title: Transportation: a key to independent living.
abstract: Accessible transportation is essential if people with disabilities, particularly persons who are severely disabled, are to live independently in the community. The development of transportation services has moved from a focus upon special and separate "dial-a-ride" programs to an emphasis upon making fixed-route, main-stream systems accessible. The current state of the art, supported in large part by federal regulations, features a combination of mainstream accessibility and supplemental special services. Future progress in transportation for disabled people depends largely upon resolution of complex, politically explosive cost-benefit arguments on the federal and local levels, and on community acceptance of disabled persons as people deserving a spectrum of transportation services.
mesh_terms: D006077:Government Agencies; D006801:Humans; D007878:Legislation as Topic; D008019:Life Style; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000639:trends*; D014187:Transportation of Patients; D014481:United States