hot weather. I was always making my appointment earliest as possible in the morning to avoid the hot afternoon as much as possible in walking to, and from, the clinic.

Before the Police became involved, the item of most interest to me was my doctor's claim that I never had a bone-scan that revealed bone deterioration, possibly from Dilantin, and her then abruptly terminating my Boniva prescription, while some State Pharmacy organizations were suing the State over Medicaid underpaying for medicines that included Boniva. The clinic detained me while they conducted a "thorough" search of their physical and electronic records to verify that I mis-perceived something as a "bone-scan" and was previously "mis-prescribed" Boniva at the clinic. After a couple hours of delay, I had told the clinic that I would contact Medicaid and try to locate the records for myself through the trail created by the billing, and I soon exited the building towards the canopy.

This encounter with the Police ended when the Police expressed fascination with my GPS unit keeping track of my map, location, speed, direction, and times of my trip to, detention at, and trip back from the clinic. They did lecture me of their shortage of resources and their concern with my safety and well-being, which I'm more tempted to phrase as my concerns with reasonable accommodations with the major life activity frequently labeled as "walking," as used in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

After this Police encounter, all the doctors at the clinic were "unavailable" while I pursued my Medicaid transaction records, over the next twelve months, and I contacted the Department of Health and Human Services over the availability of medical clinics in complying with federal regulations, and instructions I received at ER that my self-proclaimed premonitory seizures of a tonic-clonic (TC) were painless migraines that should be serviced by my clinic doctor (my neurosurgeon advised me to visit ER with any premonition of a TC), but I did get a new AED prescription, and took a max dose of Keppra to stop a full TC. The ER is distant, and taxi service back was more than $100 (the taxi service is out of service now too).

A new doctor took me at the clinic shortly after Medicaid verified the billing records, but on my second visit with the new doctor, after I had to make the walk with an umbrella and raincoat with a mild painless migraine through moderate rain showers, the doctor's assistant had a perfume that aggravated my migraine, and when I told her this, she left in a huff, brought the doctor back with her, with the strong return of her perfume. I told them both that the odor was aggravating my painless migraine and that it would mitigate with fresh air, but my doctor told me that she had called an ambulance to take me to ER, to which I objected. They wouldn't let me have fresh air or to leave without signing a release stating that they told me I was in a life threatening seizure and that I refused to go to ER (the distant trip back home from ER would be more of a threat to my health than my migraine, and with transportation services back home, it would either be a very long wait or a very distant walk in the rain). Because they both stopped medical services that instant at the clinic, and refused to accommodate my impairments at the clinic, I filed an ADA complaint against the clinic.

Next, two Social Workers showed up on my nearest relative's doorstep, claiming that I was an abused and neglected adult that should receive transportation from his family members (my mother, my nearest relative in a few hundred miles, is 82, and receives transportation from Senior Services for more distant medical care). Their first visit was during my walk to the local pharmacy for my Keppra prescription, about a 5 mile round trip. Their second visit came under the guise of Adult Protection Services and a complaint that I was in imminent danger for making the less than a mile walk to the clinic. I cited the issues raised in my ADA complaint, and told them I was seeking initial local resolution, (before attempted State and Federal resolution), with the local paratransit program and the California cross-county medical transportation program, for their refusal of services.

Finally, paratransit granted me eligibility status, but their service is so slow, infrequent, and expensive, that it's easier and cheaper to walk for the exercise and maintain activity records with the GPS equipment. I was also trying to develop and use techniques with seizures that the New York Times reported as being tried with success for Alzheimer's patients, but the legality of using such equipment anywhere in public or private in the USA is being challenged by the State and Federal governments (strangely, they also require it with many individuals, what they are simultaneously prohibiting). Many lawsuits are pending across the USA over such usage of equipment, with most of the "news-worthy" ones involving the illegality of recording police misconduct:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/ ... ECI&st=cse
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/04/19/moto ... 4#comments
http://www.deanmostofi.com/?p=887
http://wjz.com/local/preakness.fight.in ... 08562.html
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread574667/pg1

I also got cross-county medical transportation free of charge, but by then, my Medicaid out-of-county neurologist had "lost" all medical records, tossed my folder and papers I had with me aside, and asked me "You have a brain tumor or something?"

The question if disabled people should be allowed in public because of safety and ambiance issues has been adressed in many court cases involving the ADA and various state laws. Here in California, many lawyers have been intimidated into not taking low end cases: http://www.calbar.ca.gov/
While I've been told that I "lack motivation" and use epilepsy to hide behind in Federal Court, that my seizures can easily ruin the ambiance of any social setting, and that I should just stay in my favorite epileptic Leper Colony of greedy Laziness at low marginal subsistence: http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnf ... 06_353.htm

The actual Legal Spirit of the ADA is best explored in Joseph Heller's book, "Catch-22." The True ideal Legal Spirit of the ADA is saved for a very few token cases for suitable media coverage. My employment Federal lawsuits were under the Rehabilitation Act, which the ADA is modeled on. Under Rehab and ADA, if epilepsy isn't sufficiently dire, you lose, if epilepsy is too dire, you lose, and, if epilepsy is moderately dire, you most probably lose; The Supreme Court found this reasonable in dealing with epileptics. "Accommodation" is a synonym for throwing people overboard in an orderly and diplomatic manner.

Tadzio