25 Years Later, Some See Real Progress

Read on. This is not just about physical limitations - but all individuals.

NEW YORK — When New York City announced 30 years ago that it was spending more than $50 million for buses with wheelchair lifts, Ronnie Raymond rolled her eyes. The founder of a reinsurance brokerage firm, she commuted by bus “and I never saw anyone in a wheelchair, anywhere,” she says. “So why spend all that money?” 

The city had already invested in 1,362 accessible buses, and only 10 to 20 people citywide a day boarded in a wheelchair. 

“The reason I didn’t see anyone in wheelchairs,” Ms. Raymond later realized when she herself developed multiple sclerosis and had to use a wheelchair, “was because they couldn’t get anywhere.” Most could not even get to the bus stop. 

N.J. Senate Backs Bill To Prohbit Discrimination

TRENTON – Legislation that would prohibit discrimination against a potential organ transplant recipient on the basis of a mental or physical disability cleared the full Senate Monday.
“People with developmental disabilities should not be treated as second-class citizens,” said state Senate President Steve Sweeney. “Their disabilities do not make them any less human or worthy of respect and common decency. They should be afforded the same rights as anyone would want when entering a hospital.”