'I want independence' but York Region Mobility Plus transit impedes her
Vaughan woman with cerebral palsy encounters hardships with transit system

YorkRegion.com
March 26, 2018
Lisa Queen

Confined to an electric wheelchair by cerebral palsy, Amina Aumeer is a young woman blessed with an infectious laugh who wants to live her life to the fullest.

But the 21-year-old Vaughan resident, who grew up in Newmarket, says York Region’s transit system for people with disabilities stands in her way.

“I’m angry because I’m at their mercy,” she said of Mobility Plus.

“You would think a service that’s supposed to serve a community as vulnerable as people with disabilities, that they would be more accommodating and more understanding.”

Sharon Doyle, manager of Mobility Plus’s transit service, is concerned about the roadblocks Aumeer encounters and is promising to work with her to better accommodate her needs.

Upset with the hardships she’s faced with Mobility Plus over the past five years, Aumeer now struggles getting to school and to her educational placement.

She is studying social service work at York University and has a placement at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto.

When Aumeer first started school, a Mobility Plus bus took her directly from her Vaughan apartment to class.

Even though her grandmother has to get up at 6 a.m. every morning to book her a ride a week in advance, as required by Mobility Plus, Aumeer said her route was seamless.

That came to an end a few weeks ago when Mobility Plus stopped taking her to the university.

Aumeer was prepared to catch the subway.

But her grandmother was led to believe Mobility Plus couldn’t service Vaughan subway stations.

That’s not the case, according to Doyle, who said Mobility Plus already  serves the 407 and Pioneer Village stations in Vaughan and will begin serving the Vaughan Metropolitan Centre station in May when it is safe to do so.

She didn’t know why Aumeer wasn’t told she could be transported to either 407 or Pioneer Village stations.

Based on the incorrect information, Aumeer has been taking a Mobility Plus bus to Promenade Mall, transferring to a Viva bus to get to school and making her way across campus to her classes.

She’s is unable to go to class when it’s raining or snowing because she fears damaging her electric wheelchair.

Doyle dismissed suggestions Aumeer is no longer being taking to the university because Mobility Plus is ending its practice of taking clients to Toronto locations.

Mobility Plus continues to take customers to the university, where the school’s internal transit system for students with disabilities transports them to class, she said.

Doyle didn’t know why Aumeer wasn’t also informed of this option.

Aumeer is also upset about how long it takes. She says taking a combination of Mobility Plus and Toronto’s Wheel Trans, which she said is much more accommodating than York’s system, to her placement takes at least four hours.

From visiting family and friends across the region to going to dental appointments, using Mobility Plus is often an exhausting struggle, Aumeer said.

“I would like to have freedom and independence,” she said.

“You (Mobility Plus) say you want to help people be where they need to be, but you make it so difficult.”