Rocky Mountain News

PHOTO, News Photo by Jose R. Lopez: A sweet looking woman (Terri Fowler) in a wheelchair in a tank top sits on a porch. Behind her is a shady yard.
Caption reads: The bus strike is hampering Terri Fowler's quest of a school diploma

Handicapped hardest hit by RTD strike
By NORMAN DRAPER, News Staff

The strike by union employees of the Regional Transportation District has ayed havoc with 26-year-old Terri Fowler's education.

Paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair as a result of a congenital spinal defect, Fowler expressed concern that the strike could jeopardize her efforts to obtain a high-school-equivalent diploma.

Fowler is one of Denver's 16,000 physically handicapped residents, most of whom are in wheelchairs.

They are among the hardest hit by the strike, according to Bob Conrad, a co-administrator of the South Federal Boulevard office of Atlantis Community Inc., an association formed to help mentally and physically disabled Denver residents.

THOUSANDS OF THESE people were dependent on RTD for transportation to
and from their jobs, Conrad said. A lot of them, stranded by the strike, fear they may lose their jobs. “People are really beginning to worry about that," Conrad said. “We've gotten a lot of calls from disabled people wondering how they can get rides."

Fowler makes a living by tutoring at the Atlantis Community learning Center for the disabled. That hasn't proved to be a problem. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, she can wheel herself to the Atlantis office on 194 S. Federal Blvd., a few blocks from her home.

It's no problem getting to the Atlantis Office at 429 Bannock St. either. She works there Tuesdays and Thursdays. One of the other employees picks her up and takes her home in a van. That's when she does her grocery shopping.

But getting to the Community College of Denver Auraria campus, where she is working on her GED (general equivalency diploma), is another matter.

WITHOUT THE BUSES to take her, she hasn't been able to go to school since the strike began. She's been in the GED program for a year, and now she's afraid she might flunk.

"So far, I'm doing good in school, but if I miss too much, I‘ll be behind," said Fowler, from her wheelchair on the back porch of the Atlantis Bannock Street Center “As long as I keep reading and do some math every day, it’s not too bad."

Still if the RTD strike continues much longer, Fowler said that she may get so far behind that getting her diploma will be impossible. She's [unreadable] degree in December, then go on to a job. She attends classes Tuesday through Thursday mornings, [unreadable]. Unfortunately, said Fowler, the strike came at a time when she was making progress in her reading comprehension.

Created on

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Posted on

Tuesday 10 May 2016

Tags

ATU, Bob Conrad, education, GED, strike, Terri Fowler, union

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