New School buses... Signs of fall.
Te town I live in has a bunch of brand new school buses. All the new ones have working wheelchair lifts, even if the bus drivers are not quite all sure how to use them (actually, that isn't quite accurate. All can work the lift itself. Securing the child in the wheelchair safely inside the bus is another story.).
I know the regular bus driver is not driving the route for the little girl next door this week, since it usually takes the regular, very experienced driver about 90 seconds to load J on and off the bus - with J's mom's help. The bus just idled outside for over five minutes trying to get J off the bus.
Usually, the bus pulls up and the door is opened (flashy lights, side stop sign and all - which of course stops traffic). J's mom (or dad if he isn't on shift) opens and secures the wheelchair lift door. The bus driver walks to the back of the bus and lowers the lift. J's mom backs J's wheelchair onto the lift and secures her on it with the safety straps. The bus driver lifts the lift to bus height, unsecures J and backs her up into the bus, and then lifts the lift all the way into the bus so the lift door can be closed. J's mom unsecures the door and closes and locks it. The bus drive is at that point parking J's wheelchair and locking her into place on the bus itself. Then the bus driver moves to front, closes the door and starts driving (reverse the bits in the middle to get J off the bus in the afternoon).
Not an insignificant task - lots of little steps to make sure it is done properly and safely - especially for J, who is mostly non-verbal, so she can't say of she feels "off". She is, I want to say fourth grade? Maybe only third grade. She is smart, but she was born way way way premature and had all this delays and disabilities because of that. So she is unable to assist a less experienced driver with any of it. The poor driver they have on the route standing in for the regular driver has been trying his best, but he isn't used to the rhythm of it, and the past two days he's ticked off a bunch of people because his bus is just sitting there with the lights going and stop sign out and they just don't KNOW that there is a little girl in a wheelchair that he is trying to get on or off the bus.
I suppose we can be thankful that my street is a relatively quiet street that is not really a shortcut to anywhere - so only residents of the surrounding area would be inconvenienced.
Ugh. Already the latter half of September. Where the hell has the year gone? I was just getting used to it being Summer!
I know the regular bus driver is not driving the route for the little girl next door this week, since it usually takes the regular, very experienced driver about 90 seconds to load J on and off the bus - with J's mom's help. The bus just idled outside for over five minutes trying to get J off the bus.
Usually, the bus pulls up and the door is opened (flashy lights, side stop sign and all - which of course stops traffic). J's mom (or dad if he isn't on shift) opens and secures the wheelchair lift door. The bus driver walks to the back of the bus and lowers the lift. J's mom backs J's wheelchair onto the lift and secures her on it with the safety straps. The bus driver lifts the lift to bus height, unsecures J and backs her up into the bus, and then lifts the lift all the way into the bus so the lift door can be closed. J's mom unsecures the door and closes and locks it. The bus drive is at that point parking J's wheelchair and locking her into place on the bus itself. Then the bus driver moves to front, closes the door and starts driving (reverse the bits in the middle to get J off the bus in the afternoon).
Not an insignificant task - lots of little steps to make sure it is done properly and safely - especially for J, who is mostly non-verbal, so she can't say of she feels "off". She is, I want to say fourth grade? Maybe only third grade. She is smart, but she was born way way way premature and had all this delays and disabilities because of that. So she is unable to assist a less experienced driver with any of it. The poor driver they have on the route standing in for the regular driver has been trying his best, but he isn't used to the rhythm of it, and the past two days he's ticked off a bunch of people because his bus is just sitting there with the lights going and stop sign out and they just don't KNOW that there is a little girl in a wheelchair that he is trying to get on or off the bus.
I suppose we can be thankful that my street is a relatively quiet street that is not really a shortcut to anywhere - so only residents of the surrounding area would be inconvenienced.
Ugh. Already the latter half of September. Where the hell has the year gone? I was just getting used to it being Summer!