Miriam,
Sometimes on a Manhattan street, there would be practically nothing but taxis,
remember how that was? It always struck me as sort of funny for some reason, a
picture in my head of that sea of yellow cruising down the avenue!
I knew somebody made a sign like that, I tried to get one about 20 years ago,
and no one knew what I was talking about. I began to think I had made it up! It
was a great idea.
And here in Boston, you can also hail a cab on the street. I think it might be
that way in larger cities that have fleets of cabs and where, like in
Manhattan, many people don’t own cars. Here in Boston, though, it seems that
more and more people do have cars, though.
I rarely took cabs, because although they were convenient, they were expensive.
I remember walking from Penn Station up to Central Park West up in the 70s in a
pair of heels…it nearly killed me. Ah, to be young again!
Alice
On Jul 18, 2015, at 9:42 PM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think that hailing a cab is a Manhattan phenomenon. The American
Foundation for the Blind used to sell big yellow buttons with the word,
taxi, in black capital letters. So a blind person could stand on a corner,
and there's a technique about which corner so you know when the cab has
stopped for you, and hold up this button, and a cab would stop. But in
midtown Manhattan, there were always lots of sighted people willing to help
a blind person get a cab. It's a whole different situation in other places.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2015 9:02 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: uber fined in cal partially for violating ada
Around here you never have been able to stand on a street corner and hail a
cab. If you see a cab on the street it is either carrying a passenger or on
its way to pick one up. The only way to hail a cab is to phone the cab
company.
On 7/18/2015 3:58 PM, Miriam Vieni wrote:
Marsha,phones.
What has happened is that now, in order to participate in most aspects
of our society, people need computers with internet access and smart
Although, originally, the technology for all of this came out ofworld that Chris Hedges would like to see and that the Occupy movement was
government research, actually military research, it is now the
province of private enterprise. As our society sheds various aspects
of our social welfare state and the belief that it is the government's
responsibility to ensure that everyone's needs are taken into account,
an assumption is made that everyone can, or ought to be able to, own
and use all of the new available technical devices. Pay phones are a
thing of the past. If you're away from home and have to make a call,
you can't just drop a quarter into a slot and make the call. You must
own a cell phone and pay a monthly fee. In Manhattan, one can still
stand on a street corner and hail a cab. But perhaps, some day, that
won't be a possibility. You will only be able to summon a ride through
a smart phone app. There's a lot of enthusiastic talk these days of
docdtors using apps to check patients' chronic conditions and skype
consultations and examinations. This is a whole new level of
impersonality and a way to lower the expense and time of service
providers while placing more financial responsibility on the consumer
or patient and it assumes a level of independence, competence, and
health that is not available to all members of our society. It is the
same new business model which says that you can put 100 children in
front of computer screens and provide education through computer
programs and a facilitator. It is precisely the oppisit of the kind of
working for.
Miriame
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Martian.Lady
Sent: Saturday, July 18, 2015 2:56 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: uber fined in cal partially for
violating ada
HI
The ability to use this service depends on having a smart phone.
This means many people can't use the service.
Marsha
