Handicap Inaccessibility: Many Public Operations Still Don't Comply with ADA

Since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 there have been vast improvements in the general realm of accessibility for those with diminished physical or mental capacities in the public realm. In fact, many seem to think that the problem with accessibility is over. However, the problem still remains today in many privately owned and publicly operated facilities.

One would assume that with the passing of national legislation and the public outcry when the inaccessibility of a business or public venue comes to light would be enough of an incentive to drive businesses everywhere to make sure that their facilities were as accessible as possible to even those with the most diminished capacities. However, over the last couple of years I have really began to take notice to the fact that not only are many of the places that we would presume to be accessible actually inaccessible to people with physical limitations.

One of the problems that I witnessed with this was for a company that I previously worked for. There was a woman that worked there who was a permanent resident of a wheelchair. She had been in her chair her entire life, and was perfectly capable of performing every function of her job from the confines of her chair. The problem for her came in at the time clock. It was a requirement that every employee clock in at the beginning of their shift, and out at the end of their shift.

Well, the time clock in our building was mounted too high on the wall for her to reach it from her chair. Despite numerous requests to Maintenance for it to be lowered, and several requests to Management in the company the one and only time clock in the facility never was put where she could reach it. Now, I will say there were only a handful of times during the three years when I worked there that there wasn't someone around to clock her in.

However, in those times she had to go to the Supervisor to be manually put on the clock, and received a lecture every time about the importance of clocking in and out. While this may seem like nothing to most of us, I cannot imagine being in her position and being lectured about something that I truly had no control over, and had even followed all of the correct procedures to get it remedied before it became a problem.

Another problem that I witnessed was at an amusement park. We went to this amusement park for a day of family fun and relaxation, and achieved that for the better part of the day. However, when my mother in law, who is confined to a wheelchair due to the amputation of both of her legs from diabetes, had to use the restroom we found a problem. The restrooms were not equipeed with the grab bars necessary to allow her to tranfer herself from her chair to the commode and back again.

So, we spent the better part of an hour finding a ladies room with enough room to navigate her wheelchair up to a stall, and then I stood outside the door and would not let anyone enter (there were 5 stalls in this particular ladies room) while my husband and my father-in-law manually lifted her from her chair to the toilet and back again. Now, I know a lot of you will probably say, what is the problem? She got to use the bathroom didn't she?

My problem was this, the embarrassment that she suffered that day (due in large part to the line of approximately 30 people that amassed while she was in the restroom), was brought on by the inadequacy of state requirements for handicap accessibility. When I spoke with park management they promised to have it fixed with grab bars installed as soon as possible. While this was the outcome I had hoped for, it still did not save my mother in law from the embarrassment she had suffered.

The third and final problem that I have noticed is not with one specific place, but is more just a problem in general. There are almost no events held in an outdoor venue with handicap accessible accommodations. I understand that there are costs associated with making an event accessible to those members of society that have limited physical capacities. However, most if not all of the larger outdoor events are held on fairgrounds or other places of business that specializing in hosting these events. The cost to install a handicap accessible restroom in any of these places would be negligible when compared with the profit that they see from hosting these events.

Many businesses today still do not meet the requirements of a person with a physical limitation effectively, and many of these businesses simply do not care that they are below requirements. Their total disregard for the position that they place already physically or mentally impaired people in should be punished to the full extent of the law.

And the people who have to deal with these limitations should not be embarrassed when they encounter a situation in which their needs are not being met by a particular establishment, but rather they should demand that their needs be met as quickly as possible, and help ensure that the company is prosecuted if they do not comply. That way, others with disabilities would not have to encounter the same problem and embarrassment that they encountered when in the same situation.