Just imagine!

To the editor:

Put yourself in this picture: You have a disability that makes it impossible for you to take the fixed-route bus. It may be a physical handicap or one where it is difficult for you to understand which bus stop to get on and off. Perhaps your disability makes you vulnerable to the elements or to an aggressor. In any case, you have to rely on the T-Lift to get you to and from work.

Now, imagine that the T-Lift is no longer available to you. What do you do? You don’t have anyone who can get you to work and home each day. The T-Lift is no longer viable, so you have to quit work. You can’t live on your disability income, so you can no longer live independently because you can’t afford rent and utilities.

You lose your self-esteem because before you were able to help pull your own weight. You paid taxes and, in your own way, gave back to the community.

This is not an imaginary story. There are 82 people being served by just one agency in Lawrence who will lose their jobs without the T-Lifts. That doesn’t even include other agencies serving people with disabilities, the elderly and others who happen to need the T-Lift service.

All you have to do is imagine this scenario, but if you are as fortunate as I am, you don’t have to live with the reality of a disability; you can just imagine!

Betty J. Simecka,
Lawrence