My internship with Age Friendly Columbus took me to this month’s CACDI Meeting at St. Stephen’s Community House in Linden. This Committee advises Mayor Andy Ginther, City Council, ADA Coordinator (Zane Jones), and our community about issues that are important to citizens with disabilities. They identify specific ADA and accessibility issues that need to be brought to the attention of the City.
My Director, Katie M. White, is the new Chair of CACDI. She is a marvel to see in action! Katie leads with poise and kindness. She is a blur of purposeful motion, always hustling and hosting to ensure everyone’s voices are heard and all opinions and needs are considered.
Our mission today was to test out the accessibility features of the new driverless SMRT shuttles created by Easy Ride and provide immediate feedback on the Generation 3 design. The manufacturer sent Engineer Abe to give us the grand tour and go for a ride. We discussed safety features, how the shuttle would leave enough room for wheelchairs, level of sidewalk clearances, low vision and blindness considerations, and HoH (hard of hearing) concerns.
It was neat to meet and hear from some of incredible CACDI committee members like Paul (legally blind with his third Guide Dogs for the Blind helper, 2-year-old Cashew) and Bob, who survived a TMI a few years ago from a bike/semi accident and now has hemianopsia. I also got to meet one of the Age-Friendly Columbus, superstars- Daniel! He has an amazing smile and sense of humor that kept me on my toes. A special treat was my friend, Ed, joining to give his feedback specific to being a person with low vision and a COTA transit enthusiast.
The new shuttle is scheduled to serve the Linden community as a feeder between the Linden station and the COTA lines beginning in early March after a ribbon cutting ceremony. Looking forward to hearing more feedback on this novel offering!