Quincy is an old and historic city located just south of Boston and has been home for the majority of my life. I was raised here, went to school here, and thought I knew this city well. It was not until I was sentenced to the chair that I noticed how incredibly inaccessible Quincy is as a whole. There are several small business owners who have taken the steps to ensure that their establishments are accessible to all residents. Many of them have done so because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, standards requires certain measures be taken.
Who regulates these laws? How many people really take note? I must confess I did not take note prior to my condition worsening and requiring a wheelchair.
I took it upon myself to do a little checking around the online law libraries, talk about access! The result was a return trip to see my old friend from “A trip to the bank”, the bank manager. First we drove by the bank and took pictures for documentation, a requirement in filing a claim. I pulled up and told the boys to go over and take pictures of all the wall space around the entrance, documenting there are in fact no buttons. Put together what else I would need to file a complaint under the ADA regulations and then I made a return trip to the bank.
I rolled up to the door. There where two individuals, one man and one woman, standing by the entrance. They looked familiar, former clients maybe, and each grabbed a door pleasantly and I was able to enter the bank with ease, however, not independently.
I rolled myself up to the main customer service; there he was standing behind the oversized work surface taking on the phone. He was focused and did not notice me, or at least did a good job pretending he didn’t. After a moment or two I started scribbling on a bank appointment card. I wrote, tell your boss ADA complaint in 30 days if the button is not installed.
He hung up the phone just as I finished writing. He looked down and he met my stare. The sound that came from his mouth was something of a sigh but more like a Lamaze Breathing technique. At this point I was sure I did not need to introduce myself, but did anyway to read his reaction. As I introduced myself and began refreshing his memory of our previous interactions, he began nodding and looked to the ground.
I passed him my note and told him to tell his boss that the crazy lady in the wheelchair is not going away. Tell him I have already taken the photos I need to file a formal complaint. He appeared relieved; his shoulders relaxed a little, he took a deep breath and released it slowly and the furrowing on his forehead began to fade away. He asked if I had a transaction to be completed. I replied no and he said with a bit of a smile, “Then allow me to get the door for you.”
The ADA makes accessing information, standards and resources exceptionally easy for individuals and businesses to reference. The standards were revised and published in 2010, making the expectations of small business owners quite clear. The standards are simple and easily translated into common language in order to ensure comprehension by all.
Bewildered at the lack of access I have been encountering in the city, I decided to perform a little reconnaissance. I drove through the city with my boys, the mission; detect wheelchair accessible buildings and those that are not. We drove down main streets as well as through small neighborhoods collecting data along the way. I then took to the sidewalks and conducted some field-testing. I used handicapped parking spaces, rolled the sidewalks, utilized crosswalks, visits to historic structures, other existing buildings and new construction. Field-testing was a bit scary; going over large deformities in the ground beneath me, attempting to navigate my chair in traffic in order to access the sidewalk and realizing I am the size of a child and those driving cannot see me!
The preliminary results reveal that genuine America exists in our great city; nearly every small business had accommodations, or made accommodations, to allow me full access to all they had to offer. In many cases I received better service than I had anticipated. For example, a visit to a local restaurant for a special birthday dinner was a wonderful experience. The building was historic but had been modified with a perfectly designed ramp up into the receiving area. Two staff members moved tables, made chairs disappear, and I had tremendous space in what seamed a small place. We were not in the corner either; other couples having a nice dinner together flanked us as we had our moment. It was one of the few times I felt just like everyone else again, it was as if my chair just disappeared. The unfortunate results contain anecdotal evidence that big businesses are ignoring the needs of the disabled here in Quincy. I considered the financial burden of modifying existing structures, but the “little guy” seems to be meeting that financial obligation so this is a moot point. Does this reflect a lack of client demand; the “big guys” can afford to lose the business of a few prospective clients? Or is this perhaps the result of a dwindling customer satisfaction approach, the actual desire to make the consumer happy.
Not included in my current field-test findings, was a trip to Quincy City Hall just weeks before I was sentenced to the chair. I was using a cane at the time and the handicapped entrance was farther away, therefore more walking which I was becoming increasingly bad at. That door had a button to open it for an individual in a wheelchair but the front doors had to be opened manually. As I was leaving City Hall I had a conversation with the Mayor. I explained that the large glass doors where extremely difficult to open and stated that if a little old lady with a purse and a cane were to attempt opening the door it would be very difficult. He looked me in and stated that they were planning on installing a button on that door already that they had considered this in the new plans, and he opened the door for me as I exited. I have not revisited City Hall since so I do not know if the button has been installed on the front doors, however, I think I will add them to my list of follow-ups.
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