Paratransit is vital to those that are unable to ride the fixed route public transportation system. Paratransit is important not only for getting users to doctor appointments, but also to get the users to social events such as visiting with friends, religious services and work. When people become shut in, depression often ensues. Social isolation is a state or process in which persons, groups, or cultures lose or do not have communication or cooperation with one another, often resulting in open conflict. Social isolation can happen with many people, in particular disabled people. Individuals with either physical or mental disabilities, are not always seen as equals in our society, and do not always receive the same types of services that non-disabled individuals receive.
One main cause of social isolation for someone who has a physical disability is transportation. This is an issue for them because someone who is in a wheelchair may not be able to take the city bus because not all city buses have wheelchairs lifts and ample handicap seats. Since this is the case, people in wheelchairs have to travel in the rain and in the snow sometimes which can be hard. As a result they find themselves staying at home because there are no transportation services for them and it is hard for them to travel alone in certain weather conditions.
Hearing impairment is another disability which causes people to not talk to close friends because they can hear background noise better that they can hear things up close such as another person, the television, or the radio. Therefore, making them socially isolated because they can’t hear as good as other people. This is why there are so many services for the deaf and hard of hearing today varying from teaching them sign language, to helping them communicate with their hearing counterparts through telephones or internet relay systems.
Social isolation can have financial effects on disabled people. Disabled people have the highest unemployment rate in America and most of them have Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to help them meet their financial needs. Many of them aren’t able to set aside 6 months worth of living expenses in case of a disaster. This leaves many disabled people living in poverty. Often times disabled people have to decide between whether or not to buy medications that they need or to buy the food that they need to live.
In conclusion, if we are to get rid of social isolation for the disabled then we need to be able to provide services for disabled people so that they aren’t socially isolated their entire lives. There is a group of high school students at the Engineering and Science University Magnet School that are working on an app for disabled people right now. Preventing social isolation is something that we need to invest our time and money into. We can do this through websites, social media, and peaceful marches for disability awareness.