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As the year draws to a close, we wanted to share an important conversation that we had with Theresa Braham. She is an instructor at the Abilities Foundation and a voice for persons living with disabilities in Jamaica. Below she shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy and navigating spaces designed to exclude her. While we both used the term 'persons living with disabilities' throughout the conversation, what she revealed was a fundamental truth of many in her situation, our cities are disabled not its citizens.
Island City Lab (LAB): Hey Therese, Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. Can share a little about yourself for our readers?
Therese Braham (TB): My name is Therese Braham. I am the instructor for Data Operations, which is part of the Computer Department here at the Abilities Foundation. I have been a member of staff for 22 years and I am also a past student of the Abilities Foundation.
Only 3 out of 126 JUTC routes allow access for Persons Living with Disabilities in the Kingston Metropolitan Region
LAB: As a person living with disabilities accessing public transportation can you share with us how you travel from home to work?
TB: I live in the Waterford Community, which is in Portmore. So, to get to the Abilities Foundation, which is in Constant Spring, Kingston, generally, I use a special service bus provided by JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transport Company). The Combined Disabilities Association and The Council for People Living with Disabilities as the major advocacy bodies for PLWD (Persons Living with Disabilities) negotiated with JUTC that these buses should be used exclusively to service our community primarily because there are only three1 of them for all of Kingston, St Andrew and St. Catherine.
1 - Editors Note: Only 3 out of 126 routes allow access for Persons Living with Disabilities in the Kingston Metropolitan Region. The three special service buses are the 101 (Greater Portmore to Constant Spring), the 102 (Harbour View to August Town), and the 103 (Spanish Town to Cross Roads).
LAB: What is it that makes these buses more accessible than other buses?
TB: When we say special buses, all three buses are equipped with a ramp. It's not a fluid (hydraulic) ramp because we are seriously disadvantaged when they malfunction. The manual ramps are much more reliable and can be pulled out so you can ride your wheelchair up to it and get in the bus.
In terms of capacity, the 101 and 102 buses have three wheelchair slots and the 103 has one wheelchair slot. This is not the maximum number of wheelchairs carried at any one time but what it means is that persons who are able to transfer themselves with the aid of the driver will go into a regular seat and their wheelchairs will be secured somewhere on the bus. So sometimes [the storage of the wheelchairs] may use up to or three ordinary seat slots because the driver has to pack the wheelchairs into those spaces, secure it with a rope and draw down the wheelchair breaks so that we don't have any incidents. Because the reality is you cannot predict at any one given time how many wheelchair persons will come onto the bus at any one time.
When our bus gets to Half Way Tree in the morning, they can't just leave like that. The bus drivers must wait on all the other special buses to coordinate transfers from one bus to another
LIMITATION OF TRANSPORT SERVICES FOR PLWDs:
TB: The Portmore bus serves all of Portmore, so it is supposed to start working at 5 am. Unlike a 3A regular bus service, which goes from one specific stop in Portmore straight into Kington, my bus serves the entire area. It stops at Patrick City, Seward Drive and then the top part of Waltham before we filter onto Molynes Road to end up at Half Way Tree. If traffic is flowing very well, we won't get to Half Way Tree until 6:30 or 6:45 am and after 7 am if there is lots of traffic. So, our bus has many ins and outs; all the special routes are like that.
The drawback with the special bus is that you will spend up to 4 hours just trying to negotiate coming or going. When our bus gets to Half Way Tree in the morning, they can't just leave like that. The bus drivers must wait on all the other special buses to coordinate transfers from one bus to another. Someone coming from Portmore will have to transfer to another bus if they are going to work or school in Papine; similarly, someone coming from Downtown may need to transfer to get onto the bus going to Constant Spring. So we tend to have to wait a lot, for instance this morning there was an issue with one of the buses, so the other two bus drivers had to communicate who was picking up which segments of that route.
For persons who are disabled, but don't necessarily have to rely on the special bus, they will not choose to take it because it is so inconvenient. If somebody is coming from Greater Portmore, if they are able to manage themselves physically, they're not going to want to wake up to catch a bus at 5am.
LAB: It sounds like you spend a lot of time on the special bus with the same people, is there a sense of community built along those special routes?
TB: I have been using this bus for a long time, so every September, when there is a new child going to a special school, I will get familiar with their faces after a week or two. I will try to remember names as well, and I will help the driver when I notice they did not show up at their stop for whatever reason. I do this because not all passengers are able to articulate their transport ne, where they are going or where they need to transfer, andeds; where they are going or where they need to transfer, some of them are non-verbal.
The bus is taking people with various disabilities, and every disability has three levels: mild, moderate, and severe. So, depending on which disability it is, you may not get the person being verbal; others may use lots of gestures. Unless you know those gestures, communication will be difficult. Also, not all of these persons have shadows (an adult aide accompanying the student to and from school). From what I know, the Ministry of Educaton, offers financial support to get a shadow2, but many people do not know about it.
2 - Editor's Note: A shadow provides classroom support for special needs students in Jamaica. Schools across Jamaica are struggling with a shortage of shadows, according to a Jamaica Gleaner report published Feb, 2023. The Ministry of Education and Youth 'facilitates the process of acquiring shadows, but does not provide them'
LAB: How do parents or caregivers of PLWD get access and information about JUTC special bus service?
TB: Because I use the service so often, people kept on reaching out to me and passing my number to other persons to help them access the service. So, what I do is either refer them to JUTC, or I go straight to the drivers and say "Here is a person who is disabled, and they are living in this or that location". I leave it to the driver to alert their depot or to decide for themself. Honestly, the drivers we have had will just try to figure it out and may not even go to JUTC to ask for permission. They just try their best to accommodate people.
LAB: How hard is it to get to a bus stop for the Special route?
TB: What the bus drivers do, especially if you have a wheelchair or a walker, and particularly if you are on a main road, they will take you directly to your gate. Unless you're in an area that is harder for them to maneuver, then they will let you off at the nearest point. But usually, if you're confined to a chair or walker, they will honestly just come and get you. For me, they come directly to my gate. Otherwise, my sidewalks are not accessible
If we're equal to everyone else in society and everyone else does things on the weekend, then shouldn't people with disabilities also be allowed to do things on the weekends?
THE COSTS OF LIVING WITH A DISABILITY:
LAB: How long does it take you to get from home to work?
TB: If there is no delay, I can spend two and a half hours to three hours from pickup time to work. But if there is a delay like I had this morning- where the drivers had to negotiate to pick up the slack for an out-of-service bus, it can take up to 4 hours. And the same going back. And because the bus only comes in each direction once in the morning and then once in the afternoon, if you need to get on the road for any other business in between, like a doctor's appointment or anything like that, you will have to find an alternative and that cost will be on you.
To take a taxi from my home in Waterford to the Abilities Foundation, depending on what company I use, can cost me $2,700 dollars one way. Luckily for me, I have cerebral palsy so I can stand up a little bit and hold on, but you have people who are not able to stand at all would have to use the specially equipped taxi service from JUTA Tours because they have a lift in the buses and that will cost roughly $4000 one way.
Since this year, whenever the bus breaks down, I have not had to take a taxi since I have two coworkers who live close to me in Portmore. I am grateful for them; once they are going to work, I can rely on them for a drive if the bus is not working. Before that, I had to find the taxi fare. Even during the pandemic, when students were working from home, as teachers you were expected to teach from school because all the resources are here. I don’t take it for granted that I have a managing director who understood my situation and allowed me to teach from home when I had no alternative.
WEEKEND TRAVEL & CONVENIENCE:
TB: The service doesn't run on weekends, and I am dreaming and waiting for the day when it will. From time to time, I travel; in fact, I used to be sent to represent Jamaica on special exchange programs relating to persons with disabilities, and I would travel to different countries where they have a special bus service like ours, but it was actually convenient enough that people could rely on it to do regular errands like going to the doctor or going to the supermarket. Just like how you guys (able-bodied persons) can get up and go to the bus stop at a specific time and plan your travel with a certain level of certainty, I am dreaming of the day when we can do the same.
If we're equal to everyone else in society and everyone else does things on the weekend, then shouldn't people with disabilities also be allowed to do things on the weekends? I teach five days a week, I go to school after work; who tells you that on a weekend, I don't want to unwind? Sometimes I want to go downtown and window shop, just like everyone else. Not because you are disabled means that you want people to do everything for you. I appreciate it when I get help, but I want my independence. I want to go and see the variety of clothes downtown and choose a style that really fits me and not just tell someone what color to get me. So, I am dreaming of the day when we get there. I have seen where improvements have been made; I'm not bashing them (the government), but we are not getting even 50% of what able-bodied people have access to.
So, if we're going to look at equality, you're doing something for me, and I'm grateful because I've been using it and it also helped us to bond as a community. But no, other "regular route" catering to able-bodied people forces them to sit and wait for that long. And if that ever happened, you're going to get a demonstration, and it’s going to make news because it's an outrage.I don't see the day when people with disabilities are given the same resources and opportunities as everyone else. God would have to surprise me with that one. I don't see it, and I don't feel it, but I still believe that we can get up to 50% of what regular people get. I will settle for that. It's not that I'm putting myself down, or whatever; it's just the reality
TB: I'm still puzzled over this and how it became a policy upheld by multiple parties. People with disabilities rely on a wheelchair, a cane or other assistive aids. I cannot, for the life of me, understand why the government would seek to tax these things. How could they put a tax on somebody's foot and onto somebody's eye? I don't get it! My chair is my foot, which allows me to walk, and you're going to tax my foot, and you're not taxing your foot? I don't get it. A wheelchair is not a luxury for me; it's my foot. A cane is a blind person's eye. So, these are some of the little things that I look at when people tell me I should be grateful that the government gave us a bus. The little I learned about my civic rights, whether you're disabled or abled in any country in part of the world, things like water, air and mobility are a right.
LEGISLATION WITH NO TEETH:
TB: I know these issues aren’t be fixed overnight, but I hate for you to tell me that they're on paper because you often want to shut people up, and we make up legislation. I'm sick and tired of these; if they have no teeth, if I cannot benefit from them, don't tell me what is on paper. It has no foundation; it's not doing anything for me, and neither will it do anything for my students. When you look at a disability you need to look at the specifics of it and how to support those who have it. The blind need braille or JAWS (Job Access with Speech software). Braille is the language that they use because when they rub their fingers against it, they can read their sentences just like us. They can move and be independent, knowing what is in front of tm, and what is behind them. For the deaf, they need their hearing aid, or they need sign language interpreting and all of that. How many employers would be willing to invest in these tools so that a qualified disabled person can be employed? So, once you understand the needs, make these basic things available at a lower cost so that people can benefit from them.
TB: When Constant Spring Road expansion happened in front of the Abilities Foundation campus, I was one of those who came on TV because they started construction without linking with their own government body - the Council for Persons living with Disabilities which has stipulations of how a ramp should be built . Lots of these places that are claiming to follow these rules are not building the ramps according to the specifications set by the Council. Instead, they are building what I call a slope, so you are in the wheelchair, if you are not careful when them done build- the slope will send you out of the chair. So, they create another disability for you. But people don't try and understand what we are experiencing because they have this mentality that if you get this, take this. No. If we are going to talk about equality- you can't tell me you get this, so just take this. Because as much as you see me in my wheelchair, I am as independent as I want to be. The only thing I am confined to is a wheelchair, and by the grace of God, I will be confined to nothing else! I believe I must always have a voice.
TB: Some PLWD never had the opportunities I had to go to school. Whether because of where they live - like in some rural areas. Even with new government mandates, it will take money to retrofit those schools to make them accessible. And not all parishes have special needs schools; I am waiting for the day when we can do integration. For example, I loved my primary school - Hope Valley Experimental where it is a combination of abled and disabled students. It teaches the able-bodied to be more accepting of us and it pushes us too through healthy competition. Because where we may not feel self worth it brings out positive competition because as children you don't want to be left behind so you learn how to push yourself. Competition is good, I always tell people it's the way we go about it and what we are competing for.
It is not that they don't have ambition or they don't have dreams; it's that they were not given the opportunity that I was given. Some didn't have parental support; some were placed in homes because their parents couldn't deal with them. I boarded at Mona Rehab, so they ensured I was fed and cared for. But I had classmates who were not as fortunate as I was to have the type of mother I had. She ensured that I returned to school with my clothes washed and that I had five pairs of uniforms from primary to high school, but that was not the case for some of my roommates.
So, it's not that we don't have dreams, but that sometimes our dreams are killed. When we say, "I want to be this or be that", they tell us that's not going to be possible because we're disabled. I rose above it despite people saying, "Nobody will hire you in a wheelchair". Now as a teacher, I have to fight with parents of disabled students not to limit their child's potential. I get practical with them, "Why did you send them here if you don't believe that they can do it?" We must push them to the best of their abilities to get to their level of independence. Many little challenges may stop someone, and that's why for me, if I can get to these students and I can motivate them in one way or the other- that's my goal. Because if somebody did not pour into me, I could not be pouring out.
Thank you so much for speaking with us Therese.
TB: Yea man, have to catch my bus now!
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This article was made possible by generous support from the Open Society Foundations.
