A member of the Arizona House of Representatives had to roll home after a late-night session that ended after 2 a.m., after city buses stopped running.

Rep. Jennifer Longdon, D-Phoenix, who uses a wheelchair, rolled the mile and half from the Legislature to her house, along with several of her colleagues and a House security guard, arriving around 3:30 a.m. She uses public transportation to get to and from the Capitol, but Phoenix doesn’t have a 24-hour bus system.

“It was a circus. It was definitely a circus,” she said.

She called a few options she thought may work for rides after public transportation stopped running, and tried a variety of her colleagues’ vehicles, but none would fit her chair.

“Finally, I’m like, folks, I can roll home faster,” she said.

The terrain the group traversed was rough and torn up, she said. They went through an industrial area. It was dark. It was after 2 a.m.

As they were traveling, a Phoenix police officer pulled up and asked what was going on, Longdon said. After they explained, the officer accompanied the group the rest of the way to Longdon’s home.

Longdon thanked her colleagues, the security guard and the officer on the House floor on Friday.

She told The Republic the experience was a “bonding exercise” for everyone involved.

Roll home highlights bigger problems

The late-night roll draws attention to the lack of accommodation people with disabilities often face in the workplace.

“What’s really important out of this is to recognize that people with disabilities, in order to be productive, we’ve got to have some options,” Longdon said. “It’s hard to be a member of the workforce if things like this happen.”

And it brings into question whether it’s the best idea for state lawmakers to debate budget bills in the middle of the night. Members of the public have long derided the Legislature for passing consequential money bills while everyone else is sleeping.

As of Friday, lawmakers had yet to approve a budget. They planned to work through the weekend and potentially on Memorial Day. But it's still unclear if the budget plan has the necessary votes to pass in the Arizona Senate.

Longdon said she doesn’t have any control over the agenda or the pace of the Legislature, but noted that every one of her colleagues made some sacrifice to work through the early morning hours. People who lived farther away had to decide whether to go home and see their families briefly, or stay overnight somewhere nearer to the Capitol, she said.

“Everyone in this chamber made some sacrifice last night. Whether or not that was a good use of our time isn’t for me to say,” she said.

Longdon said other people with disabilities may not get the same type of help she did because she’s an elected state representative. For instance, the House recently had an intern who used a wheelchair, and Longdon wondered how the intern would have gotten home in the same circumstances.

“How do we ensure everyone has an opportunity to work, to play, to worship, to go to school and to participate in daily life in our community? That’s one of the reasons I’m here, and that’s what I hope me and this chair do in this body,” she said.

Changes at the Capitol after Longdon took office

Her presence as an elected lawmaker brings more awareness to issues that affect people with disabilities, she said, and she’s seen a sense of cooperation to try to address them.

Last year, before Longdon joined the chamber, she worked with then-House Speaker J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, to improve accessibility. She said various changes were made, like installing handrails, widening aisles and adding corner mirrors.

Still, she said people with mobility disabilities couldn't fill the House gallery, like sometimes happens with other causes, because only a handful could fit.

She also can’t access the speaker’s desk, which involves climbing a couple of stairs. As a ritual, new members will often take a photo behind the speaker’s desk when they first come to the House, she said.

“I’m the only member of this body that can’t get into that chair. Someday I will,” she said.

Representation matters at the statehouse, she said. This is another example.

“I hope that being here, working with the members and humanizing the issues that are important to my community specifically that maybe they haven’t considered, will play into how we vote on bills that affect health care and public transportation funding and roads and highways and workforce development and all of those other things that have a disproportionate impact on this community,” Longdon said.

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email at rachel.leingang@gannett.com or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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