Events Blog

L.A.’s Metro holds Accessibility Days quite often for their bus operators in various regions. These events are to educate bus operators about riders with disabilities, be it physical, visual, hearing, or other disabilities. On May 31, as the Vice-Chair of Metro’s Accessibility Advisory Committee and President of Project AIR, I got the opportunity to have a table there to share the pamphlet we created especially for Metro, "Where Is Your Stop: A Communication Guide for Transit Drivers and Riders with Speech Impairments". Bus operators came in to browse during their varying lunch hours, interacting with each table which focused on a different type of disability. All bus operators were very nice and engaging; one said he recognized me as a past passenger on his route. A female bus operator who…

On March 16, 2022, our Vice-President, Cynde, invited our President, Kathleen, to speak at Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee on the topic of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices. It was felt as essential to educate the PSAC on the fact that some individuals with disabilities communicate in non-traditional methods, i.e. with AAC devices or other methods.My focus was not only on various types of augmentative communication, but also on how best to accommodate individuals who use these methods of communication in the case of an emergency. I was asked to explain what augmentative communication is and to share the different methods of augmentative communication that individuals use. I was also asked to share my experience of how others react to my alternative mode of communication. Due to mostly being…