Green “Gimps” in (Cyber) Space

On the historic 50 year anniversary of the famed Freedom Rides (from which the company takes its name if not inspiration), we thought we would weigh in on a few ideas behind our mission statement.

It’s a rather interesting spring to be doing what we aim to achieve on several fronts. Not the least of which, we suspect, will be our focus on creating new benchmarks and opportunities for every PWD so inclined.

We think on what we believe to be the beginning of the end of the actively prosecuted “War on Terror” with the death of Bin Laden last week, that this will also mark a turning point on how this war has been perceived at home. Namely, to date there has been almost no realization of the true cost of the war in lives spent and damaged during its prosecution.

We heard one unbelievable number last week that just in Iraq alone, the U.S. now faces about 33,000 younger adults with disabilities public policy hasn’t caught up with. While we aim to break new ground and look to the future with optimism, there are some realities that we, for one, have never averted our eyes from. Vets with disabilities are clearly one of the larger “new” demographics to enter the existing fold of “PWDs.” How this country meets that challenge both for vets and civilians with disabilities is clearly front and center on our radar and we hope to spark a national debate on the same.

While we don’t mean any disrespect to those who put their lives and bodies on the line for a greater purpose, we also maintain that nobody “earns” a disability. Civilians and vets who are PWDs (for whatever reason) deserve opportunities (for one) that have largely been poorly provided since the birth of this country.

Opening opportunity in the face of new technology and laws were what the original “Freedom Riders” had as their goal. They were, after all, a bunch of unorganized students who wanted to make a point about changing policies and court decisions if not statutes by doing no more than getting on buses as everyday riders. We aim, in our first mission, to be no more than a taxi company…however clearly our larger goals are a bit more lofty (if not leafy).

But in beginning successful operations, we hope to do the same in our own way. Those original riders, now in their late sixties and early seventies, may have made their original point about race.

In the era of the first African American president, we hope that the rights and abilities of our “Green Gimp” crew makes the same arguments valid for the next great group of Americans seeking “Freedom.”

We hope that it doesn’t take another fifty years for the PWD community to finally come into its own much as the African American community has finally proven beyond all shadow of a doubt that racism is an “old-fashioned” crime against humanity. Not to mention, particularly in the shadow of the most successful if not daring military and intelligence missions in our country strategically directed by Obama, that ideas about “ability” will move that much further in America beyond stereotypes about race, gender, sexual orientation and of course “able-bodiedness.”

Disingenuous “Budget Cuts” For “Medicare”

We, like just about anyone alive with access to media (old, new or somewhere in between) know that the hunt is now on for savings. And as usual, everyone is looking to “Medicare.”

We do feel we need to weigh in on this issue at the moment from what we hope is a strictly non-partisan “green” stance, however it is apparent to us that despite all the rhetoric, as usual, to date, there is more hot air than substance on all sides. We would say gas, but, well, we think savvy readers get the point and we wouldn’t want to get into any confusion about “good” gas and “bad.” We run into that problem enough as it is.

However, the reality is, beyond Beltway Contortions, is that “Medicare” actually refers to all government-sponsored health insurance. While the VA (this time) is apparently being saved from all consideration, in general, VA covered medical care is the same thing as HHS covered “Medicare” – as are “Disability benefits” and of course “Medicaid.” When it comes to healthcare, the benefits are all the same. We won’t confuse the uninitiated with a further discussion of the “dually eligible.” So many monikers, all the same deal.

This means, however, for example, that doctors are compensated under the same rate, and, to get to a point, so are drivers. Even more to the point, according to some interesting figures we have seen, historically, “the disabled” or as we refer to them, “PWDs” have actually been a higher driver of care costs than the “elderly.” (We refer to those folks these days as, um, “Boomers” however much we know they really hate that. No matter how cute Robert Redford looked on the cover of AARP’s national mag not too long ago.)

Snarking aside, that’s an awfully big segment of the population that is being rather systematically ignored. Annually, not just cumulatively.

Oops.

What this also means of course is that the current calculations of “getting rid” of Medicare if not “voucherizing” it essentially means that people who have had “Medicare” all of their lives or after a disabling situation or illness, will be essentially cut off after they reach 62. Sort of like a “Logan’s Run” on the far, far, side of 30.

We won’t even begin to think of weighing in on that score, however we did think it was appropriate to bring up a topic that is directly at our core mission and one which is directly related to that problem we just mentioned. Specifically, added to this very grim situation already is that there is a great deal of transportation now (supposedly) reimbursed by HHS.

We say “supposedly” because that is really what it means. And while we don’t want to get into any Title II discussions (for one) we believe that many areas are actually in danger of (unintentionally) violating Title II of the ADA with “budget” but not civil rights law compliant service cutbacks that affect the (unfortunately still too high) 90% of the 20% of the country with a disability who is also forced, for whatever reason, to also receive government benefits (known broadly as “disability”).

That’s where we hope we can really make our first impact. We also hope that we begin to make enough “noise” on the policy level (and we don’t care where, how, or with whom, as long as we can make our point) that draining the petroleum out of Medicaid (the blanket default medical insurance program we should probably all get used to referring to) is one of the best ways to immediately figure out ways to “cut it” while planning longer term service models (like ours we not so modestly suggest) to actually make the service itself if not the transportation that serves this community, the most efficient, best and cost-effective it can be.

After all, Title II of the ADA was designed as the “no separate but unequal” clause of the statute. In “Title VII” terms (which also apply here we hasten to remind any legislators reading this), this is essentially the “no white drinking fountain” clause of the ADA.

We think this makes the point without, say, sitting in any cafeterias marked “able-bodied only” and most certainly without posting a cartoon somewhere effective with two (non ADA compliant) drinking fountains – one for the “able-bodied” and the other for “gimps.”