A More Accessible America

My boys and I like to go to baseball games. We've been to Baltimore for the last two years for an Orioles game, and we have season tickets to the Richmond Squirrels baseball team. But, finding accessible seating seems to always be an issue. I wrote a blog last year about the Richmond ball park.

But all that should now change with the revised and expanded Americans With Disabilities Act. The regulations apply to the activities of more than 80,000 units of state and local government and more than 7 million places of public accommodation, including stores, restaurants, shopping malls, libraries, museums, sporting arenas, movie theaters, doctors’ and dentists’ offices, hotels, jails and prisons, polling places, and emergency preparedness shelters.

The 2010 standards also include, for the first time, standards on making swimming pools, parks, golf courses, boating facilities, exercise clubs, and other recreation facilities accessible for individuals with disabilities. Entities covered by the ADA have until March 15, 2012 to comply with the revised standards.

I suggest you visit the Department of Justice's ADA website for more details.

(Although this is a move in the right direction, I am really worried about where things are going with the Federal budget. I fear the next areas to receive cries for cuts will be the entitlement programs like Medicaid. Having accessible seating at the baseball park means little if my children can't receive the medical care they desperately need.)

Noticed!

I'm very excited! My other blog, www.ustooplease.com, has been noticed by one of my town's local TV news station, and I have been asked to be a regular contributor to their community news section!

Of course, there is no compensation involved other than seeing my name as a byline, but still it's very exciting.

Here's my first article (which was also posted on www.ustooplease.com):

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - Accessibility Review

Lawsuits Abound

Denise Payne, a Florida resident who has cerebral palsy, and her business partner, Robert Forlano, formed a 5013C charitable organization called the National Alliance for Accessibility. As in Virginia, all charitable organizations are required to register with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Ms. Payne’s organization, however, is not registered as required by law.

Ms. Payne and her organization filed six lawsuits in the Roanoke, Virginia federal court alleging many area establishments are not accessible. Included in the list of establishments are several shopping malls, two hotels and Radford University. The six cases target Virginia, but Ms. Payne has recently filed over 200 similar cases, all alleging a lack of accessibility.

While I am in full support of pursuing issues through legal means IF ALL OTHER ATTEMPTS TO RESOLVE ISSUES FAIL, I do not support this shotgun approach to demand change. I have to wonder what the real motivation is in all these cases.

As you know, I recently started a new website titled www.ustooplease.com. I purposely added the word ‘please’ to that web address. And as I mention on that website, I truly want to raise awareness about accessibility and inclusion. I share all my observations on that website with the businesses I review. I offer a list of resources to help those businesses become more accessible and inclusive.

I believe communities will begin to welcome everyone when everyone works together to realize true inclusion.

Like a dog that is beaten every time it urinates in its owner’s house, it will eventually become housebroken. But the dog will never truly be a part of that owner’s family – it will remain an animal that is continually beaten to achieve the owner’s goals.

I don’t want businesses to make changes for accessibility and inclusion because they are beaten into doing so. I want their decisions to be based on the realization that an inclusive community is a true community.

My website is www.ustooplease.com. Ms. Payne’s should be www.ustoooriwillsueyou.com.

(I searched and searched for Ms. Payne's and her organization's website but could find nothing. Nor could I find a telephone number after almost an hour of searching the web.)

It's a Launch!

Many years ago, I would go shopping or out to a restaurant without a thought about accessibility. I would walk up curbs without thinking about people in wheelchairs. I would get annoyed with store aisles that were so packed with merchandise that I couldn’t find what I wanted. But, it would never occur to me that some people wouldn’t even be able to move around that same store. And like a lot of other people, I would stare at a blind person using a cane, but I wouldn’t ask if I could assist or direct them to the checkout register.

All that changed when I adopted four children, two of whom are in wheelchairs, one who is blind, and one who doesn’t handle too much sensory input very well. Although those adoptions began 14 years ago, I’ve not seen much progress related to accessibility in my community or other communities my family visits.

So I decided to create a website as a way to raise awareness about accessibility and inclusion. My new site is called US TOO PLEASE.



As my children and I travel through our community, I will review the places we visit. I will write about how physically accessible they are – how welcoming they are to people with disabilities – how inclusive a product or service they offer – and whether or not they make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities.

I do not mean US TOO PLEASE to be an exercise in bashing. I will share the good as well as the not so good, but I will always let each establishment know the results of my review. I will offer to publish any comments they may have, and I will inform them of resources that are available for improving their accessibility and inclusive practices.

My sincere hope is that this endeavor will help to improve my community, as well as all communities, for people with disabilities. I want to leave a legacy of inclusion for my children. I want to make a positive difference in the lives of all people, especially those with disabilities.

Please visit my new site and let me know what you think! And if you have any specific places you would like me to review, just send me an email.

p.s. Having a new website does NOT mean I will devote any less time to this blog - my baby that has allowed me to find my voice, to make special friendships, and to keep me sane! I will still be writing here every Monday through Friday as always!

A Subjective Comparison

We have an older gas barbecue grill that has served us well over the years. But for the Fourth of July this year, I wanted food cooked on a charcoal grill. I know it is more work to light the charcoal, wait for it to get ready and then cook as compared to the gas grill which would light with the push of a button. But the taste is very different. So off we went, all the kids and I, in search of a Weber barbecue grill.

In my town, there are two large hardware stores - Lowes and Home Depot. There are also some smaller stores, but usually their prices are higher. We decided to try Lowes first since it was closer to home.



We arrived in our tank of a van, unloaded wheelchairs and headed to the entrance where grills were on display. Apparently most people want gas because I saw no charcoal grills. We went into the store, and there stood a gentleman who appeared to be directing people to where they needed to go.

I asked where the Weber grills were, and he pointed me to an indoor display of gas grills. I politely said "No, I want a charcoal grill." He said, "I don't think we have any of those", and then he moved on to the next group entering the store.

As you might be able to imagine, as a group my family is hard to ignore. It is also pretty difficult for us to maneuver through a store with 2 wheelchairs and several people in tow. But because the gentleman told us there were no charcoal grills inside, we went back outside to check. Lo and behold, there was a Weber grill, just like we wanted.

We went back in the store, approached the gentleman again, and said, "We saw a Weber grill outside, and the tag said it was in location C29." He said, "Over there" and pointed to his left. We found the grill, in its box, stacked high above our heads. When we asked for help, he said it would be a while.

We left the store and decided to head to Home Depot.



The experience at Home Depot was completely different. This wasn't the first time I had noticed this, but everytime a Home Depot associate walks past you, they say hello and ask if you need help.

We found the exact grill we wanted - same price as Lowe's - got it loaded into a cart and headed to check out. The checkout person was very helpful, and said he could get the bar code without lifting the box. While paying, the associate spoke to Ashley and once we finished and were heading out, he said, "Thanks for shopping with Home Depot, and have a great holiday."

I realize that this was only one outing, and making a comparison between the two stores based on that is probably not fair. It's very subjective, but based on this one visit, you can probably guess where I will shop in the future.

Snow Bound

I tried really hard not to complain this holiday season. I didn't say anything about the stores and all their aisle-way displays making it impossible for a wheelchair user to shop. I haven't written any blog posts about all the people who seem bothered when I ask them to move just a bit so I can get Ashley's wheelchair around them, or the people in their cars who seem impatient as I load her wheelchair into the car.

But now I have to say something. Yesterday, after being stuck in the house because of an historic East Coast snow storm, we finally dug out and decided to go to the mall. As you probably know, the malls always have their parking lots clear before any other business, and that was especially true this last weekend before Christmas.

So, our road had been scraped, my boys had cleared the driveway, and we headed out. This is what we found when we arrived at the shopping mall:



Apparently people with disabilities should stay home when it snows. And for the record, I saw NO regular parking spots that had been blocked by snow. 4000 clear parking spots, and 4 clear handicapped parking spots. It's really too bad because I had quite a lot of shopping to do....and quite a lot of money to spend.

Today I am thankful for those people who believe in community and inclusion.