At SacRT, we’re committed to disability independence. Here are three personal stories from our riders

Priscilla Vargas, Sacramento Regional Transit District’s (SacRT) ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliance officer, has a favorite word when discussing SacRT’s efforts to continue improving accessibility of its public transit system for people with disabilities.

The word is “spontaneous.” 

Whether it’s SacRT’s fixed-route buses, light rail trains or SmaRT Ride shuttles, the agency’s goal, she says, is “to make life more spontaneous, where you don’t need to plan everything around physical limitations.”

But what do spontaneity and independence mean to people with disabilities? And how exactly is SacRT playing a key role?

This month, as we celebrate National Disability Independence Day, on Friday, July 26, we asked several of our riders for insights.

Here’s what they told us:

Regina Brink and her husband Joe Green are blind. She uses a white cane when she goes out; he prefers a guide dog.

Despite that, they are members of Sacramento’s burgeoning creative class. They are part of a group that wrote and now are rehearsing and performing a play called “The Eye of The Storm” at local venues. It’s an improvisational piece about how blind people are affected by natural disasters, Brink said.

Brink, Green and their fellow troupe members use SacRT services to get to rehearsals and performances. “We all use SacRT GO, the bus or light rail,” Brink said. “It’s been a lifesaver. My kids all work and they can’t just keep taking time to take me places.”

Her husband also does some DJing at parties, and she is the head of the American Council of the Blind capital chapter. Plus, they like to get out to social engagements.

Society in general has not fully embraced the idea that people with vision impairments can lead full lives, she said. But SacRT has. “I think SacRT understands us. I find their staff to be sensitive to our needs. I think that we are able to live a productive full life with transit,” she said. 

Sacramentan Helen O’Connell describes herself as strong-willed. “I want to do things by myself, no matter how hard, or how long it takes,” she says. Independence to her means “being able to achieve something on your own.”

O’Connell has cerebral palsy and has used an electric wheelchair since she was a child. She’s a regular rider on SacRT, notably using SacRT GO paratransit services.

Among her key destinations are the monthly meetings of SacRT’s Mobility Advisory Committee (MAC), where O’Connell has been a committee member for nearly a decade.

“I was frustrated” before joining the MAC, she said. “I thought service could be better. Someone (at the Resources For Independent Living advocacy group) said, ‘We need you on the MAC. I said OK.”

She challenges the agency to do more, but she is appreciative too. 

“I really appreciate the ability to go places. If I didn’t have SacRT GO paratransit service, I would have to stay home and be dependent on people to do a lot of things. I wouldn’t be able to go to the theater, or to friends’ houses or restaurants, or just to go to the mall or to social activities.”

O’Connell said local leaders need to make the case that SacRT deserves more sales tax revenue to provide more services for people with disabilities and the general population. “SF and LA and those transit-dependent cities get a lot more sales tax money than Sacramento,” she said. “It is time to increase the ability for people to do things on their own.”

Anthony Jackson, who is visually impaired, is another Sacramentan who lives a full life thanks in good part to SacRT. Each day, Monday through Friday, he rides SacRT to his job at the UC Davis Medical Center.

He works in the environmental services department, making the rounds of patients’ rooms, operating rooms and the emergency departments, picking up biological containers for disposal.

He enjoys interacting with patients. He feels like part of a team, making a positive difference, along with other hospital staff.

“I feel like I’m there for the patients,” he said. “I want to see them get better and go home. Some people work for a paycheck, but I see it as I am helping.”

He thanks SacRT. “For 10 years, I’ve never had any problems. SacRT gets me there 15 minutes before my shift. It’s easy-access. They’ve been really helpful to me.”

At SacRT, we recognize our important role in helping people like Brink, O’Connell and Jackson play their important roles in our community. We are not resting on our laurels.

This month, on the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, our board of directors signed a resolution renewing our commitment to “advancing disability equity, dignity, access and inclusion.”

Plus, we hope, a daily dose of “spontaneity.”