Aspies For Freedom

I found this on anoter As site i post on.



Pass 'Disabled' No More

Santa Barbara AP - David Kremer fought the Santa Barbara Metropolitan
Transit District, in California - and won.

Kremer, who is autistic, acknowledges he has a disability but objected
to the district's use of the term "disabled" for its bus pass. He said one
of the things he didn't like was that other bus riders could see the word in
big letters when he pulled it out of his wallet.
      He even stopped using the pass, which costs $18 a month compared with
the regular $41 rate.
      "I did not like the way the word treated me," Mr. Kremer said. "I felt
discouraged and judged and I was being put down. I felt using the bus pass
with the word 'disabled' was the worst thing I have done in my lifetime."
      MTD officials said they were moved by Kremer's request that they
change the name of the pass. Kremer and other people with disabilities who
supported his cause showed bravery, said Board member Dave Davis.
      "They didn't think they could accomplish it - they knew they could,"
Davis said. "That word 'disability' was like the scarlet letter. They said
'Take that letter off."'
      Starting Tuesday, the MTD will replace the "disabled" pass with the
"mobility" pass. Kremer will be the first recipient of the new pass at a
special meeting at the agency's headquarters.
      Kremer lives by himself and uses the bus to get to his part-time job
at a medical device company and to go to the movies, the library, downtown
and the YMCA.

Well he didnt like it and made a positive change for himself. Some people dont mind the word disabled, I suppose it depends on how you have seen the word used in your personal experience.
Where I live they have bus passes for people with various conditions and they dont use the word disabled.

They don't use the word disabled on any kind of card other than stickers for cars here, either. Concession cards either say things like "Pensioner Concession Card" or have lots of unreadable stuff on them, depending on who they are issued to and why.

The public transportation passes where I live have the owner's picture on them.  We do not have discounted passes for people with disabilities.  I think some agencies might pay for some of the pass but it is not different in appearance than anyone else's.  

I wish I could get a discounted transit pass.  I stay home most of the time because I can only afford to use the transit once a week.  I really hate having to go to job interviews that last 5 minutes when people could have asked me the same stupid questions over the phone.  Then I can not go anywhere that week.

Mine just says "Free Travel" on it,no reference to disability.
I know in one part of the country,theirs is called the "freedom pass".

I don't understand why some people find the word 'disability' so bad anyway,it isn't meant to be offensive.

I think it is because if my government got off their arse and invested some money/time into training me to cope with what I have actual difficulty in, I would be able to play the "anything you can do, I can do better" game with any normie. Hence, I find being called disabled a little irritating. I would rather not be thought of in the same terms as someone who dived into shallow water and broke their spinal column that way.

In my area, the disabled ID card just shows the handicapped symbol and the person's picture. Those who are blind have a different card that has "Blind" written on it, with the picture of the person. They get to ride any bus for free, as do those in a wheelchair.

As for myself, I just have the regular monthly pass as I don't disclose my diagnosis as it doesn't affect my ability to get to where I need to go. I'll have my driver's license soon, so I'll have the option to drive myself. Now, if parking is a problem, I'll still use public transportation.

Ahh...I get your point,Iron Man!


Adoyle,what is the handicapped symbol where you live?
Is it a person in a wheel chair?
I absolutely hate that logo,a person with a physical disability does not represent the majority of disabilities,whether it's blindness/VI,learning disability,profound mental illness etc,disability should have a neutral positive logo in my....slightly...off..topic opinion.