Students for Disability Awareness has accused the Ohio State/Central Ohio Transit Authority partnership committee of discriminating against the disabled, and threatens to picket voting sites for the COTA flat fee vote on Tuesday and Wednesday.The mandatory $9 per quarter fee allows unlimited use of the bus system.Members of disability awareness group claim that they have been left out of contract negotiations between OSU and COTA and have been denied membership on the OSU and COTA partnership committee. Belinda Spinosi, spokeswoman for the disability awareness group, said the discord between the group and OSU began Autumn Quarter when the office of transportation and parking announced it would no longer be handling transportation for the disabled on evenings and weekends. “We were making negotiations to improve services with transportation and parking,” Spinosi said. “We were then told by the office that they no longer handled those services, and to refer all concerns to Project Mainstream, the disabled transportation provided by COTA. We feel that [COTA has] not addressed our concerns, because they have limited their routes, and don’t have information about the services in an accessible format to aid those students who may have special needs. For example, our students with psychological, and visual impairments may have a difficult time understanding the information.”Spinosi also said that members of Undergraduate Student Government promised to address the concerns of the disabled, but have not done so. She said when she asked for a seat on the partnership committee earlier in the quarter she was refused.Greg Lestini, director of USG governmental affairs, said that Spinosi had voiced her concerns to the OSU/COTA Partnership committee only a week ago, and they had promised to address her concerns.”We did promise that we would address the issue,” said Lestini. “We did that to the best of our abilities. I am insulted by her accusation that we discriminate against the disabled.”Lestini said that at the beginning of Autumn Quarter applications were available to those who wished to sit on panels and committees. He also said that membership appointments are based on an individual’s knowledge of the issue, previous work on the project and overall interest in the issue.COTA spokesman Kent Carson said the new contract being ironed out between OSU and COTA will include disability services.”In reference to the disabled, we will continue to follow the ADA regulations as we have done in the past,” Carson said.COTA and OSU will complete final details of the contract after the students vote on the flat-fee program.