You may have read about this – it made the news about three weeks ago – but I found it to be a very telling story about disability in our times and I can’t stop thinking about it. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he was rabidly opposed to more taxi cabs in his city that are equipped to handle disabled passengers. They’re too expensive, he said, too heavy, and have crappy suspension. Ergo, “the average person riding in them finds them really uncomfortable.”
Remember the story? Ready for a stiff shot of righteous indignation? Please join me.
Whatever the fiscal reality of accessible taxis, it’s Mr. Bloomberg’s tortured logic underlying his opposition to these vehicles that reveals how this seemingly enlightened servant of the people – and no doubt many others – really feel about all those wheelchair users out there.
They are, in a word, a nuisance.
First of all, they are a public health risk. “You can’t just take a wheelchair out in the street and try and hail a cab and get a cab to pull over and get into it.” True, New York cabbies will just drive right by you – they are the laziest hacks in the business. But is it any more dangerous for a wheelchair user to hail a cab than anyone else? Of course not, at least not in a manual chair. Like any pushy New Yorker, you just have to be aggressive and watch the traffic and the potholes. If the cabbie would stop, throw your collapsible chair in the truck or backseat – like my 105 lb wife does daily – the whole experience would be a piece of cake.
Secondly, these wheelchair people, says the mayor, are inept. Because there is more space between the passenger and driver in a van, the passenger could get hurt passing the money to the driver. This is pure BS. Personally I’ve ridden in a hundred taxi vans in a dozen American cities and the driver has never had a problem getting his money, including his usual tip. Bloomberg contends that because the passenger sits too far back, they can’t have a good chat with the driver and the driver gets lower tips. Yeah, right – NY cabbies get big tips because they are scintillating conversationalists.
The mayor’s true sentiments are expressed in one classy comment: “It’s always somebody who says, ‘oh, no, everything has to be handicapped accessible, or wheelchair accessible,’ but that’s not necessarily what the people that are in wheelchairs need.”
That statement is arrogant, patronizing, dismissive, and a prime example of ADA backlash, all in the same breath. Mayor Bloomberg, a man who has probably never been in either a taxi or a wheelchair, knows jack s**t about “what the people that are in wheelchairs need.” If I’m on 42nd Street and need a ride to 73rd Street, I need a cab, period. I’m not sick, crazy, or an invalid and certainly don’t have time to wait for a van to be dispatched, as the mayor suggests. I could roll to 72nd Street before it got there.
In my experience, the city that best reveals the depth of the mayor’s stupidity is London. They have a fleet of vertically roomy cabs where you can roll in without leaving your chair. The cabbie sees you waving, pulls up, pulls a portable ramp out of the trunk, and you’re inside in seconds. It takes no more effort on his part than loading some luggage. Brilliant!
The truth is, Bloomberg just doesn’t want to bother with the crippled people. They don’t count. If they can afford to live in the city, they can call a town car. If they are tourists, they’re not worth the price of a bigger cab. They can take their SDI money to Atlantic City.
My late sister from Oklahoma used to say things like “All Indians are lazy” and get lambasted by anyone in hearing distance. The mayor of New York announces, in code, “All wheelchair users are helpless and a nuisance” and hardly anyone notices.
You haven’t come such a long way, baby.
© 2011 Allen Rucker | 
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The Best Seat in the House:
How I Woke Up One Tuesday and Was Paralyzed for Life
