Letter: Wheelchair users fortunate to live in the Tri-Cities

Those of us with disabilities using wheelchairs are fortunate to live in the Tri-Cities. As a senior citizen, I have a free pass to ride the city route buses outfitted with a wheelchair ramp and tie-downs for one electric wheelchair.

Rear-mounted wheelchair carriers with a fold-up ramp run less than $500. Maintaining and utilizing a personal vehicle is far less expensive than the high price of a wheelchair accessible van. The annual $300 cost of my monthly passes would barely fill the gas tank of a wheelchair accessible van more than once, in my experience.

Dial-A-Ride has evening service for wheelchairs at $5 from any point in the Tri-Cities to any local site with a same-day call before 2 p.m.

As with anything in life, those of us with disabilities need to make peace with the truth we are not the center of the universe and that we will arrive at our destination with a modicum of patience and good grace without paying an exorbitant cost.

Perhaps the ride will take longer than being able to zoom to our destination in our own vehicle, but with wheelchair and pocketbook intact, we get there.

This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Letter: Wheelchair users fortunate to live in the Tri-Cities."