More on abuse at Pat and the Elephant

Trent Costello, manager Pat and the Elephant, is abusive to persons with disabilities

with Abuse from Pat and The Elephant and comments

The Pat and the Elephant story has been well read for a disability story. Today at the Farmer’s Market a friend asked me. “Well you can walk. Why didn’t you just go home, take a cab?”

Fair question. I can walk a little but not to my home. I can’t walk the average city block. If I took a cab, what would I do with my wheelchair? It weighs 250 lbs. Cabs can’t take heavy wheelchairs. I live in that chair. It has my medication, money, keys, stuff I need including my Rosary beads. Like most people who use a chair, my life is spent in and out of the chair for 16-18 hours a day. It contains my life’s stuff. I couldn’t leave it. I need it when I get home. 

If you see me walking, it’s because I spent 95% of my time that day in a wheelchair and have a little, tiny window of time out of the chair. It’s sort of a magician’s trick. I save walking for those places that aren’t accessible like Hunter’s for supper or Baba’s to play.

I would not likely ever leave my chair anywhere. When it needs to get repaired, Harding Medical come to my home. If they take it, I have to get my manual chair from the trunk and stay very quiet all day until it returns.

Rob Harding Comments

Well that was a nice comment from Rob Harding who works with Pat and the Elephant. It’s always dangerous to come between two people who have a disagreement but Rob has walked a fine line. In many respects he is bang on the money.

However, he did not refer to the verbal abuse and threats that Trent Costello made to me in the first and second phone calls. Costello was verbally abusive from the first sentence. He had a chip on his shoulder and it was obvious. I don’t know why. Is he a bully? Was he having a bad hair day? Does he dislike me?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GI02n4ahn1A

If Costello had told me another driver was on the way, I would have accepted it.

If he had told me there was an emergency, I would have accepted it. If he had told me almost anything, I would have accepted it.

He didn’t. He started to berate and tell me I wasn’t the only person in town with a disability which wasn’t news to me. There are somewhere around 10,000 people in the Greater Charlottetown area with disabilities.

He didn’t say another driver was coming. He yelled at me and told me I’d just have to wait until they wanted to send somebody which felt like he was abandoning me downtown in Charlottetown. Verbal abuse with the added benefit of abandonment. I’m not a coward and have had lots of people talk tough to me. I know abuse when I hear it and usually just turn away from angry people. However, when you are dependent on that person there is little recourse.

It was not my intention to air this publicly. I video taped my recollection while it was fresh in my memory as a record. I waited 2 days and sent a written account on Sunday to Susan Connolly at Stewart McKelvey since she was the only board member with an email address. That might have been a mistake since lawyers are always worried about being sued. No comment is their best comment.

On Monday, I spoke to David MacCallum, board chair of Pat and the Elephant, and sent him the same email. The video was posted on YouTube but not open for anyone to see. I invited David to pick a time and I’d let him see it.

David didn’t call me back. He didn’t ask to see the video. On Tuesday he wrote a letter and put me off. They had investigated and nothing had been done wrong. He did invite me to ask for a meeting. I sent him an email and asking for a meeting. He didn’t reply.

It is my impression that David is stalling. I don’t think an internal investigation where Costello justifies himself is enough. I was offered a meeting but it looks like none will happen at this point.

That is why I took the matter public. It’s always my observation that we are creatures of habit. If we get caught speeding, we likely have broken the law more than once. If someone is abusive, it is likely a habit. Since I could recollect other times Costello had been aggressive, abusive and less than cooperative with me, I assume he is doing this with other people. If not, an investigation will sort it out. Stonewalling on this will not work. I am used to people hiding from disability issues.

The ball is in MacCallum’s court. He needs to arrange a meeting.