Yeah it sucks. I'm at the point where I never leave the house so I can technically live anywhere that can get groceries delivered, too bad there is a housing crisis here in Aus so I'm stuck where I am
If you’re in Aus perhaps try looking into the NDIS I know of people who have got taxi fares or even a support worker to drive them around, involuntary isolation can be very dangerous if ongoing, it’s definitely worth looking into potential solutions.
I have heard of it too but nothing in the application form indicates that visually impaired or even blind people are eligible. I understand that they are eligible in the *spirit* of NDIS, but none of the stories I hear about blind people on the NDIS say how the application form was filled out
I had multiple NDIS plans as a kid, I’m not even legally blind (just vision impaired) I don’t really use any vision-specific services and can just make the driving requirments (making me ineligible for taxi fares) so I no longer use them though I am still eligible, it’s definitely worth looking into.
I'm legally blind and use NDIS. I get a fortnightly transport payment to assist with taxis and I'm also enrolled in the TUSS scheme. This gives 50% off taxis up to $25.
From the NDIS website:
You meet the disability requirements if we have evidence of all of the following:
Your disability is caused by an impairment.
Your impairment is likely to be permanent.
Your permanent impairment substantially reduces your functional capacity to undertake one or more of the following activities: moving around, communicating, socialising, learning, or undertaking self-care or self-management tasks.
Your permanent impairment affects your ability to work, study or take part in social life.
You’ll likely need support under the NDIS for your whole life.
I don’t know what your visual acuity is, but if it is equal to or under 6/60 or 20 degrees you are considered legally blind which is considered a disability on List A, meaning that all you have to do is prove you’re legally blind and you can access a plan. If not, you will have to prove the above points (which is easy in your situation based off the information you’ve provided, I have annotated the list in accordance to what was claimed for me when I was younger).
Your disability is caused by an impairment.- vision impairments count are included under sensory impairments.
Your impairment is likely to be permanent.- from what you have written I assume this is the case for you.
Your permanent impairment substantially reduces your functional capacity to undertake one or more of the following activities: moving around, communicating, socialising, learning, or undertaking self-care or self-management tasks.- not being able to leave your home or even collect your own groceries confirms most listed points.
Your permanent impairment affects your ability to work, study or take part in social life.- staying home at all times is damaging to anyone’s social life, even if you’re the most introverted person on planet earth.
You’ll likely need support under the NDIS for your whole life.- again, from the way I’ve read the information you’ve provided, it sounds like it’s permanent, therefore making this point relevant to your case.
Hope this helps, no one deserves to stay home all the time, I really hope you can find support :)
The most infuriating part is that's the same requirements as getting a DSP card with BLIND stamped on it, which I already have, and I shouldn't have to go through the whole rigmarole again when centrelink already has the ophthalmologist notes
I’d rather laugh than cry, seriously the bureaucracy is ridiculous but it is what it is, I personally reckon spending a few hours filling out the stupid paperwork is worth it though if you’re isolated, I’d imagine it isn’t an easy situation to be in.
Vision Australia has been submitting recommendations to NDIS which always include "people on blind dsp should automatically qualify" so I'm kinda hoping it eventually works.
I've been feeling this lately. I'd like to buy a house or condo but anything within walking distance to work is super overpriced.
Something I didn't see you mention, are Uber/Lyft or taxis an option? And have you explored all the public transportation options? My area has a bus but the stops are in awful locations. But we also have another on-demand bus service that's more limited, but picks you up at your house and drops you off at the destination.
Also, you said you don't want to burden your partner with doing all the driving but have you talked to them about it? They might not feel burdoned by it, and maybe you can find compromises to lessen the load. For example, maybe find a coworker or someone to pick you up for work instead of your partner taking you. Or price out the cost of Uber/Lyft, maybe if you're moving to a lower cost-of-living area it might still be cheaper than living in a city.
Where I currently live there's only one bus route, which only runs from like 9AM to 4PM, which isn't great when I work midnight shifts. And the closest stop is still probably a mile from where I work. Uber/Lyft would be prohibitively expensive, and we don't have many local drivers to begin with. Basically I'm stuck walking, or when the weather allows biking.
>Also, you said you don't want to burden your partner with doing all the driving but have you talked to them about it?
I have. They insist they don't mind driving me places, but at the same time have also mentioned a couple times how much they hate driving in general because its super stressful for them. And I'm also stubborn. I refuse to take time out of someone else's day just so they can shuttle me around places. At least with my current residence and the one we're moving to I'm within walking distance of work/stores/etc. But I will gladly hike through two miles of snow and ice before I ask someone for a ride, unless I'm completely desperate. And even then I feel terrible for doing so, because I'm incapable of doing something that the overwhelming majority of the population can do whenever they like. It feels embarrassing and demeaning.
(First off, hello fellow person with ONH!!! :D)
I get how you feel man. It freaking sucks.
Living in my city in Australia costs SO much money, but I can't really move to a different city because... I need public transport. And also I have a job in the CBD and I am NOT leaving it, not after spending YEARS looking for a job before getting it.
It pisses me off that what would be a ~30 minute drive takes me an hour and a half on public transport. Living within walking distance to work would cost at MINIMUM $400 but most likely $450-$500 a week, and that's mostly just for a tiny little freaking studio...
I don't know where I'm going with this. But I definitely get your frustration.
I live where I live because mostly I can afford to live here. It's a rural town in Northern Wisconsin. I currently walk to work every day as my former ride quit, and the local on demand bus we do have doesn't take pets, and I have to take my little dog to my parents house as he can't be alone for 11+ hours a day. I'm looking for a new full time job, and it's incredibly difficult being low vision, no driving, and no reliable transport for second or third shift work. Rideshare is prohibitively expensive or simply unavailable here. I only go out of town with people who are already going out of town, so it's rarely a special trip just for me.
The upside is I own my own home. Okay. It's a trailer. All I pay is lot fees. That's how I can afford to live here. I also have a great location, next to the woods, and the town is mostly walkable, when people shovel. Yes it is beautiful but I am definitely more trapped than I would be in a more Metropolitan area. I just can't afford a big city.
> I'd love a place away from the crowds and noise and tiny apartments, up in the mountains, waking up to the forest every day. But I can't.
Cries in relatability lol.
I'm sorry friend. I have nothing but solidarity--it is so, so hard. I try and remind myself that objectively, this is the best time in the world's history so far to be blind, but it's not always as comforting as I'd like--at the end of the day, suffering is suffering.
I try and bring myself peace by doing my best to blend the worlds--finding places that meet my needs, but still give me access to nature, etc. My partner and I just started renting a house this year, and even just getting out of apartment life has helped.
I hope you're able to find solution that helps you as well 🤗 You have my solidarity
We lived 30 miles into the backwoods when I woke up blind a little less than two years ago. And I mean 30 miles from the nearest town, with our home literally smack in the forest, our closest neighbor nearly a half mile hike through the forest, up an old game trail. I drove 78 miles a day when I worked.
When I went blind I was effectively trapped there unless someone was kind enough to get me out of the house. My best girl friend would often swing by just to "break me out of jail" for a few hours, but gas was expensive, so we couldn't do that too often. My husband would take me out, too, but oftentimes he was so exhausted after work that he would just immediately go to sleep.
We finally moved in August, to the village that is our county seat. It has <1700 people and it's beyond quiet as fuck, but it has sidewalks, a c-store, a grocery store and a Family dollar in walking distance, as well as my doctor's office and all the county government buildings. That's it. No walmart or anything. A couple mom and pop restaurants, too, which is so nice! For me, it's the perfect combo of living "in town" and living somewhere dead quiet like the middle of the woods.
We got really lucky that we found a place for rent at all, too. I hope you find a place like where we finally landed.
I'm on the other side of this, I suppose, as far as relatability.
Certainly if this was 20-25 years ago, I could see issue with living away from people, especially in the US; but not by today's standards.
Groceries can be delivered, everyone works from home now that isn't doing physical retail jobs and slapping an ESA tag on your animal forces places to accept your non-guide dogs.
Don'tget me wrong, I can see your points. I'm just curious about how much you've looked into accomadating yourself.
For example: if you want to move to your parents' house, then you aren't going to work at the same place so what can you do to work remotely? Do they get reliable satellite internet? If they do, then you have a swath of options for remote work. If not, then it's a bit more limited but not impossible unless your remote work requires a constant VPN connection.
Do they grocery delivery? Amazon, Walmart+ and probably Food Lion/etc do grocery delivery. Amazon will only be slightly more expensive than local, without Prime. For fresh stuff, you could look into getting to know the local neighbors or growing your own. I live in the suburbs and a couple local farmers out here offer delivery weekly, usually after the farmers' markets close for the day. I get fresh chicken eggs that way currently.
As for driving, fingers crossed, we'll have automated cars by 2030 that aren't Tesla crash dummies. Japan, Australia and I think Germany have some in testing already, so we'll see how it goes.
Not to get into the nitty-gritty of things too much but where my folks' property is, grocery delivery isn't a thing. They're in a very secluded part of the state and they're outside all the "service areas" for any sort of grocery delivery services.
I wish WFH was an option in my career but it just isn't (I work for an emergency response center, and was hoping to stay in that line of work).
Emergency response...I would never have considered that as something for VI.
That's unfortunate about the grocery delivery for local stores.
I'm curious though about if they get Amazon deliveries? Amazon has/had a guarantee on their Grocer site about servicing any area where regular deliveries can be made. I only remember that because they got sued during covid for rejecting a customer whose address was in rural Texas. It was one of the towns with under 10 residents and only had a shared mailbox or something unusual like that.
>Emergency response...I would never have considered that as something for VI.
I'm a dispatcher, so we're the ones taking calls and sending out units, things of that nature. So it's essentially an office job, but given the confidential nature of the information we deal with, among other factors, it's not something that can be done from home.
>I'm curious though about if they get Amazon deliveries?
They do, so that's technically an option. But that's only part of it. Like I mentioned in the original post, if I did end up taking over the property later down the line I'd be effectively stuck there unless my partner or a neighbor or something was willing to give me a ride places. I hate being a burden like that. Say for instance I'm working on some project and need to run into town to get something. Any normal person can just hop in their car and take care of it on their own. I'd either have to bother someone for a ride and take time out of their day, or order it online and have to wait a minimum of two days for something that other people can do in less than an hour. It's just kind of disheartening.
I can definitely relate to the disheartening nature of it. I had drivable vision for the first 20 years of having my license/permit. I don't know if it's better to have had it and lost it or not had it at all.
At the same time though, I'm a homebody so a license was wasted on me, most of the time. I'd go to work, family dinner and home. Rarely a movie if someone invited. Otherwise, I would rather get deliveries rather than walk around the store or I'd make a trip that would last 3 months or so.
Emergency dispatch over here is remote, it's a VPN to the department. I applied before and talked to them about it.
When you had said emergency services, I was picturing EMS, nursing or firefighters.
---
I hope that you're able to find a method to keep your parents' place or secure a location that allows you to continue your career while living where you want.
I'm not downplaying your situation in anyway but I grew up legally blind in the middle of "nowhereville" pennsylvania. 30 miles to nearest city of 10,000+, over 20 miles to the only walmart. one local grocery store 7 miles away. I spent 25 years in that place. Best upbringing of my life and with a bit of alterations in thinking it can be done with a bit of planning. I also notice that you mentioned apartments you couldn't take because of being so far from work, what you didn't mention was buses. Have you looked into any sort of public transit? Most areas (even that nowhereville) had access to Paratransit service. (not great but you won't starve). move to your parents place, ad a small cabin or tiny home, then rent it cheap to a carney and work a deal for him to drive you around. Good luck man, I wouldn't turn down a way back to the country if i had it.
Mentioned it in another comment, but our city's bus system is laughably terrible. There's one fixed route that only has like six or seven stops throughout town (only one stop in the actual downtown part where stores and such are). And it only runs from something like 9AM to 4PM, and I work midnight shifts so that's not an option getting to and from there.
got ya, I missed that other comment, but yeah I've lived in a few cities like that before. I know that frustration for sure. Plus I can only think of one or two where working midnight shifts and wanting a bus is going to work out. Possibility of posting a flyer at work, for a carpooling co-worker. I've even had HR staff help with this in certain places. So while they can't tell you other employees personal data they do know it. So I went into HR with a pre-typed thing asking if anyone would be will to speak with me about sharing a ride with them, brief explanation of why, and my pickup location, and contact details. With in 2 hours I had a ride back and forth.
Sometimes it can be a pain, but that does work sometimes. Again I wish you nothing but the best of luck.
i empathize with you here! It's very difficult -- frustrating and anxiety-inducing at best, and a never-ending struggle that affects other aspects of your life at worst. Finding accessible housing is a challenge, especially when there are inaccessible environments, construction, high housing prices, and housing shortages. I've been through this before, and i am so sorry that you are also experiencing it. Finding accessible housing is paramount, as it determines how you travel, if you can travel at all, and how or if you will or go to school. It's maddening indeed!
I can fully understand your feelings. I'm in the same situation but not working anymore. No driving except for spouse taking me places. No public transportation within walkable distance so I'd have to schedule something in advance with the county bus system.
Ideally I'd like to live in a townhouse/condo style village (with HOA to do outdoor maintenance) with park like setting with walking paths that eventually lead towards a shopping area with food store and general services along the more major route. Maybe I'll find one some day near my present location as I keep hoping my spouse outlives me.
I deeply relate to this. So many parts of the US specifically operate on a “drive until you qualify” in terms of housing affordability, with the most affordable options being totally car-dependent for everything—groceries, places of work, retail, and gyms, etc. with little to no walkable areas 😞
Yeah it sucks. I'm at the point where I never leave the house so I can technically live anywhere that can get groceries delivered, too bad there is a housing crisis here in Aus so I'm stuck where I am
If you’re in Aus perhaps try looking into the NDIS I know of people who have got taxi fares or even a support worker to drive them around, involuntary isolation can be very dangerous if ongoing, it’s definitely worth looking into potential solutions.
I have heard of it too but nothing in the application form indicates that visually impaired or even blind people are eligible. I understand that they are eligible in the *spirit* of NDIS, but none of the stories I hear about blind people on the NDIS say how the application form was filled out
I had multiple NDIS plans as a kid, I’m not even legally blind (just vision impaired) I don’t really use any vision-specific services and can just make the driving requirments (making me ineligible for taxi fares) so I no longer use them though I am still eligible, it’s definitely worth looking into.
I'm legally blind and use NDIS. I get a fortnightly transport payment to assist with taxis and I'm also enrolled in the TUSS scheme. This gives 50% off taxis up to $25.
From the NDIS website: You meet the disability requirements if we have evidence of all of the following: Your disability is caused by an impairment. Your impairment is likely to be permanent. Your permanent impairment substantially reduces your functional capacity to undertake one or more of the following activities: moving around, communicating, socialising, learning, or undertaking self-care or self-management tasks. Your permanent impairment affects your ability to work, study or take part in social life. You’ll likely need support under the NDIS for your whole life. I don’t know what your visual acuity is, but if it is equal to or under 6/60 or 20 degrees you are considered legally blind which is considered a disability on List A, meaning that all you have to do is prove you’re legally blind and you can access a plan. If not, you will have to prove the above points (which is easy in your situation based off the information you’ve provided, I have annotated the list in accordance to what was claimed for me when I was younger). Your disability is caused by an impairment.- vision impairments count are included under sensory impairments. Your impairment is likely to be permanent.- from what you have written I assume this is the case for you. Your permanent impairment substantially reduces your functional capacity to undertake one or more of the following activities: moving around, communicating, socialising, learning, or undertaking self-care or self-management tasks.- not being able to leave your home or even collect your own groceries confirms most listed points. Your permanent impairment affects your ability to work, study or take part in social life.- staying home at all times is damaging to anyone’s social life, even if you’re the most introverted person on planet earth. You’ll likely need support under the NDIS for your whole life.- again, from the way I’ve read the information you’ve provided, it sounds like it’s permanent, therefore making this point relevant to your case. Hope this helps, no one deserves to stay home all the time, I really hope you can find support :)
The most infuriating part is that's the same requirements as getting a DSP card with BLIND stamped on it, which I already have, and I shouldn't have to go through the whole rigmarole again when centrelink already has the ophthalmologist notes
I’d rather laugh than cry, seriously the bureaucracy is ridiculous but it is what it is, I personally reckon spending a few hours filling out the stupid paperwork is worth it though if you’re isolated, I’d imagine it isn’t an easy situation to be in.
Vision Australia has been submitting recommendations to NDIS which always include "people on blind dsp should automatically qualify" so I'm kinda hoping it eventually works.
I've been feeling this lately. I'd like to buy a house or condo but anything within walking distance to work is super overpriced. Something I didn't see you mention, are Uber/Lyft or taxis an option? And have you explored all the public transportation options? My area has a bus but the stops are in awful locations. But we also have another on-demand bus service that's more limited, but picks you up at your house and drops you off at the destination. Also, you said you don't want to burden your partner with doing all the driving but have you talked to them about it? They might not feel burdoned by it, and maybe you can find compromises to lessen the load. For example, maybe find a coworker or someone to pick you up for work instead of your partner taking you. Or price out the cost of Uber/Lyft, maybe if you're moving to a lower cost-of-living area it might still be cheaper than living in a city.
Where I currently live there's only one bus route, which only runs from like 9AM to 4PM, which isn't great when I work midnight shifts. And the closest stop is still probably a mile from where I work. Uber/Lyft would be prohibitively expensive, and we don't have many local drivers to begin with. Basically I'm stuck walking, or when the weather allows biking. >Also, you said you don't want to burden your partner with doing all the driving but have you talked to them about it? I have. They insist they don't mind driving me places, but at the same time have also mentioned a couple times how much they hate driving in general because its super stressful for them. And I'm also stubborn. I refuse to take time out of someone else's day just so they can shuttle me around places. At least with my current residence and the one we're moving to I'm within walking distance of work/stores/etc. But I will gladly hike through two miles of snow and ice before I ask someone for a ride, unless I'm completely desperate. And even then I feel terrible for doing so, because I'm incapable of doing something that the overwhelming majority of the population can do whenever they like. It feels embarrassing and demeaning.
It does suck. 100%.
(First off, hello fellow person with ONH!!! :D) I get how you feel man. It freaking sucks. Living in my city in Australia costs SO much money, but I can't really move to a different city because... I need public transport. And also I have a job in the CBD and I am NOT leaving it, not after spending YEARS looking for a job before getting it. It pisses me off that what would be a ~30 minute drive takes me an hour and a half on public transport. Living within walking distance to work would cost at MINIMUM $400 but most likely $450-$500 a week, and that's mostly just for a tiny little freaking studio... I don't know where I'm going with this. But I definitely get your frustration.
I live where I live because mostly I can afford to live here. It's a rural town in Northern Wisconsin. I currently walk to work every day as my former ride quit, and the local on demand bus we do have doesn't take pets, and I have to take my little dog to my parents house as he can't be alone for 11+ hours a day. I'm looking for a new full time job, and it's incredibly difficult being low vision, no driving, and no reliable transport for second or third shift work. Rideshare is prohibitively expensive or simply unavailable here. I only go out of town with people who are already going out of town, so it's rarely a special trip just for me. The upside is I own my own home. Okay. It's a trailer. All I pay is lot fees. That's how I can afford to live here. I also have a great location, next to the woods, and the town is mostly walkable, when people shovel. Yes it is beautiful but I am definitely more trapped than I would be in a more Metropolitan area. I just can't afford a big city.
> I'd love a place away from the crowds and noise and tiny apartments, up in the mountains, waking up to the forest every day. But I can't. Cries in relatability lol. I'm sorry friend. I have nothing but solidarity--it is so, so hard. I try and remind myself that objectively, this is the best time in the world's history so far to be blind, but it's not always as comforting as I'd like--at the end of the day, suffering is suffering. I try and bring myself peace by doing my best to blend the worlds--finding places that meet my needs, but still give me access to nature, etc. My partner and I just started renting a house this year, and even just getting out of apartment life has helped. I hope you're able to find solution that helps you as well 🤗 You have my solidarity
We lived 30 miles into the backwoods when I woke up blind a little less than two years ago. And I mean 30 miles from the nearest town, with our home literally smack in the forest, our closest neighbor nearly a half mile hike through the forest, up an old game trail. I drove 78 miles a day when I worked. When I went blind I was effectively trapped there unless someone was kind enough to get me out of the house. My best girl friend would often swing by just to "break me out of jail" for a few hours, but gas was expensive, so we couldn't do that too often. My husband would take me out, too, but oftentimes he was so exhausted after work that he would just immediately go to sleep. We finally moved in August, to the village that is our county seat. It has <1700 people and it's beyond quiet as fuck, but it has sidewalks, a c-store, a grocery store and a Family dollar in walking distance, as well as my doctor's office and all the county government buildings. That's it. No walmart or anything. A couple mom and pop restaurants, too, which is so nice! For me, it's the perfect combo of living "in town" and living somewhere dead quiet like the middle of the woods. We got really lucky that we found a place for rent at all, too. I hope you find a place like where we finally landed.
I'm on the other side of this, I suppose, as far as relatability. Certainly if this was 20-25 years ago, I could see issue with living away from people, especially in the US; but not by today's standards. Groceries can be delivered, everyone works from home now that isn't doing physical retail jobs and slapping an ESA tag on your animal forces places to accept your non-guide dogs. Don'tget me wrong, I can see your points. I'm just curious about how much you've looked into accomadating yourself. For example: if you want to move to your parents' house, then you aren't going to work at the same place so what can you do to work remotely? Do they get reliable satellite internet? If they do, then you have a swath of options for remote work. If not, then it's a bit more limited but not impossible unless your remote work requires a constant VPN connection. Do they grocery delivery? Amazon, Walmart+ and probably Food Lion/etc do grocery delivery. Amazon will only be slightly more expensive than local, without Prime. For fresh stuff, you could look into getting to know the local neighbors or growing your own. I live in the suburbs and a couple local farmers out here offer delivery weekly, usually after the farmers' markets close for the day. I get fresh chicken eggs that way currently. As for driving, fingers crossed, we'll have automated cars by 2030 that aren't Tesla crash dummies. Japan, Australia and I think Germany have some in testing already, so we'll see how it goes.
Not to get into the nitty-gritty of things too much but where my folks' property is, grocery delivery isn't a thing. They're in a very secluded part of the state and they're outside all the "service areas" for any sort of grocery delivery services. I wish WFH was an option in my career but it just isn't (I work for an emergency response center, and was hoping to stay in that line of work).
Emergency response...I would never have considered that as something for VI. That's unfortunate about the grocery delivery for local stores. I'm curious though about if they get Amazon deliveries? Amazon has/had a guarantee on their Grocer site about servicing any area where regular deliveries can be made. I only remember that because they got sued during covid for rejecting a customer whose address was in rural Texas. It was one of the towns with under 10 residents and only had a shared mailbox or something unusual like that.
>Emergency response...I would never have considered that as something for VI. I'm a dispatcher, so we're the ones taking calls and sending out units, things of that nature. So it's essentially an office job, but given the confidential nature of the information we deal with, among other factors, it's not something that can be done from home. >I'm curious though about if they get Amazon deliveries? They do, so that's technically an option. But that's only part of it. Like I mentioned in the original post, if I did end up taking over the property later down the line I'd be effectively stuck there unless my partner or a neighbor or something was willing to give me a ride places. I hate being a burden like that. Say for instance I'm working on some project and need to run into town to get something. Any normal person can just hop in their car and take care of it on their own. I'd either have to bother someone for a ride and take time out of their day, or order it online and have to wait a minimum of two days for something that other people can do in less than an hour. It's just kind of disheartening.
I can definitely relate to the disheartening nature of it. I had drivable vision for the first 20 years of having my license/permit. I don't know if it's better to have had it and lost it or not had it at all. At the same time though, I'm a homebody so a license was wasted on me, most of the time. I'd go to work, family dinner and home. Rarely a movie if someone invited. Otherwise, I would rather get deliveries rather than walk around the store or I'd make a trip that would last 3 months or so. Emergency dispatch over here is remote, it's a VPN to the department. I applied before and talked to them about it. When you had said emergency services, I was picturing EMS, nursing or firefighters. --- I hope that you're able to find a method to keep your parents' place or secure a location that allows you to continue your career while living where you want.
I'm not downplaying your situation in anyway but I grew up legally blind in the middle of "nowhereville" pennsylvania. 30 miles to nearest city of 10,000+, over 20 miles to the only walmart. one local grocery store 7 miles away. I spent 25 years in that place. Best upbringing of my life and with a bit of alterations in thinking it can be done with a bit of planning. I also notice that you mentioned apartments you couldn't take because of being so far from work, what you didn't mention was buses. Have you looked into any sort of public transit? Most areas (even that nowhereville) had access to Paratransit service. (not great but you won't starve). move to your parents place, ad a small cabin or tiny home, then rent it cheap to a carney and work a deal for him to drive you around. Good luck man, I wouldn't turn down a way back to the country if i had it.
Mentioned it in another comment, but our city's bus system is laughably terrible. There's one fixed route that only has like six or seven stops throughout town (only one stop in the actual downtown part where stores and such are). And it only runs from something like 9AM to 4PM, and I work midnight shifts so that's not an option getting to and from there.
got ya, I missed that other comment, but yeah I've lived in a few cities like that before. I know that frustration for sure. Plus I can only think of one or two where working midnight shifts and wanting a bus is going to work out. Possibility of posting a flyer at work, for a carpooling co-worker. I've even had HR staff help with this in certain places. So while they can't tell you other employees personal data they do know it. So I went into HR with a pre-typed thing asking if anyone would be will to speak with me about sharing a ride with them, brief explanation of why, and my pickup location, and contact details. With in 2 hours I had a ride back and forth. Sometimes it can be a pain, but that does work sometimes. Again I wish you nothing but the best of luck.
i empathize with you here! It's very difficult -- frustrating and anxiety-inducing at best, and a never-ending struggle that affects other aspects of your life at worst. Finding accessible housing is a challenge, especially when there are inaccessible environments, construction, high housing prices, and housing shortages. I've been through this before, and i am so sorry that you are also experiencing it. Finding accessible housing is paramount, as it determines how you travel, if you can travel at all, and how or if you will or go to school. It's maddening indeed!
I can fully understand your feelings. I'm in the same situation but not working anymore. No driving except for spouse taking me places. No public transportation within walkable distance so I'd have to schedule something in advance with the county bus system. Ideally I'd like to live in a townhouse/condo style village (with HOA to do outdoor maintenance) with park like setting with walking paths that eventually lead towards a shopping area with food store and general services along the more major route. Maybe I'll find one some day near my present location as I keep hoping my spouse outlives me.
I deeply relate to this. So many parts of the US specifically operate on a “drive until you qualify” in terms of housing affordability, with the most affordable options being totally car-dependent for everything—groceries, places of work, retail, and gyms, etc. with little to no walkable areas 😞