The Kasas City United Access Family Teamed up to make Shannon’s Christmas one she will never forget.
The Kansas City United Access Family teamed up with Coalition for Independence, Cars4Christmas, and many others to get Shannon a vehicle that could help her keep her independence of living outside of a nursing facility. Shannon’s Independent Living Specialist provided the letter below to Cars4Christmas to make Shannon’s Christmas one she will never forget. Please read the article below and feel free to click the lower links for further information! It was a joy to work with a great team to fulfill this Christmas wish!
To whom it may concern:
My name is Tiffany Radcliff and I am an Independent Living Specialist with the Coalition for Independence (CFI). The mission of our organization is to facilitate positive and responsible independence for people with all types of disabilities by acting as an advocate for individuals with disabilities by providing various services and programs and promoting accessibility and acceptance to our clients.
Coalition for independence provides five specific core services in the Kansas City, Missouri area and the Kansas City, Kansas area. Examples of the services that CFI provides are: 1.) Community Integration, 2.) Advocacy and systems change, 3.) Information and Referral services, 4.) Peer support, and 5.) Independent living skills. I am an Independent Living Specialist and I assist clients with identifying and developing a specific plan to achieve goals to improve and enhance their independent living and quality of life. Shannon Williams is a client who has developed a plan to achieve the independent living goal of receiving reliable transportation to her medical appointments. Shannon is a quadriplegic and currently has no means of traveling to her necessary doctor's appointments.
Shannon relocated to Kansas City, Missouri from Texas and she currently utilizes a ventilator and feeding tube which has to be suctioned constantly. Shannon decided to relocate to Missouri after her grandmother and family asked her to travel to Missouri and help them move. During the time that Shannon's family asked her to travel to Missouri and relocate from Texas, the family was on drugs. At that time, Shannon also received care from her PCA. Although Shannon's PCA was planning to relocate with Shannon to Missouri, her PCA had five kids who needed to complete their high school education before the move to Missouri with Shannon could take place. However, after her PCA's children completed high school, the PCA decided to relocate to Missouri to assist Shannon with her care needs. Had Shannon's PCA not been available however, Shannon would have been sent to a nursing facility.
Reliable and available transportation is necessary for Shannon's survival and her quality of life. Therefore, in an effort to keep Shannon from getting blood clots in her lungs, she is required to attend doctor’s visits once a week to get her blood drawn. However, with several doctor’s visits a month, the need to travel to the store to obtain necessary grocery items, and travel to necessary social activities, Shannon will need to have reliable transportation.
The Kansas City area has door-to-door a transportation service (known as share-a-fare) available to passengers with disabilities. However, Shannon was told that she will be unable to utilize this transportation service. The door-to-door transportation service has a bus lift that is utilized to transport passengers onto the van that use wheelchairs. However, Shannon was told by share-a-fare that because of the weight of her wheelchair as well as the necessary equipment (located on her wheelchair) that is needed to keep Shannon alive, she is unable to utilize share-a-fare’s transportation service. Although there are other door-to-door transportation services available in the Kansas City area, share-a-fare is the only transportation service within the Kansas City area that will transport passengers anywhere within the Kansas City area to any type of appointment at a low-cost fee of only $2.25. Other transportation services within the Kansas City area have limitations on the specific areas of travel as well as limitations on the specific types of transportation services that they provide.
Because Shannon is unable to utilize public transportation independently, she will need to rely on her caregiver to provide accessible transportation to Shannon's necessary appointments. However, Shannon’s caregiver cannot assist Shannon with getting to her necessary appointments without the use of a specialized vehicle to accommodate Shannon's wheelchair and Shannon's necessary equipment (when transporting Shannon to her necessary appointments).
Shannon has been told that she is completely disabled and is unable to obtain income through employment. Therefore, Shannon has very little income of $674 a month that pays for necessities such as groceries, clothing, and rent for her home and she cannot afford to purchase a vehicle independently. I and my fellow coworkers at CFI are asking for your assistance with providing Shannon’s caregiver with a vehicle to transport her to her necessary appointments. Providing Shannon with a vehicle would allow her to obtain her primary goal of independent living transportation, thus increasing and improving her quality of life. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and assist Shannon with achieving her transportation goals.
Sincerely,
Tiffany Radcliff
Independent Living Specialist
Shannon and Tiffany’s had a dream for Shannon’s independence and it quickly became shared by many. For Christmas, it became a reality! We would like to thank our KC United Access Family, Cars4Christmas, Coalition for Independence, Slacker at 101 the Fox, and the community for helping us make OUR united dream come true.
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