Disabled commuter speaks out on public transport issues
Kwatsaduza – South Africa commemorates National Disability Rights Awareness Month from November 3 to December 3.
People living with disabilities are faced with many challenges on a daily basis, including transportation.
It’s even worse when they have to use public transport such as taxis.
Elizabeth Makoane (29), who has lost the use of her left leg, uses taxis on a daily basis to get to and from work.
She says she encounters many challenges with taxi drivers and passengers who fail to accommodate her.
“I’m disabled and cannot sit in the back of a taxi because I can’t bend my leg,” she says.
Makoane explains that she sometimes has to ask people to move from the front seat so she can be seated.
She claims that even the taxi drivers sometimes insult her by saying she thinks she’s special because the government has a high regard for people with disability.
“Some passengers refuse to move, even when I ask them nicely,” she says.
Thomas Kabini, from the Springs Taxi Association, says the association encourages their drivers and marshals to accommodate people
with disability at all times.
“People living with disability shouldn’t be ostracised and made to feel any different, they pay taxi fares like every other person and we, as an association, try by all means to ensure that they are well treated and taken care of,” he says.
