How can disabled people transcend labels when their human rights are denied?

THE City of Cape Town (CoCT)’s recent decision to “scale-back” the Dial-A-Ride services, which have provided accessible transport for people with disabilities in the city for 30 years, has been widely publicised over the past few weeks.

- MICHELLE BOTHA

Dial-A-Ride services will no longer be available to blind and visually impaired users, and will only transport “wheelchair users and those with severe walking impairments” to and from work.

This decision about who was worthy (or not) of continuing to receive the service, and which activities were most important to people with disabilities, was made without consulting either users or rights organisations within the disability sector. The CoCT’s suggestion that people with disabilities should explore alternatives such as other public transport, e-hailing or online shopping demonstrates a complete ignorance of the realities on the ground for the majority of disabled people, as well as the access barriers that are baked into public services.

While Dial-A-Ride has never been able to serve the entire population of people with disabilities in the city - and should certainly not be viewed as the complete solution to the large-scale problem of inaccessible public transport across the country. Over the past month, users have shared their panic at being informed that this lifeline of secure transport to work, schools, universities, hospitals, clinics, grocery stores, and to friends and family was being cut. The cuts will come into effect from Monday, September 8.