It has become easier for Monroe County residents who have disabilities to navigate the sometimes frustrating process at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Reasonable accommodations can be requested when people make an online reservationfor a DMV appointment at the Greece, Henrietta, and Irondequoit locations. There is now also an option on the DMV's recorded message at (585) 753-1604 to request special accommodations for people with disabilities at another location when possible.
"If a deaf person would need to interact with someone at the DMV, they are now able to not only make an appointment online, but also online they can state online that they're going to need an interpreter, so they don't have to figure 'who do I have to call to get an interpreter'; they can just write it online,” said Stephanie Woodward, director of advocacy at the Center for Disability Rights.
Other requests might include the reading of forms for people who have impaired vision or other disabilities that make it difficult for them to read.
Woodward’s staff heard from some clients who were frustrated because they couldn’t get the DMV services they needed.
"For example, one of them needed their test read aloud to them due to their disability. At the DMV they were told, 'sorry, we' don't do that.' It's hard when you're an excited 16-year old going to get your learner's permit and you're denied that."
Woodward said County Clerk Adam Bello and his staff were enthusiastic to her agency's request to make the DMV fully accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities.
Woodward also praised the recent closure earlier this year of a mobile DMV near Highland Park that was not handicapped accessible. As of March 15, the DMV's downtown satellite office at City Place is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
This story is reported from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk.
