A PANDEMIC IS NO REASON TO DENY CIVIL RIGHTS

WHEN EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT EQUITY AND INCLUSION, DISABLED PEOPLE ARE BEING EXCLUDED BY INACCESSIBLE COVID-19 RESPONSES 

Narrow steps block all patrons with disabilities at La Camaronera

We love supporting mom and pop businesses.

We have probably had 100 $50 meals at La Camaronera, a seafood joint very near our home in Little Havana.

We felt like family, putting up with the cash only operation despite growth that demands acceptance of credit cards.

When the pandemic hit and responsible actions included closing indoor dining spaces, we were no longer family.

Literally, we were no longer at the table.

Because the Camaronera owners brought in a raised platform for outdoor dining that sits several feet above ground level in its Flagler Street parking lot.

There are two entrances to the platform. Both are up several steps – though there is ample space to accommodate a wheelchair ramp.

My wife uses a wheelchair for mobility.

She is blocked from accessing the raised platform.

If the restaurant banned people from dining on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, orientation or other minority status – it would be blasted on the evening news and front page of the newspaper.

Politicians would be tripping over themselves to lead a boycott.

For people with disabilities, just a shrug.

The attitude is “give the business a break, these are hard times.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act is federal civil rights legislation protecting the rights of people with disabilities.

Saying it should be set aside because of a slumping restaurant-retail economy is no different than saying the pandemic justifies a boss firing everyone for being Jewish…that COVID-9 makes it just fine to pay everyone with black skin $5 per hour while paying all with white skin $15 per hour.

Discrimination is discrimination -- and it is out of bounds and repugnant 100 percent of the time.

It is ironic that politicians – so eager to declare themselves the champions of equity and inclusion, so ready to get free publicity on TV, radio and in print by marrying themselves to Black Lives Matter – couldn’t give a crap about the rights of people with disabilities. 

(For the record, we very much support BLM and all movements to end brutality and discrimination by police and government).

Wheelchair users cannot access the BID-placed picnic tables on Fuller Street in Coconut Grove

I have pointed out to several elected officials that the picnic tables put out by a government entity – the Coconut Grove Business Improvement District – are inaccessible to wheelchair users.

Despite federal statistics that prove one in five Americans experience some type of disability, the response is a collective yawn.

In other areas, I have seen city managers and other prominent government officials laud the “game changing” action to block sidewalks with outdoor dining tables.

The only game that changes for wheelchair users and blind people are to push them in harm’s way, out in the street.

Sometimes there are makeshift secondary sidewalks at street level – with only traffic cones separating people with disabilities from death by distracted driver.

In other spots, I have seen the public right-of-way and off-street parking lots transformed into outdoor dining under a tent or awning.

For some insane and exclusionary reason, a significant amount of these outdoor setups are equipped only with high top tables. 

No wheelchair, scooter or other assistive mobility device user can access these.

This problem is widespread in Miami and the South Florida region.

Based on barriers created by pandemic outdoor dining adaptation that I’ve seen in dozens of media reports from around the nation, the problem is making life difficult and dangerous to people with disabilities from coast to coast.

This assertion is backed up by hundreds of Twitter and other social media posts from frustrated wheelchair users and others whose simple run to the corner store, pharmacy or deli is blockaded by idiotic setups that black sidewalks, curb ramps and other access for months on end.

Our family will be boycotting any restaurant, shop or service that thinks it’s fair game to destroy mobility for people with disabilities. That means $5,000 to $10,000 loyal dollars will go elsewhere.

And we certainly will be supporting the opponents of elected officials who ignore the disability community at every turn.

Zero Access at La Camaronera