On 28 June 2013 12:02, Richard <legalize at xmission.com> wrote:
Obtaining a driver's license in the US is neither
difficult nor expensive.
Two things about that:
1. I'm in .ca not .us (so not much of a difference from the US in
terms of ease and cost of licensing).
2. No country in the world will license someone with a severe enough
disability (in my case I only have one eye (that works), and my vision
in it is 20/100). Unless you feel like bribing a public official
(which is, naturally, illegal).
Fun fact!
20/100 vision is so bad you can't get a driver's license (cut off
level if I remember is 20/60), but not bad enough to get a free
transit pass from the CNIB (who'll only give you a bus pass if you
happen to be legally blind - 20/200)!
Yes, bus passes can be purchased, for reduced rates usually if you are
disabled. However, my city's bus service decided to interpret an
Ontario law on transit equality to mean "CHARGE EVERYONE THE FULL
RATE" (that also has the lovely effect of making the CNIB bus pass
useless here). But local bus pass does not equate to a bus pass for
Toronto, or St. Catharine's, or a monthly pass for GO Transit service
(TTC, SCTA, and GO are intelligent enough to not horribly misapply
provincial legislation for profit, but it still starts to cost a
pretty penny to buy four or five damn transit passes). Plus a transit
pass no matter how good, doesn't exactly assist with the whole
"schlepping a large thing from one place to another" problem, which is
much easily solved with a driver's license.
So yeah, doesn't matter how easy it is to get a driver's license,
those with disabilities, but aren't "disabled enough" don't get any
form of help in terms of local and personal transport. And with a
disability that precludes one from ever getting a driver's license
completely removes their ability to cheaply move things (whether it be
across a continent, or simply across the city if/when one moves).
Cheers,
Christian