PARENTS OF ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES IN COLORADO (PAD-CO)

Pure Advocacy ...... No Compromise ...... Empowered Parents

17454 E Dewberry Drive

Parker, CO 80134

September 16, 2011

This letter is addressed to the

Director of the Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles

1881 Pierce St.
Lakewood, Colorado 80214

And to the Directors of each of the following CO DMV offices:

1881 Pierce St.
Lakewood, Colorado 80214
12600 E. Arapahoe Rd.,
Centennial, CO 80112
17924 Cottonwood Dr.,
Parker, CO 80134
5334 S. Prince St.,
Littleton, CO 80166

Dear Directors:

I am Dr. Denver C. Fox, the moderator of a parent’s group, Parents of Adults with Disabilities in Colorado (PAD-CO), care of the address above and the email and URL addresses below.

Our children range in age from 15 – 50, and they all need to frequent the DMV offices for Colorado ID’s. These children, under Colorado Law, are their own guardians, but generally require assistance from caregivers and parents in many activities in life, including applying for and receiving Colorado ID’s.

We wanted to share with you some recent experiences with your offices by parents and children who have various disabilities which include autism, developmental disabilities and physical disabilities.

The paragraphs below describe some of these recent experiences. We are sharing these with in the hope of facilitating better experiences, and, in some cases highlighting positive experiences. We hope that you will use these comments positively to enhance the services of your offices.

Yours very truly,

Denver C. Fox, Ed.D.

Moderator, PAD-CO

The names have been removed. Locations are as given.

SW - (Prince St.)
Last Friday I went to the Driver's License office for Arapahoe County. The purpose was to get a replacement for my two sons' Colorado Picture ID. I had spent a major segment of time on the computer trying to figure out where one goes to accomplish this -- it is a very user unfriendly website. Met my 2 sons and their caregiver there after I had frantically searched for the documents they required as ID and finally found that they were being held by the CCB.
Took a number (67) and sat down to wait in a room jammed with people. They were serving number 22! My
sons don't do waiting well. Finally got called and guess what? We were in the wrong line. Go back to the beginning, take another number (679) and wait once again (they were serving number 620). We're finally called and I take both of my sons, along with their caregiver, up to the window to explain our need. She immediately informed me that we couldn't all be at the window and everybody except the one she was serving had to go back and sit down (not in a nice voice, by the way). I stayed with my son and tried to explain that I needed to assist him with this process. She very rudely informed me that she would not talk to me and she ordered my son to pick up the telephone on our side while she picked up the one on her side so that I could not hear what was being said. My son's answer to most questions from anyone is "I guess so" or "I'm not sure". She then thrust a piece of paper in his hands which he looked at and gave it back to her and said "I'm not sure". At that point I attempted again to intervene and asked what the paper was. She ignored me but my son said "It was something about emergency contacts". Meanwhile this woman is filling out forms on her computer and ignores my attempt to speak to her.
One of the requirements for ID was a piece of mail with the correct address on it. Since my sons live in a
host home and receive NO mail there -- it all comes to me at my address since I am their rep payee and
handle their finances and medical issues -- the only thing I could find was his paycheck stub which had the house number, street name, and city but nothing indicating whether it was a street, avenue, place, etc. This lovely lady then in a very surlymanner finally addressed me with "I can't issue this because there's an incomplete address on here". I told her it was a "place" and she snapped back that she couldn't take my word for it and it had to be written on a piece of mail so I'd need to take all my stuff back and get the correct address on an official piece of mail and then come back. I told her I had no intention of going through the
aggravation again and she could just put the address on the license as it was on the check stub. Her response was "then it won't get delivered to him and you'll have to start all over. Go home and write him a letter at his correct address and mail it to him. Then bring it in!" My reply was in terms of how does that differ from my telling you it's a "place" while we're already here? She shoved everything back at me and
closed her window!
Now my question is, who do I see about this? I'm appalled to find this kind of stupidity and rudeness still is
happening from one of our state agencies (no, not surprised, just appalled). How dare they treat our people
like this! Do I have to take a copy of my guardianship or POA when I go there so I can assist my sons? Is
there anyone at the DMV who gives a damn? Probably not.

Some other major issues with DMV office on South Prince are the fingerprint pads are stuck to the counter so for someone in a wheelchair and tray who cannot reach are still told it has to be done (so I pulled really hard on my daughter's arm, tilted her chair to the side (not safe) and was able to fit a finger in the instrument. The signature pad is on a cord but it's not long enough to accommodate so we had to go through the gymnastics again so my daughter could make an X with my help. The last hurdle was the camera, which has retinal recognition but requires the person to look at the camera and to sit still until it works. My daughter has a hard time holding her head up and never sits still but the staff said it had to get done and so we had more gymnastics to get this accomplished. The staff did not try to make any accommodations, offered no apologies for the lack of accommodations, and were very impatient.

Anyway, I've vented. Consider this fair warning if you need to get a Colorado Picture ID for your child that you best not get sent to this woman! In fact, I'd go (and will go) to another county and hope for the best.
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L (County Line and Broadway location and at the South Prince Street location.)
I can relate somewhat. I took my daughter to Arapahoe drivers license for her adult ID, the number we got was like 74 and we got there a while before they opened. My daughter also does not like to wait (she starts screaming because of her pains) and after 1 1/2 hour another customer came up and gave me his son's number which was just coming up his son was getting his drivers permit but this dad had also had a special needs daughter who passed some time ago. Made me cry!
When I got to the counter, we were treated very poorly and I asked if they could also take the man who gave me their number and was quickly and loudly told no! I also asked if they make any accommodations and was told no. Then on to the picture - another negative adventure!
We had just as poor an experience in another Arapahoe county office and the horrible fiasco with trying to get my daughter's fingerprints.
I'm sorry that so many people have to keep experiencing this!
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R - I have had good luck with the DL office in Parker on Cottonwood.
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We use the driver's license renewal office at the CO Revenue sitein Jeffco at W. 20th Ave. and Pierce St. It gets super busy too, so in the past we gotthere early (around 7:30 a.m.), but still ended up waiting btwn 1-3 hrs. I have delayed going in this recent pastfor my daughter because of the time delays and her anxieties with waiting and crowds, but thank goodness have (so far) not experienced the disrespect others have.