Access Calgary

I've got about five or ten minutes to write. Then I have to go pee and get ready to go to the ALS Clnic. This entails putting shoes on, changing over to my PWC, then going outside at 12:20 at which point I will wait for up to 20 minutes for the Access Calgary bus to arrive. I find it frustrating that I am compelled to give them a 20 minute pickup window, but I am told if I am not out there by 12:20 and the bus should arrive, it will not wait for me. As well I will in some other fashion be penalized.

Sure, there are lots of reason which might impact their arrival time. There are potentially other passengers, some of whom might be difficult. After all, it is a service for handicapped people. There is also traffic to consider, especially since the Access Calgary service is point to point; you can't calculate traffic without a consistent route. So I understand they might need a bit of flexibility. But why not me? Perhaps I mean to get downstairs at 12:20 but I have to go pee at the last minute. Perhaps the elevator is busy, or jammed, or whatever. Perhaps I have trouble with my shoes.

Of course the theory is that I can plan for all of these things, allowing extra preparation time so I can be ready when they finally arrive. But if you know anything about ALS, you know that my body just doesn't work that well. On the other hand, none of the other passengers on this share service have well functioning bodies either. It is, after all, a handicapped service.

So why am I not taking my truck? The simple truth is that I have nobody to go with me to the clinic today, and I can no longer get in and out of my truck without help. If there was somebody here, Access Calgary would not be needed. But I live alone. I am independent, sort of. And that means finding different ways to do things when I need help.

Oops. It's 12:02. Gotta go.