Cover Story


The Force Is With You


WRITTEN BY RYAN GRAY RYAN@STNONLINE.COM


Safety experts urge student transporters, school therapists to champion for crash-tested, wheelchair-anchored lap belt options and to demand them from wheelchair manufacturers


T


ransportation access and safety for people with disabilities have come a long way over the last 40 years. IDEA is the lifeline for ed- ucators and student transporters, alike, when


it comes to offering the Least Restrictive Environment in the classroom, in the school bus and on the way to and from both. But what about those students in wheelchairs, for whom the Most Restrictive Environ- ment is the reality they live each and everyday? Twenty-five years ago, it was Title II of the Ameri- cans with Disabilities Act that provided never-before


50 School Transportation News • MARCH 2016


seen access to transportation services while also eliminating architectural barriers and discriminatory practices, especially for non-ambulatory students. Ever since, a generation of students have benefitted as a result of the public literally opening its doors and providing ramps, lifts and elevators. But there is an alarming and head-scratching


discrepancy when it comes to safeguarding the wheelchair bound in school buses. It is rooted in an apparent disconnect between wheelchair manufac- turers and school district transporters and therapists.


ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY Q’STRAINT


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84