Why the downscaling of Dial-a-Ride is a setback for disability rights

When will our public leaders begin to understand that persons with disabilities are not a homogeneous group? Different disabilities require different aids and resources including public transport that can ensure proper and safe access to places of work, health facilities and recreation for those who are differently abled.

The City of Cape Town’s recent announcement to downscale its Dial-a-Ride services for persons with disabilities has serious negative implications for this already vulnerable group who do not have their own transport and rely specifically on Dial-a-ride for their daily commute to their workplaces and visits to clinics and hospitals.

Dial-a-Ride will from next month on only be available for wheelchair users and people with severe walking impairments and will exclude persons with visual and cognitive impairments, elderly people and organisations using the service to transport people with disabilities. It is once again poor communities who are going to suffer with this inhumane decision. Government policies dictate that 3% of the workforce at government institutions should be persons with disabilities. How are our visually-impaired citizens depended on this service going to get to work? Or those with hearing challenges, for that matter?

Using a standard taxi already means you must pay for your wheelchair and for your seat, but you are poor! The Unmute Dance Company for persons with disabilities based at Artscape as one of their associated companies, depends largely on Dial-a-Ride for transport for their professional dancers and trainers. Being excluded from this service means Unmute will not be able to fulfil their mandate of ensuring performing artists with different disabilities develop to their full potential as professionals.

There are numerous other NGOs providing essential humanitarian functions in our city, which will be severely harmed by this decision. This is absolute discrimination. For years we’ve lobbied for Dial-A-Ride to be managed by persons with disabilities and that it should be a service that is all-inclusive to serve the needs of persons who are differently abled: going to buy their groceries, going to the hospital, going to the theatre.

We are human beings. We reject this short-sighted decision by the City of Cape Town and call for a humane solution to allow persons with disabilities and the elderly to live with dignity and respect. I urgently appeal to the City to prioritise the needs of persons with disabilities, to stop talking about budget constraints and to rather seek ways in which the Dial-a-Ride services can be appropriately and equitably transformed by allowing relevant stakeholders such as the Western Cape Network on Disability and other reputed disability champions to consult with the City on this issue, in order to ensure human dignity and humanity are restored in the lives of persons with disabilities whose daily struggle is just about surviving in this cruel world. Nothing about us without us!

Marlene le Roux

Disability Activist