Rights of Passage

Editor's Note: You've read this blog's take on accessibility problems. Here is an authentic voice (from Canada) on accessibility issues, especially the need for a more visible spokesperson (NOT Al Gore). Follow the link to read the string of comments, agreeing with the author while encouraging her to keep at it. (Remember "My Left Foot"? Glenda types her entries with her left thumb! ) Read her words and, if you want to respond to her question, go to her web site. (from her web site: Do It Myself Blog - Glenda Watson Hyatt) http://www.doitmyselfblog.com

Glenda Watson Hyatt shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy to motivate and inspire others to think about how they perceive their own situation and their own world around them. She does all this by typing with only her left thumb!

Over the past couple of months, several people have thanked me for making them aware of the need for accessibility, both on the web and in daily life. I smile. While I appreciate having the tools and voice to make this need known, accessibility is not a new need.

Do you know how long I and millions of other people with disabilities have been dealing with less than accessible washrooms, curb cuts and such? Accessibility isn’t a new concept, yet many, many people still don’t get it until they are personally touched by the need.

Over the weekend, I was thinking about the environmental movement. Despite the decades of tireless work by environmentalist David Suzuki, oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, Greenpeace and countless other individuals and organizations, it wasn’t until 2006 when former US Vice President Al Gore released his Hollywood-ized documentary An Inconvenient Truth did the masses finally “get it”. Overnight, reducing, recycling and re-purposing became the latest trend. Parking the car and walking to work was a new concept. “Green” products began popping up everywhere.

In 2007, Al Gore and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.

From my perspective, it took a former American politician and a documentary with a $1 million budget, according to Wikipedia, to get people’s attention and to start them taking action to protect the earth. Whatever it takes!

Turning back to accessibility, what needs to happens for the similar response to occur? What would get people’s attention and get them taking action? Do we need a big name like Al Gore in our corner?

Seriously, I am asking. I welcome a respectful dialogue in the comments below.

 Editor's Note: Read the story of a busy professional
-- in her own words -- who has become an advocate for accessibility. 
An engineer, she noticed the improper curb cuts in her neighborhood;
she also noticed the removal of
some curb cuts where a friend and neighbor rode his wheelchair.   After
a couple of years of patient communication with the village officials,
she finally got mad!  The outcome was a recent village vote to stop the
village’s practice of removing curb cuts.  Congratulations to these
stalwart citizens.  Read on!

Barrier Curb and Sidewalk installed under Village Program.

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act is only as good as the government agencies charged with shaping the built environment to accommodate people with disabilities or the advocates who hound them to do so.  I was reluctant to add ADA advocate to my job description, but my community pushed me too far. 

In the summer of 2006 I noticed that the Village of Arlington Heights was taking out handicap ramps.  This was usually at intersections where there was sidewalk on one side of the street but not on the other.  They were taking out the legs of the sidewalk pointing towards the area with no sidewalks, but were leaving the perpendicular legs and ramps in place.  The ramps removed were usually replaced with barrier curbs and grass but sometimes they were replaced with barrier curbs and sidewalk.  Pedestrians and people using wheel chairs or pushing strollers could still get to where they were going using the perpendicular ramps left in place.  In some locations, however, they took out ramps when there was a sidewalk across the street and even when removing the ramp created a significant detour.  One detour was over 600 feet long. 

Barrier curb and grass installed under Village Program.

This made me mad, but my parents were sick, I was visiting colleges with my son, my job was hectic, and I did not need to add a battle to my list.  Until, one day I came across an intersection on Bristol Lane where the Village was repaving a street.  It appeared that they were leaving a barrier curb in place.  There was no perpendicular curb so this rendered the whole length of sidewalk unusable for people using wheel chairs.  I called the Engineering Department and talked to the Engineer in charge of the job. She said this was not an oversight by the contractor, as I had assumed.  She said the Village would not take out the barrier curb because there was no sidewalk across the street.  I was shocked and said something like “Are you kidding? You think it is reasonable to ask a person in a wheel chair to wheel in the street an extra 90 feet, parallel to a public sidewalk?  That is a violation of ADA.”  She assured me she was not kidding. This was Village policy.

An advocate was born.  I first tried quiet diplomacy.   I contacted a Village Trustee I knew. I explained the story then delivered a follow up letter, with pictures, explaining this was both stupid and illegal.  She did not get back to me or answer my email and phone queries.

Barrier curb left in place under the Village Program

I toured the town with a neighbor who uses a wheel chair.  He immediately understood the potential impact of this policy.  He lives on a cul-de-sac with no sidewalks that is connected to a sidewalk by a short, ramped walk from the street.  If the Village removed his walk, his regular trips to a neighborhood store would require an additional half mile of travel.  We discussed strategy and committed to write and ask the Village to stop this ridiculous policy.  Because of coordination issues and the business of life, the letter was not sent until July of 2007. 

Two months later we received a response detailing why the Village planned to keep removing sidewalks and ramps in town. They had decided that some sidewalks in the public right of way were not part of an accessible path, based on something in an ADAAG manual. 

Sidewalk ramp improperly installed in the Village in 2008.

My mother died, my father in law died, my neighbor’s father died and time marched on.  In my spare time I contacted the US Access Board who told me to talk to the Department of Justice (DOJ) because Title II states that when a sidewalk crosses a curb, a curb ramp is required.  The DOJ said we should file a complaint, adding that the Village could not make the public right of way less accessible under Section 35.133.  The Illinois Attorney General’s office told me my neighbor should file a complaint and that it would receive high priority because the village was systematically reducing access.  My neighbor was convinced that we could reason with the Village so no complaint was filed.  We just kept plugging away. We contacted accessibility support groups and gathered information that we faxed to the Village.  We made calls, we made noise, but we made no progress with staff. 

We wrote the mayor a 16 page letter, including attachments, in February of 2008.  She sent back a note telling us to meet with staff.  So we met with staff on April 3, 2008.  We were told that the Village was definitely going to take out the ramp my neighbor used regularly as well as the whole sidewalk on Bristol that had prompted my call in 2006 and every other ramp in town meeting their criteria because “blind people might wander into a neighborhood without sidewalks.” 

April 4th I started searching for information on the conflict between people with visual impairments and people using wheel chairs.   An organization that supports mobility for people with visual impairments told me the Village actions were illegal.  Detectable warnings, required on all new ramps after 2001, alerted such people that they were leaving a safe place.  

I contacted another support organization who offered to help.  We waited while they searched for an attorney to handle our case. Time passed. My father died.  

After President Obama was elected, I read that he had asked the Access Board to hold off on the launch of their revised regulations until his team had an opportunity to review the proposed changes.  So I wrote the Access Board and asked if they could make sure the new regulations could not be used to justify the removal of ramps and sidewalks.  The coordinator of research for the Access Board assured me that Arlington Heights “had completely misunderstood everything.”  The ADAAG manual cited was a tool to help cities meet the ADA requirements, but it was not the law. She said the law required a ramp everywhere a sidewalk met a street and that it was “inconceivable” that a town would actually remove the sidewalk to get around that obligation. She said the town could not reduce access and suggested that taking out ramps like the one my neighbor uses would be “clearly punitive.”  Again, she suggested I contact the DOJ. 

My neighbor and I wrote one last letter to the Village Manager, copying the Board of Trustees and the candidates challenging the incumbents.  This letter included an email from the Access Board and one from the support organization for people with visual impairments, both backing our position. This got the attention of the Board and one Trustee asked the Manager to bring this issue to the Board for Discussion.    

We then asked for and got a moratorium on the removal of any ramps until that meeting was held.  At this meeting, held May 11th, the Village staff continued to argue for the removal of ramps and sidewalks to limit the liability of the Village.  Fortunately the Village Board listened to reason and voted to stop taking out ramps 8-0. The process lasted much longer than my patience.  But it was worth it. 

This should be the end of the story, but there are always messy details in a tale this long.  The Village has not promised to replace the barrier curbs installed under this program.  They have not promised to replace the barrier curbs they left in place under this program.  And they have not even started to talk about the numerous ramps installed in town that do not meet ADA specifications, much less promise to institute a Quality Assurance Program to insure new ramps are built in accordance with the law.  There is more work to be done. 

Please join me. Become an advocate and speak up for accessibility.  Report bad ramps and sidewalks as soon as you find them.  Email or call the city immediately or you will find your city hiding behind a statute of limitations.  Then all of us will live with these bad ramps and barrier curbs for ages.  Keep a record of your contacts.  If you don’t get a positive response in a reasonable time period, step up your program. Call the Illinois Attorney General’s office, or call a lawyer.  You don’t have to fight the kind of battle we fought alone.  We can change the world, together. 

Further reading:

ADA Anniversary Packet — DBTAC - Great Lakes ADA Center

ADA Home Page - Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act

Illinois Attorney General - Defending Your Rights

Today I received an article from Justice For All, a national advocate for disability rights, from the Boston Globe about the new stimulus package and the rush to spend all that cash on shovel-ready projects. We need those public works projects, but at what price? http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/06/advoc...

You can reach Justice For All at jfa@aapd.org.

Although this article refers to events in Massachusetts, you can bet the same dynamics are at play in every one of the states.  I am forwarding this article to my advocate friends as fair warning that it can happen in their community or state, too.  Please get involved in the issue, if possible: attend hearings, ask questions, keep your eyes open at construction sites, pass the word to other advocates, spread the news of inaccessible new construction.  

Please help enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act with your vigilant eyes because your state/local government will be too busy spending the moneys to pay attention to the finer details of how it’s being spent.  If you do not know what to do when you think you see an infraction, let us know so we can talk about it and help you get in touch with the appropriate authorities.  Thanks!

As we read the devastating
unemployment statistics brought on by this recession we become fearful of losing our jobs.  With an 8% unemployment rates most people are justified at the daunting task of finding work. in.  A resume with the right key words, an outgoing personality, a positive attitude, a strong social network, and of course an
outstanding skill set arer table stakes in today’s in any job search.

For persons with a disability,
finding a job is more than just a challenge, it can be a dream out of reach. As I was doing research for TechWorks an internship program of Chicago’s students with disabilities interested in technology, I learned how unlikely it is that a person with a disability will find a job independently. In 2007, Cornell University reported that
only 37.7% of people with disabilities are employed.  

One foundation that is
trying to find meaningful work for persons with disabilities is the Neumann Association. Its Neu-to-U program which lists items on Ebay is an innovative
way of raising money for its association while providing job opportunities for people with disabilities.  Neu-to-U is staffed completely by Chicago-area residents with developmental disabilities, mental illnesses, or both.

Five Neu-to-U employees are
responsible for conducting research, taking product photos for the website, and packaging and shipping all merchandise.  In the past year, Neu-to-U has sold close to 2,000 items and has maintained a 100 percent Ebay customer satisfaction rating. The Neumann Association is currently training more employees to work for Neu-to-U.  After seeing the eBay business’ exponential
growth, the non-profit is hoping to double its workforce by 2010.  You can find out more about the Neu-to-U program at http://stores.ebay.com/Neu-to-U. 

Comedians in New York are nastily targeting Governor Paterson’s blindness (Happily, his racial status has not been similarly commented upon.).  In the New York Times on Friday, February 6, Clyde Haberman in his NYC column (“Equal Opportunity to be the Target of Low Blows and Tasteless Jokes”) took exception to the “comedy writers with frat-boy sensibilities”, saying “the level of humor might fairly be described as sophomoric were that not an insult to sophomores.”   The writer also quoted Marcie Roth, executive director of the National Coalition for Disability Rights, as saying skits on Saturday Night Live reflected a “ridiculous, ongoing, permissible bigotry.”  

    We wholly concur!  And, yes, it’s February and Spring is definitely in the air – in Chicago and in New York City – so bullying, a seasonal malady, is on the rise.  It sometimes seems that, when these guys come out of hibernation in the early Spring, they look around for something to complain about besides the weather, like the finger-biting woodchuck.  Of course, they find their targets (like Mayor Bloomberg’s finger) -- anyone they consider to be “different”, especially anyone who does not “look like them”.  We live in difficult times and, apparently, these guys feel better when they “pick on” – read: harass, tease, ridicule, victimize, etc – somebody.  Not just anybody, though.  Is it because they feel victimized by the world?  Is that why their targets are so often people with disabilities whom they consider to be victims?  According to lawyers who deal with this problem, a greater proportion of students with disabilities are bullied and harassed than the rest of the school population.
    I wish each of them could have a real conversation with someone with a disability like my youngest daughter -- a quad who has a Masters degree, works fulltime, owns her own condo on the shores of Lake Michigan, and is (as they might say!) as funny as a busted crutch!  And why, you might ask!  What’s so funny about a crutch, especially a busted one?  Not much, let me tell you!  Having used them, I don’t think crutches are funny, but it is a very prevalent figure of speech.  But my daughter is funny, i.e., humorous.  And so are most folks I know who also have a disability.  They do see the essential humor of life, the absurdity of life, if you will.  Few of them in my experience indulge in bitterness or unkindness or ridicule.  And not one of them in my experience feels victimized by their disability.

    One of the most sickening examples of human misbehavior, to my mind, is the victimization of another human being in any way, for any reason – even if “it’s only in fun”.  Those people who seem to derive satisfaction from stooping to victimize anyone they think is “different” are truly the weakest among us.  How pitiful, how self-demeaning it is to need ego gratification from ridiculing others.  

    The next time you hear someone bullying – even if only verbally, do us all a favor: speak up!  Tell the bully to drop it, stop it, grow up, be a real person.  If you can’t speak up, at least don’t join in – or laugh!  You’ll really feel better as a defender than as an offender.  Try it.  Please don’t join it.

http://www.livescience.com/health/00308-workplace-bully.html
http://www.ancomm.com/code_of_silence/index.html?gclid=COvGsKOC2JgCFQJHx...
http://www.hazelden.org/web/go/olweusparent
http://www.barrington220.org/bullying/frm.asp?type=new

Disability Harassment, by Mark C Weber, Vincent de Paul Professor of Law, DePaul University, Chicago.  A readable reference book with excellent notes, 217 pp.
Published by New York University Press (www.nyupress.org)