IF YOU ARE A PUBLIC SERVANT, BUT YOU DON'T WANT TO SERVE ALL PEOPLE EQUALLY

YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED AND MUST QUIT YOUR JOB

City official: "It denies access to people with disabilities, but it technically meets code. So there's nothing we can do."

Me: Fix your broken code.

Laws prevented women from voting & deemed Black people 3/5ths of a human being.

Just because it's the law doesn't mean it's right.

Perpetuating discrimination is NEVER following the rule of law.

ONE MILLION BLOG READERS

NEVER BACKING DOWN

This week, my blog received its one millionth unique visitor.

I have been blogging daily for more than a decade.

Sometimes I have posted beautiful photos from exotic travel.

Certainly this space has served as a bully pulpit to scold lousy government services and terrible companies.

A few times, I have shared photos of my cats – or tragically, a tribute to one who went over the Rainbow Bridge.

But more than 90 percent of my posts are related to disability advocacy.

Most of those point out flaws in the built environment.

With all due respect, our planners, architects, engineers, builders and municipalities that regulate them have had more than a third of a century under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to get it right.

But the vast majority continue to push back, resist and even go to court to try to get out of the responsibility of observing federal civil rights legislation that guarantees equal access for people with disabilities.

Hundreds of local governments – and related transit, redevelopment and similar agencies – still design sidewalks, parks, buildings, transit systems, airports and much of the built environment in ways that isolate and dehumanized people with disabilities.

Sadly, with a plethora of lawsuits against the ADA and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, a stacked Supreme Court may strip away basic dignity and independence of people with disabilities.

In case you are wondering, the CDC has documented that one in four people experience disability in their lifetime. That is more than 85 million Americans. Globally, the WHO has recognized that there are far more than 1 billion people with disabilities.

Not only is a level playing field a basic human right. But it also makes economic sense.

In addition to the staggering loss of dignity and quality of life, it costs trillions to warehouse people instead of mainstreaming them.

It costs dimes on the dollar to create inclusive spaces and places.

Once that is done, the rampant under- and unemployment of people with disabilities can become a thing of the past.

Catastrophically, our White House, Senate and Congress and far too many governors and state legislators  -- seem hellbent on reducing the inclusion gained under nearly 35 years of the ADA.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is the very definition of a Democracy – it is the core fiber of what it means to be in the United States. But the savage right wing would like to reframe DEI as something as loathsome as fascism.

This blog will never back down from championing DEI, especially in the lens of disability.

Not even if it costs me clients and work.

Not even if it places me in the crosshairs of an authoritarian government goose stepping its way toward a Nazi police state.

I will risk my nest egg, career and freedom – defending my right to underscore ableism and other treacherous acts of hatred toward the disability community.

Give me the liberty to be an ally, or give me death.

PASEO PROBLEM

PASSAGEWAY BLOCKS WHEELCHAIR USERS

Dear City of Coral Gables. 

Paseos do not work when they are blocked by tables and chairs when restaurants use them illegally for storage. 

This perpetually destroys mobility for people with disabilities on Giralda.

The trash can is highly symbolic.

It means merchants treat wheelchair users like trash. 

Because they block the paseo with trash cans etc. 

Ironically, this is one a pedestrian only corridor that should be great for people with disabilities.

How can hundreds of city employees and officials walk past this every day and not see this blocks those who use wheelchairs for mobility?

It took us pointing this out on social media for the city to address the long-festering problem.

DANGEROUS BY DESIGN

PROTECTING UTILIITES FROM CARS TAKES PRIORITY

OVER PROTECTING HUMANS FROM BEING RUN OVER

This is the “I know I’m doing a bad thing” approach to sidewalk design.

Government plants streetlights on sidewalk.

So vulnerable pedestrians are shoved closer to dangerous Miami traffic.

Location is Coral Way, a designated scenic (but apparently unsafe for pedestrians) corridor. 

ALL DRIVERLESS VEHICLE TRANSIT PROTOTYPES MUST ACCOMMODATE WHEELCHAIR USERS

AN OPEN LETTER TO USDOT SECRETARY PETE BUTTIGIEG.

Dear Secretary Buttigieg:

Why doesn't USDOT (and all other relevant agencies) require all robotaxis/driverless rideshare vehicles to accommodate power wheelchair users? Every prototype I've seen is a sedan.

This is as bad as granting highway dollars to an agency the will not allow people of color to drive on its roads.

It is discriminatory to allow autonomous fleet vehicle firms to roll out "innovative" transportation that excludes people with disabilities.

Imagine an airline that says it will ban women for a decade -- until it figures out how to accommodate them on their new planes.

I have great respect for what USDOT, under your leadership, is being done for air travel for people with disabilities.

I think you are an excellent people-first, inclusionary leader.

But I think the ball is being dropped on ableist transit alternatives.

https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2023/12/02/robotaxis-wont-get-us-there-so-lets-stop-being-used-to-sell-a-future-that-doesnt-serve-us/

I GOT ROBBED ON THE TRAIN — BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN CITIES

I DON’T CONDONE CRIME, BUT I ALSO DO NOT CONDONE THE DEMONIZING OF CITIES AND THE DIVERSE PEOPLE THAT POWER THEM

Perhaps I was a victim of a crime ring that feeds drug habits and worse.

Or maybe my assailants were so pushed aside by society that thievery was a means to feeding family or paying for basic shelter.

I don’t condone crime, but I also do not condone the demonizing of cities and the diverse people that power them.

Cities, warts and all, are historically where our forebears settled, scratched out a living and created a life better for each succeeding generation.

They are the future of a strong and diverse nation.

I GOT ROBBED ON THE TRAIN — BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN CITIES

I DON’T CONDONE CRIME, BUT I ALSO DO NOT CONDONE THE DEMONIZING OF CITIES AND THE DIVERSE PEOPLE THAT POWER THEM

I have worked in the disability space – as a caregiver, educator and advocate – for four decades.

I have witnessed first hand the economic struggles of people with disabilities, who, according to U.S. Labor statistics, are the most under- and unemployed of all minority groups.

I know that the wealth of cities includes space for diverse people, as well as robust transit to job opportunities for people with a wide range of mobility needs.

More than two years since being victimized in Paris, I remain convinced that ableism and exclusion do more damage to our cities and society than the most hardened criminals.

I firmly believe that in these polarized times, we must embrace environmental justice while addressing systemic exclusion that causes crime.

I GOT ROBBED ON THE TRAIN — BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN CITIES

I DON’T CONDONE CRIME, BUT I ALSO DO NOT CONDONE THE DEMONIZING OF CITIES AND THE DIVERSE PEOPLE THAT POWER THEM

Unable to sleep because of severe concussion symptoms, I wondered how the violent crime would impact me.

Would I, a longtime urban dweller and planner, sour on cities?

Would my progressive politics shift?

No, quite the opposite.

My belief in diversity and how big cities support diverse people is unshaken.

Not that long ago, people who used wheelchairs were barred from mainstream institutions and hauled off to “special” schools.

They had to fight to attend college.

To this day, 34 years after the passage of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act, less than one percent of housing in the U.S. is accessible to wheelchair users.

Otherwise intelligent people pejoratively label the liberating use of a mobility device as being “confined to a wheelchair.”

I GOT ROBBED ON THE TRAIN — BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN CITIES

I DON’T CONDONE CRIME, BUT I ALSO DO NOT CONDONE THE DEMONIZING OF CITIES AND THE DIVERSE PEOPLE THAT POWER THEM

It was ironic that I was in town to give a speech at the 58^th International Making Cities Livable Conference.

My presentation was on sidewalks and transit and connectivity that makes life livable for all people — and especially those who use wheelchairs for mobility.

I have expertise and personal passion for Universal Design because for three decades; I was the direct caregiver to a person who used a power wheelchair for mobility.

I was the Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity guy.

I GOT ROBBED ON THE TRAIN — BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN CITIES

I DON’T CONDONE CRIME, BUT I ALSO DO NOT CONDONE THE DEMONIZING OF CITIES AND THE DIVERSE PEOPLE THAT POWER THEM

I was reeling from a robbery and beating.

Did my head, thumping with what would turn out to be a concussion, turn to thoughts of vengeance? 

Sure, for a brief period.

But after completing a police report – and being told gangs that do this are never caught – I started thinking about the big picture.

I love cities, feel they are safe and am even willing to suffer injury and financial loss to keep immersing myself in them.

I GOT ROBBED ON THE TRAIN — BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN CITIES

I DON’T CONDONE CRIME, BUT I ALSO DO NOT CONDONE THE DEMONIZING OF CITIES AND THE DIVERSE PEOPLE THAT POWER THEM

Lately, all eyes have been focused on the Paris Olympics and anticipating the Paralympics.

But just a few years ago, I experienced the dark side of the City of Light.

I was hustling to change from the RER train for Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Metro M6 to reach my hotel on Place Italie.

Groggy-eyed, suitcase-wheeling and just-arrived staring at the Metro map, I was an easy mark.

Waiting for an English-speaking detective, I started canceling credit cards and closing a now exposed bank account.

I GOT ROBBED ON THE TRAIN — BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH IN CITIES

I DON’T CONDONE CRIME, BUT I ALSO DO NOT CONDONE THE DEMONIZING OF CITIES AND THE DIVERSE PEOPLE THAT POWER THEM

A traveler’s worst nightmare?

Three men — all less than half my age — crashed into me just as the subway doors were closing.

Shoved, I banged my head on one the poles for standing riders to grasp and fell forward in pain.

Even though I was blindsided and injured, my first thought was to pat my right hip.

Sure enough, the wallet I forgot to hide in my book bag was gone – and with it, more than $500 in cash, all my credit cards and my identification. 

SHOCKED THIS ARTEFACTO FLAGSHIP STORE’S MAIN ENTRANCE HAS ONLY STEPS AT THE MAIN ENTRANCE

ITS FRONT DOOR LITERALLY IS A BLOCKADE 

TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

If you take public transit, paratransit or rideshare, this is where you enter.

You are shut out if you use a wheelchair for mobility.

The ableist store is in Coral Gables or Miami.

How could either city allow this 3 decades after the ADA?

The accessible entrance is segregated in the back.

Why are people with disabilities isolated and segregated?

HISTORIC IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR INACCESSIBLE

IT IS ABLEIST TO DENY FRONT DOOR ACCESS 

TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

 

I love the 19th century cast iron buildings of New York’s SoHo.

I also reject the absurd argument that replacing their stairs with access ramps would diminish their history.

Their interiors have been 100% gutted for retail and apartments. Ramps do not alter facades.

It is ableist to claim denying front door access to people with disabilities preserves history.

Many Soho buildings have no access 34 years after the ADA.

Others have demeaning back alley access or faulty lifts.

Access for all is a basic civil right.

Those that cling to inaccessible buildings as “a part of history” are as out of bounds as those that would cling to race based deed restrictions or denying women the right to vote.

Let’s celebrate Disability Pride Month and the 34th anniversary of the ADA with inclusive design.

WHY AMERICAN CITIES STILL AREN’T ACCESSIBLE AFTER 33 YEARS OF THE ADA

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT HAS MADE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT — BUT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE LEFT TO BE DONE

Dehumanizing people with disabilities by seeking waivers and variances that would exclude them is as off base and bigoted as asking your human resources director if the fourth Tuesday of each month can be “Civil Rights-Free” day, so you can harass or fire workers on the basis of race, gender, orientation, religion. 

Subjecting human and civil rights to a cost benefit analysis is never the right approach — and it’s time we all open our eyes, see the problem, and become a part of the solution. 

WHY AMERICAN CITIES STILL AREN’T ACCESSIBLE AFTER 33 YEARS OF THE ADA

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT HAS MADE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT — BUT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE LEFT TO BE DONE

Far too many people responsible for designing our built environment leave disability out of the conversation because no one on the planning and implementation teams belongs to the disability community. 

Far too many others mistake the ADA for a type of building code — which can and should allow for waivers and variances under certain circumstance — rather than the iron-clad, non-negotiable, federal civil rights legislation that it is. 

I could fill a large room with people who have shamelessly asked me “Hey, Steve, you work with people with disabilities and design; how can I get away with having no ramp at the entrance to my new building? 

How can we avoid the cost of an elevator?”

Even if that building is, of all things, a four-story medical office. 

WHY AMERICAN CITIES STILL AREN’T ACCESSIBLE AFTER 33 YEARS OF THE ADA

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT HAS MADE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT — BUT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE LEFT TO BE DONE

Along with being the most sustainable, flexible, durable and cost-effective approach to planning and building, Universal Design gives people with disabilities a better shot at dignity and independence. 

People with disabilities are by far the most under-employed and unemployed and impoverished of all marginalized groups, in part because of barriers to their mobility in many workplaces, even in brand new buildings constructed long after the passage of the ADA. 

Less than one percent of housing stock, meanwhile, is move-in ready for people who use wheelchairs.

WHY AMERICAN CITIES STILL AREN’T ACCESSIBLE AFTER 33 YEARS OF THE ADA

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT HAS MADE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT — BUT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE LEFT TO BE DONE

The massive task of redesigning housing, parks, transportation, the workplace and much more to allow people to age in place is already one of the greatest challenges of the 21^st century.

And Universal Design — the concept of making our world more welcoming, comfortable and easy to use by everyone — is the framework through which we can confront it.

WHY AMERICAN CITIES STILL AREN’T ACCESSIBLE AFTER 33 YEARS OF THE ADA

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT HAS MADE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT — BUT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE LEFT TO BE DONE

But people with disabilities are not outliers, and designing for a wide variety of needs is not a constraint. 

The CDC has documented that one in four Americans have a permanent disability, and the United Nations has estimated that 1.3 billion have a significant disability, too. 

And those numbers aren’t likely to go down, especially as our population ages. 

By 2030, one in six people in the world will be aged 60 years or over, and the World Health Organization expects the sheer number of people over that age to double to more than 2.1 billion by 2050.  

WHY AMERICAN CITIES STILL AREN’T ACCESSIBLE AFTER 33 YEARS OF THE ADA

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT HAS MADE A POSITIVE IMPACT ON THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT — BUT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE LEFT TO BE DONE

I’ve seen cities spend hundreds of millions of dollars on sports arenas and stadiums to enrich billionaire owners, all while claiming to have no money to repair broken sidewalks, replace missing ones, and fix curb ramps that flood every time it rains.  

I’ve seen developers cut corners to save dollars, and met far too many architects, engineers and planners who seem to resent the ADA as something constraining.