The ordeal continues for the School for the Blind, as the Pan-Cyprian Organization of the Blind reports in a statement that the Department of Road Transport ultimately refused to allow the blind students to board the bus and demanded that the company find a way for them to return home, resulting in them ultimately being transported to the Larnaca district by taxi.
Officials from the Department of Road Transport and the Cyprus Police were waiting today at the School for the Blind for the bus sent by the company to transport the blind passengers to the School for the Blind in Nicosia. Eleven blind people from the Larnaca district boarded the bus today without undergoing any prior screening. Staff members were heard complaining vehemently to the School for the Blind that they had not been informed of the situation, something that should have been done long ago. In contrast, the Cyprus Confederation of Organizations for the Disabled stated in a press release yesterday that the School for the Blind had sent a letter regarding the matter to the relevant authorities, as noted in the press release.
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The Department of Road Transport ultimately did not allow the blind students to board the bus and demanded that the company find a way for them to return home. They were eventually transported to the Larnaca district by taxi.
Meanwhile “the Minister of Education and the Office of the President of the Republic are watching the situation with indifference from their offices and are preparing to celebrate once again this year the superiority of the sighted over the blind, with the upcoming radio marathon events that humiliate the blind and their dignity. This is something they absolutely need to demonstrate how powerful they are and that they can impose their will on the blind, whom they have, through the aforementioned actions, rendered the most vulnerable of the vulnerable in our country,” concludes the Pan-Cyprian Organization of the Blind in its statement.
Let us recall that last Tuesday, serious allegations came to light regarding the suitability and safety of the bus that transports blind students from the districts of Larnaca andFamagusta to the School for the Blind in Nicosia via the Pan-Cyprian Organization of the Blind, which cited repeated problems and inaction on the part of the relevant authorities.
Special mention was made of an incident that, according to the Organization, occurred on a boulevard in Aradippou. While shifting gears, the bus reportedly jolted, and noises were heard coming from under the vehicle, causing passengers to fear for their safety and worry that the bus might overturn.
The seven blind passengers who remained on the bus were forced to get off in the middle of the road during rush hour when traffic was heavy. According to the complaint, the vehicle also carried passengers with both vision and hearing impairments, who were unaware of what had happened and wanted to get off, while their fellow passengers struggled to hold them back.
The passengers remained at the scene for quite some time until they were able to contact their relatives, who eventually came to pick them up. The Organization alleges that neither the transportation company nor the School for the Blind made arrangements to pick them up from that location.
SEE ALSO: Serious Complaint: An unsuitable bus carrying blind passengers left them in the middle of the road | AlphaNews
