“There really is a problem with the elevator being the beginning and the end of the conversation. It’s not just access to the elevator. We know the impact of elevator access, ”said Quemuel Arroyo, accessibility manager at MTA. Declared.

The MTA has the primary responsibility for accessibility. And when he says he knows the impact of access, or lack of access… he really means it.

“People with movement disorders are only part of the conversation,” he said.

As a result, Arroyo is on a mission to completely rebuild the conversation, starting with Brooklyn’s Jay Street Metrotech subway station. Transit testing laboratory.

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There are maps for visually impaired bikers, QR codes, tactile maps and tactile guides for the visually impaired.

But the challenge for Arroyo is to change the way the community thinks.

“The current belief is that everything is zero-sum. The benefits for the visually impaired community come at the expense of the visually impaired community. Reality isn’t, ”Arroyo said. paddy field. “It’s for visually impaired pedestrians. The mobility community will say it’s going to hinder my trip, I trip them up and I want them to do it. I want them to do it. I want people in wheelchairs to do this every day. You can even feel the impact. The icon is intended for disabled people, but also for parents with strollers. “
He went on to say, “Older people still struggle so much that they don’t want to be labeled as disabled, but they know that is also my responsibility.

This sense of responsibility is deeply rooted at Arroyo.

He is a Dominican immigrant and New Yorker who changed his life when he suffered a spinal cord injury at the age of 18 while downhill on an ATV.

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“My overview was upset. I was hospitalized for 10 months for drug rehab and became an advocate at the age of 5, 6 and 7, ”he said. .. “I am Dominican. The fire that we brought out the taste and the music. I keep quiet because I’m young, I have a disability and the power they still had, please watch.

He says their limits today don’t have to determine their future.

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