Disabled passengers demand safe access to Daufuskie Island ferry
Freddie Grant, Jr. has ridden the public ferry from Daufuskie Island to Hilton Head Island for decades. His family has lived on the isolated island for five generations, and residents affectionately call him “the mayor of Daufuskie.”
Until recently, it wasn’t a problem for him to take the boat. Then, Grant had a major heart attack, followed by triple bypass surgery. And he’s walking on crutches until he can lose the weight his doctor says he needs to before a knee replacement.
Grant’s difficulty getting to a doctor’s office or pharmacy — neither of which Daufuskie Island has — on Hilton Head Island has less to do with his medical issues and more with Beaufort County’s new ferry provider, he said. Those taking the ferry report:
No seating at the Hilton Head Island embarkation point, making waiting difficult for those who can’t stand for long periods.
Inconsistent golf cart service to and from the boat, sometimes forcing those with disabilities to walk up and down long, steep ramps with groceries.
Embarkation and disembarking problems.
After seven years of service, Beaufort County switched providers from Haig Point Community Associates to Lowcountry Ferry in January. Under the new provider, Grant and at least five other residents with disabilities say they are struggling to get to Hilton Head and back. It’s an issue they never had with Haig Point, which had an attendant to help with accessibility needs, according to acting Haig Point CEO Adam Martin, and a better-equipped boat, according to residents.
Grant is one of the hundreds of people who will take the ferry between Daufuskie and Hilton Head Islands each month and not the only one with a disability. Public entities are required to ensure their services are accessible to those with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“There’s no question, that ferry must be made accessible to people with disabilities,” said Rebecca Fulmer, an attorney with Disability Rights South Carolina.
It’s also in the contract between the county and the new vendor, Lowcountry Ferry, that it must “assist riders with accessibility issues with embarkation and debarkation from boats.” But that’s not the service Daufuskie Island residents with accessibility issues ranging from hip surgery to broken backs are describing.
Whether it be a tourist or a resident who is disabled, the new ferry provider isn’t equipped to meet their needs, residents say. But it’s the Daufuskie Island residents, who rely on the boat for necessities such as groceries, medicine and health care, who will be disadvantaged the most by the difficulty of access, they say. Access for those who are disabled is the latest complaint from residents, who have been raising concerns over what they say is lower-level service at higher prices since the contract switched two months ago. In response, residents say the county has done little, despite officials meeting with Daufuskie Island residents.
“I really don’t want you to think that means everything is good,” said Deborah Smith at the county council meeting Monday. “Some glitches have been fixed, but there are fundamental issues with this ferry service that are not going to be fixed by tweaking.”
In response to questions about the Americans with Disabilities Act, Beaufort County spokesperson Hannah Nichols texted in a statement that the ferry service is “expected to make reasonable accommodation and provide reasonable assistance to those with mobility issues.”
The county is taking action about the island’s emergency medical services, law enforcement, and fire department transport. It is negotiating a separate contract with the previous contractor, Haig Point Community Associates, to transport these services, according to Martin.
“If there’s an emergency on Daufuskie we have a captain and mate that go over and pick up the Sheriff and bring them right back to the island,” Martin said of the arrangement in a January interview. He said Tuesday Haig Point and the county will likely finalize the contract in the coming weeks.
Lowcountry Ferry hasn’t responded to emails and voicemails requesting comment. When a reporter with The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reached the ferry service over the phone last week, a representative from the service hung up on them.
‘We call. They don’t help.’
Stroke survivor and 84-year-old Daufuskie Island resident Miles Shafer needs a walker “to get from A to B,” he said. For longer distances, such as from the ferry parking lot to the boat dock, he needs a golf cart. Each time he has called Lowcountry Ferry to request one, Shafer said they haven’t always called back, but they’ve had a cart for him.
Grant and multiple others haven’t been so lucky. Instead, the ferry’s lack of accommodation has put them in dangerous situations while trying to bring groceries home or get back from the doctor.
Grant reported that on multiple occasions, and despite alerting Lowcountry Ferry beforehand, no one was there to transport him down to the dock to the boat in a golf cart. It was a service the previous operators provided. Instead, he relies on others to help or treks down the sometimes-slippery aluminum ramp on his crutches to get to the dock. Grant said it’s painful, not to mention dangerous; he has almost slipped and fallen.
“Good thing I caught the rail,” he said.
He’s not the only one who has reported Lowcountry Ferry not being there to help. Like Grant, Daufuskie Island resident Melissa Davis qualifies for Social Security Disability Insurance. Among other issues, she has broken her back, had part of her foot amputated, and has several lung diseases that make it difficult to breathe. Resident Ashley Hollingsworth is in a brace from her hip to her ankle after tearing her ACL, MCL and meniscus.
On Monday, the two were taking the ferry back to Daufuskie Island. Hollingsworth notified Lowcountry Ferry of their situation in advance, saying they needed a golf cart to help transport them.
“They said if we called and asked for help, they’d help,” Davis said of Lowcountry Ferry. “We call. They don’t help.”
Instead, Davis and Hollingsworth were left to carry groceries and walk up the steep ramp themselves, which Davis estimated was about a 45-degree angle because of the low tide. The ramp’s angle depends on the tide, which brings the floating dock up and down with it. Davis said that Monday was one of the worst days. Under Haig Point, a golf cart would escort them to their vehicles with her groceries.
They had no such luck on Monday.
“You try carrying a couple of hundred pounds with a dislocated shoulder,” Davis said. “And a bunch of pinched nerves in your back, and bad feet, and an irregular heartbeat.”
Residents’ trouble doesn’t stop once they get to the dock. They still have to board the boat using what they say is an uneven platform.
“It’s like a seesaw,” Grant said. Shafer called trying to navigate the embarkation and debarkation ramp with his walker “hair-raising.”
Once they’re on the boat, residents say there is an about four-inch lip they must go over to get inside the cabin.
“I have to get off my walker and get off my crutches (to get in),” Hollingsworth said. “It’s not ADA compliant.”
‘I don’t want to leave this island.’
On Tuesday, it was a beautiful day on Daufuskie Island; but Melissa Davis was inside, in bed with muscle spasms and swollen wrists from her experience Monday. She needs to go back to Hilton Head to get her prescriptions, but it’ll have to wait.
“I’m just not up to the walk down the docks,” she said.
For now, she is one of many Daufuskie Island residents upset with how the county handled the contract change from Haig Point to Lowcountry Ferry.
With another surgery looming, she fears she won’t be able to live on the island because of how Lowcountry Ferry is running the service and the county’s lack of response, putting her accessibility in question. Before, she had no intention of leaving the place she has called home for years.
“I love it here and I don’t want to leave this island,” she said. “But I’ve got to be able to get my basic needs.”
