Disable people Transportation

Disable people Transportation



Disable people Transportation

Introduction

As with any other school-age child, a child with a disability is entitled to regular transportation if the child meets the state criteria for transportation. Generally, for children in grades kindergarten to eight, whether they attend public or private school, the school district is required to provide transportation if the child lives more than two miles from the school. For this age group, the only exception to this rule is if the state board of education agrees with the local school board that the transportation is unnecessary or unreasonable. Regular transportation for students in grades nine to twelve may be provided but is not required.

Analysis

Even if your child does not qualify for regular transportation, he or she may be eligible for "special transportation" as a "related service." "Special transportation" means vehicle transportation service directly related to the child's disability and required by the Individualized Education Program (IEP) or any applicable state or federal law. If you believe your child needs special transportation, you should discuss this concern at an IEP meeting and have it written on the IEP (Moses, Leon, and Ian Savage, 1989).

Under Ohio law, there are no specific time limits for how long a child's ride to school can take. Instead, each school district must set its own reasonable travel time. Travel time is defined as beginning at the initial pickup of the child and ending with the final arrival at the school destination. The school district must develop its travel time standard, approved by the individual board of education, and must consider the following factors (Citro et al, 1997):

Age of child,

Condition of disability,

Geographic size of school district,

Location of special education class,

Traffic patterns, and

Roadway conditions.

Travel time for children with disabilities should be kept to a minimum consistent with the requirements of the IEP and, generally, should not be longer than comparable in-district transportation time for children without disabilities. Transportation travel time out-of-district should also be minimized consistent with the requirements of the child's IEP. Different rules may apply if your child attends a community school.

Disability Parking Permits

There are two types of disability parking permits available: placards and license plates. Both permit the vehicle to park in parking spaces marked with the international symbol of access for people with disabilities (Katzmann, 1986)..

Disability parking placards

Placards are plastic cards that hang from the car mirror. Applications for placards are available at your local Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). The application must be completed by the person with the disability (or their guardian) and the person's physician. The application must be accompanied with a prescription from the physician (Moses, Leon, and Ian Savage, 1989).

Disability parking license plates

Permanent license plates are often requested when a vehicle has been altered for a person with a disability. The fee for the disabled parking license plates is the same as for other types of license plates. To find out more about how to obtain disability parking license plates, contact your ...