By Nancy Sonneman

As a person with a handicap, I am glad that Queen City Metro has an offshoot just for us called "Access." It is a fleet of 67 vans, each equipped with 12 double seats (with seat belts) and room in the back for wheelchairs to be strapped to the floor so their users don't roll when the van does.

Access vans pick up people at their homes; deliver them to doctor appointments, school, work and play; and then take them back to their homes.

At least that's the way it's supposed to work. For years, I have known about Access and have ground my teeth as a 15-minute ride has taken three hours because there are not enough vans to go around. Some of us don't have to rely on Access for our daily routines, while this is all others have.

Most people start their days with keys jingling in the pocket, then inserted into a car, truck or SUV that sits in garage, parking spot or driveway when they want to be about the daily business of life. They can run more than one errand per day, coming and going at will, not relying on a van that may or may not come.

Now it's a real possibility that these vans may never come again.

But look on the bright side. Cincinnati has a $489 million football stadium, a baseball stadium that cost beaucoup bucks nearby, an upscale store in the heart of downtown that at one time was given close to $7 million for an internal makeover so more shoppers would come downtown, and businesses that blackmail the city by threatening to leave if they don't get their millions (which they always get).

Cincinnati has suburbs that have no green spaces left because indoor malls, strip malls, restaurants and office buildings grow in place of weeds and flowers, while millions more must be spent to widen roads, and take care of the animal population displaced by all of the above.

People with handicaps are a minority that Cincinnati refuses to acknowledge. We are the ones who get shortchanged; we are the ones who are denied their proper place in our communities simply because we have no way to get there.

Everything seems to work by the trickle-down theory. We're the ones who are down, but by the time anyone remembers us, the trickle has long since dried up.

Nancy Sonneman of Kenwood is the author of the book "Patches of Sunshine (A Daily Devotional for Fibromyalgia Patients)." She and her navy-blue, three-wheeled walker are seen in the halls of Good Shepherd Catholic Parish, where she is active on several committees.

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