| Disabled hit the buffers
A GRANDMOTHER has spoken out about the lack of provision for wheelchair users at a train station and The Comet can reveal only one out of seven stations investigated in Comet country has step-free access to all platforms.Wendy Crawley, of Wilbury Road, Letchworth GC, is angry her 18-year-old granddaughter - who she did not wish to name - cannot board a train at Letchworth GC station because there is no working lift there.Mrs Crawley said: "There is no access to the platform for the disabled."They run a taxi to the nearest station with a lift, which is usually Stevenage, but that's discrimination and people should be treated the same. .
Disabled in Delhi hold angry protests, demand rights
New Delhi, Sep 19 (ANI): Dozens of physically and mentally challenged people, affiliated to the Action for Disability Development and Inclusion (AADI) and the Disabled Rights Group (DRG) today organized a protest outside the office of the Planning Commission here, to demand their rights. They demanded their rightful due in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, to be implemented from 2007. The protestors expressed their frustration over Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia meeting other groups and not them. The protest however, ended in a scuffle with the police. Javed Abidi, the wheelchair bound convenor of the Disabled Rights Group, who now directs the National Centre for the Promotion of Employment for Disabled People, based in New Delhi, warned the protests would be stepped up if the voices of the disabled remained unheard.
Wheelchair-accessible ramps
The University of Massachusetts Transit system added five new buses to its fleet in the middle of August, and plans to add another five by the end of the academic year.
The new buses were designed to be more accommodating to disabled passengers and are equipped with wheelchair-accessible ramps.
"On the older buses, passengers had to roll their wheelchairs onto the lifts in the back, and the bus driver would operate the lift. With the new buses, they can just roll on by themselves," said Transit Services manager, Al Byam.
The buses, which were manufactured by Gillig Corp. of Hayward, California, are run by the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority (PVTA). They are blue and orange, seat 40 passengers, and are marked with the new PVTA logo.
"The new buses also have the most fuel efficient diesel engine," said Byam.
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