One of the hardest parts of being disabled is not being able to get where you want to go at the drop of a hat. As someone who is disabled, I can tell you how a simple trip across town can turn into an accessibility nightmare.
With the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, there have been vast improvements towards making public buildings accessible. However, try going between a big city and a small town. You will see a difference.
I grew up in a small town outside of Toledo, Ohio. While many of the newest buildings in this town were accessible, not all of them had been modified. For example, I was mainstreamed into the local school district. Our district had three elementary schools that merged into one in the fifth grade.
I had to be shipped from the closest elementary school in my town to another elementary school in the district (for kindergarten through fourth grade) because my elementary school had steps. In Junior High, I faced the same problem. I ended up having all my classes in the accessible High School (which was next door to the Junior High) instead.
Disability Issues we Face Every Day
Depending on the disability, accessibility issues may be different for everyone.
While steps are almost always a problem for a person with a physical disability (though it is true some have adapted to climbing with assistive devices) the size of the doorway in buildings and homes is going to matter more to a person in a wheelchair then to a person who can walk with braces and crutches.
In an ideal world, every building and residential property would have:
- No steps
- Wider Doorways
- Automatic Door Openers
- Lower Counter tops
- Lower Shelves
- Elevators where necessary
- Ramps with less than 15-degree angles
- Easy to reach appliances
- Hoyer lifts where necessary
- Large Bathrooms with Roll-in Showers
- Grab Bars
Unfortunately, this dream is not yet a reality.
Able-Bodied World View
The world has an able-bodied view. It is made for able-bodied individuals so finding an accessible home is a task for the disabled. Going shopping is a task. Getting in public buildings, though they are supposed to be accessible, can be a task.
When I went to Bowling Green State University, I complained to the city of Bowling Green about their lack of sidewalks. I got the media involved in my ongoing dispute with the BGSU accessibility office. I had issues with the university spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to put an elevator into Falcon Stadium for alumni when their campus needed a serious accessibility makeover.
Article comments
1 - Howard Dratch
Well-said! My wife is suddenly bound to a wheelchair by a violent act that left her leg amputated.
Navigating an "able-bodied" world in a disabled body is far from easy. More telling are the valiant and well-meant attempts by obviously able-bodied architects to design usable bathrooms (for example) in hotels, renovated hotels and even cruise ships. Things will be accessible but suddenly one or more elements will be totally out -of-reach or a floor tiled with smooth tile.
On one occasion in a Miami resort's handicapped accessible shower (with smooth tile floors) she slipped just as I stopped in to check on her. I caught her in mid-air before she hit the tiles.
Luckily she is slim as is her chair. I wonder about wider people in wider chairs. What do you do when the chair doesn't fit?
You are young. Keep up the fight for changes. Keep up the pressure for the able-bodied to support accesiblity and for the planners and architects to consult the disabled when they plan their "accesible" places.
2 - Dominick Evans
I have a relatively bulky chair because I have tilt and extending foot rests upon it.
You have to navigate the best you can in places where the doors are narrow. If its a public place such as a doctors office then I just make note to not go to that doctor's office. They can lose my business.
I'll also bitch when there as well as make a nice phone call when I get home.
It'd be nice to have a 1-800 number to report ADA violations but as of now I don't know of one.
Dominick
3 - Dennis G. Nolan
I don't have an 800 number but here's how to file a written
complaint about Title III/ADA complaints ...go here for Title II complaints
4 - Dominick Evans
Hey Dennis,
Thanks so much! That is a much needed asset for all disabled individuals to have.
Cheers,
Dominick