The Consumer
Not so friendly to differently-abled
By Linda Bolido
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:43:00 11/19/2008
Filed Under: People, Lifestyle & Leisure
WHILE some residents of Caloocan are asking for a light rail transit terminal to be opened in their neighborhood, some senior citizens and people who are differently-abled are only asking for access.
Randy of Sampaloc, Manila, a senior citizen, sent this text message: “LRT (light rail transit) 2 (this is the line plying the Cubao-Recto route) has world-class trains and stations. However, the [stations] are not elderly- and handicapped-friendly. Escalators and lifts, like those in Recto and Pureza, are permanently shut down, thus making it hard for old passengers like me with arthritic legs to climb the steep staircase.”
He wants to remind the LRT management of the Accessibility Law that requires establishments and public conveyances to provide facilities that will allow easy access to people with physical disabilities.
I fully sympathize with Randy and others like him. As it is, in terminals where there are escalators and elevators, the elderly and handicapped often have to fight for space with able-bodied men and women who seem to have forgotten how to climb stairs, no matter how short.
You see teenagers and kids who will probably stay up all night partying without exhibiting any signs of exhaustion, elbowing their way into escalators and elevators, leaving in their wake the slower senior citizens and the handicapped.
But it seems even that small convenience of being able to avoid the stairs is apparently not available to LRT 2 passengers in some terminals.
Ignorant of traffic rules
I met a guy once who had just joined an international organization in Manila. While waiting for his car to be delivered, he used taxis to move around Metro Manila. Seeing how Filipino drivers did not seem to understand the concept of traffic rules, he asked a taxi driver who would have right of way if two vehicles reached an intersection at the same time. The answer: “Whoever blows the horn first.” And this was a professional driver he was talking to.
I remembered this story because a reader sent a letter to our feedback section about her daughter’s experience when her daughter tried to get her first non-professional license at the Land Transportation Office in Biñan, Laguna.
It being her first time to apply for a regular driver’s license, the girl was a little apprehensive about having to take the test. Then she overheard applicants talking about how a man handling one of the windows could “help”. Apparently for P800, the miracle worker can make anyone pass the test.
And to think, the e-mail sender said, there were conspicuous signs saying: “Babala sa mga fixers.” I suppose since the man worked there, technically he was not a fixer so he did not think the sign was meant for him.
What is troubling about this kind of system is, in the past few weeks we have seen how drivers who are totally ignorant of traffic rules and untaught in road courtesy have caused mayhem on the streets that resulted in several deaths. A motor vehicle, whether it is a small car or a monstrous truck, is a deadly weapon in the hands of people without proper training.
In other countries, drivers have to go through different tests if they are going to shift from driving a car to a bus, to a truck, or anything else. Non-professional drivers have to take another test before they are issued a professional driver’s license.
But here, it seems even people who only know how to operate a battery-powered toy car and who have not even been behind a real wheel can get a license as long as they have the right connections.
Information source
I have often wondered where people who send text messages about special bank offers and other “great deals” got my number. During the last presidential election in the United States, I came across a story about a cat who received a flyer from a group urging people to go out and vote.
According to the story, the mailing list was bought from a vendor who got the names “from warranties, magazine subscriptions and other sources.” There you have it.
So now I have decided that the next time I fill out a raffle ticket or some such thing, I will only put enough information to allow the raffle organizers to get hold of me when I win. And I will no longer put my mobile number and e-mail address to lessen text and spam messages from telemarketers and others.
Send letters to The Consumer, Lifestyle Section, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1098 Chino Roces Ave. cor. Mascardo and Yague Sts., 1204 Makati City; fax 8974793/94; or e-mail lbolido@inquirer.com.ph.
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