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CHOICES
400 West Pennsylvania Ave. Suite 429
Roswell, NM 88201
Roswell was the title of a television series that was canceled this season and is reportedly most known for an Unidentified Flying Object and alleged government cover-up nearly fifty years ago. I was surprised to learn that Roswell considers itself the dairy capital of the southwest.
Bicycling into town from the barren high desert country of the upper Pecos valley, Roswell was a dramatic change of countryside. The sagebrush and yuccas were replaced by farmland and scattered trees.
Barbara Thompson recalls that the Roswell television show had mountains visible on the horizon. “I look around here,” she says, “and I don’t see any mountains.”
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Barbara
Thompson, the Executive Director of CHOICES |
Ms Thompson is the Executive Director of CHOICES, the Independent Living Center in Roswell. The Center is currently downtown in one of the few “high rises,” but Ms Thompson would like a more affable surroundings. The current center is in an accessible building, but Barbara imagines a building just for Independent Living.
“For us the challenge is covering this area – we go all the way to the Texas boarder,” explains Barbara. “We just have limited funds to operate with. We are not a federally supported Center for Independent Living.”
Ms Thompson nevertheless is positive about individuals’ chances to leave a Tennessee nursing home and move to New Mexico. I asked her directly if an individual could leave a nursing home in Tennessee to live in Roswell. “They could,” she responded, “there are more options here than in Tennessee.”
“The challenge would be the D&E (Disabled and Elderly) waiver waiting list,” she continued. “They would have to be a resident. The problem is not the period of time to be a resident; the problem is the length of time once they get on the list. They would have to have some interim help.”
Like Olmstead, the fight to decrease the D&E waiver waiting list has been statewide. New Vistas in Santa Fe has been working on these two things as well as the New Mexico Protection and Advocacy. These organizations have had some success but it is still not what is could be.
“The period of time in New Mexico could be over a year – a year and a half,” said Ms Thompson. “It used to be 2 or 3 years.”
On the general accessibility of the city I talked with Tom Kirby, Independent Living Specialist and on the Roswell ADA Commission. He seemed very positive about the prospects of living and getting around Roswell.
“Right now we are working on sidewalks, it is one of our major focuses,” said Tom. “Our city building inspector is up on the ADA and consults with the ADA commission. Some people misuse parking spaces, like anywhere else. We worked to have a volunteer force to ticket in conjunction with the police.”
Roswell has a public transportation system and paratransit. Pecos Trails Transit has five routs currently. I noticed that the buses were accessible to bicycles, the Route Schedule and Guide announces in a special advertisement that “Bike’s [sic] Welcome – Bike Racks Available on the Bus!”
Tom believed that all the buses were accessible. “It works pretty well,” he said of public transit, “the buses are reliable.”
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Tom Kirby, Independent Living Specialist and on the Roswell ADA
Commission |
Accessibility to public goods and services was also fairly impressive. Tom and Barbara both conveyed the cities efforts to include all in public functions.
“We are pretty accessible, said Barbara. “The mayor and city staff has been focused on doing what they could. They focus on one building at a time, and our task force (which is now the ADA Commission) set priorities of what to make accessible first.”
Housing, transportation and access are important links to living in a community but it is not all. I asked Barbara Thompson, if she could; describe the attitude of people in Roswell toward individuals with disabilities. A welcoming attitude can be more of an accommodation for someone making a long-distance move.
“This is what I sense, that people are more uncertain how to behave. I think they are scared,” Ms. Thompson said. “For a city this size with limited resources I think we have come a long way. It has been a situation of learning it is a win-win situation for the city when it is made accessible.”
Read about NEW VISTAS in Santa Fe, New
Mexico
Memphis Underground Railroad Terminal in Denver PART
ONE: Melvin Douglas
Memphis Underground Railroad Terminal in Denver PART
TWO: Willie Robinson
-Tim Wheat
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