DISABILITY VISIBILITY PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT

WHEELCHAIR USERS IN DIVERSE PLACES ALL OVER THE WORLD

Disability Visibility Project: The High Line New York. 

Internationally acclaimed linear green space created from a former elevated railway. 

It features multiple elevators and ramps for wheelchair access.

ARCHITECTS THAT WANT TO HIDE WHEELCHAIR RAMPS TO THE SIDE

OR BACK OF BUILDINGS ARE BIGOTED ABLEISTS. PERIOD.

Wheelchair ramps are an abomination.

They ruin the façade.

Fire escapes.

So sculptural, they enhance the façade.

If the same architect makes both of these statements, they hate disabled people.

Only ableists reject access ramps.

THE HIGH LINE NYC GETS THUMBS UP FOR WHEELCHAIR ACCESS

PATH OF TRAVEL IS LEVEL, GENTLY GRADED, UNOBSTRUCTED & OVERALL OUTSTANDING & RAMPED/ELEVATOR ACCESS IS GOOD

The High Line has five public elevators for barrier-free access.

This one is at 14th Street and 10th Avenue.

At any given time, at least one elevator is out of service.

Check https://thehighline.org/elevator-status

DISABILITY INCLUSION IN URBAN DESIGN AND TOWN PLANNING

IS NOT AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH TO BE IGNORED – PART II

Image is NYC mural by Yok & Sheryo

The award to the biggest rat bastard town planner goes to this ableist: 

I asked why his plan only showed stairs and no wheelchair access.

“Well, maybe if people walked more, they would never need wheelchairs, he said.

While exercise is great, imagine a renowned urban designer being so opposed to ADA inclusion that they created myths.

In their absurd world, a lack of ramps & elevators is a 100% protective shield against spinal cord injury, MS, MD, CP, aging & all mobility impairments!

THIS PHOTO SUMS UP THE PATHETIC STATE OF DISABILITY INCLUSION

A THIRD OF A CENTURY AFTER THE PASSAGE OF

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

The alleged accessible entrance is barred/locked.

There is no call button.

The Ocean Drive vacation rentals building could be a perfect location for wheelchair users to roll to many Miami Beach Attractions.

But the entrance is locked.

This is what happens when ADA is viewed as onerous instead of inclusive.

ABLEIST DESIGNERS’ BIG LIE IS ACCESSIBILITY IS EXPENSIVE

UNIVERSAL DESIGN PROVES OUT TO BE COST EFFECTIVE EVERY TIME

Universal Design and wheelchair access are NOT expensive.

An apartment entrance that used to have a couple small steps down.

Now it has a gently graded accessible concrete path.

With a tiny investment, everyone can visit the building.

ABLEISTS ARE TOXIC

AND EVERY BIT AS LOATHSOMELY BIGOTED AS RACISTS

Why do ableists think it is the duty of people with disabilities, or their allies, to fix the built environment?

Every time I post a picture of neglected landscaping blocking sidewalk accessibility, I get "If it bothers you, why don't you trim it." snotty response.

Many find requests for the basic dignity/civil rights of wheelchair access so offensive, that they demonize the person requesting them.

No one would tell a burglarized person to become police and solve it.

But underscore a barrier and they scream at you to fix it yourself.

Diminishing the needs of people with disabilities is ableism.

Ableism is toxic.

DOWNTOWN MIAMI MOBILITY IS A LIVING HELL

FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND OTHERS

 WHO FACE CONSTANT  BARRIERS

For more than a decade, downtown Miami has been a living hell for people with disabilities.

Dozens of sidewalks are illegally closed for construction for 3+ years.

Existing sidewalks are often narrow and rarely accessible.

This photo depicts a completely destroyed/too narrow sidewalk has festered for years.

It is an incredible danger to people with mobility/vision disabilities.

It connects to the nearby Brightline transit station.

This segment of NW 6 St. just east of NW. 1st Ave. must be fixed.

DOWNTOWN MIAMI = LEAST WALKABLE URBAN CORE IN THE USA

CITY IGNORES CENTURY-OLD SIMPLE SCAFFOLDING THAT COULD KEEP SIDEWALKS OPEN AND SAFE DURING CONSTRUCTION

How is it that the bankrupt Cleveland Ohio of my youth could maintain pedestrian and wheelchair access via simple scaffolding more than a half century ago?

But Miami destroys pedestrian safety in the name of development that blocks all sidewalks downtown.

This soul-killing photo shows urban policy that is unacceptable/illegal according to ADA.

Both sides of NE 6 St. west of NE 1st Ave. blocked for years of construction.

There is zero provision of legally required temporary pedestrian/wheelchair accessible pathway.

MIAMI BLOCKS WHEELCHAIR ACCESS AND WALKABILITY

TO A SHAMEFUL LEVEL UNAMATCHED BY ANY CITY ON EARTH

Wheelchair access is destroyed in the heart of Miami — a block of NE 1st Ave. south of NE 6 St.

The west side is construction without the legally required wheelchair accessible temporary route.

The east side has a bus bench advertisement that pinches the sidewalk to 2 feet wide.

This is an emergency that must be fixed immediately.

It violates the ADA.

MIAMI’S PEDESTRIAN MOBILITY IS SUB THIRD WORLD

A VISITING PLANNER IS SHOCKED BY LACK OF WHEELCHAIR ACCESS

I met a well-known urban planner at downtown Miami’s Brightline Station.

She was beyond shocked that we ran across more than a dozen sidewalks completely shut down for developers: She noted how this destroys the pedestrian and transit link.

My planner friend is from a relatively poor city — but it requires 100% of its sidewalks to remain open during construction.

This is achieved through simple scaffolding – it’s been around 100 years.

She said Miami only pretends as being a world class city.

My planning colleague has worked in cities after earthquakes and bombings.

She said the urban core of Miami is only slightly more navigable by wheelchair and on foot than those destroyed places.

WHEN WILL PEOPLE EVER UNDERSTAND THAT A WHEELCHAIR IS TECHNOLOGY

THAT DELIVERS FREEDOM, INDEPENDENCE, MOBILITY AND DIGNITY? 

“I’d rather die than use a wheelchair,” says the bigoted woefully ignorant ableist.

The same person ironically jumps into a sedan to drive 10 miles — because that wheeled machine covers more ground more quickly than his body.

Assistive mobility devices are liberating.

WORDS MATTER

DEHUMANIZING WORDS HURT PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Caregiver = person who cares for a human being.

Caretaker = person who cares for a thing.

Dear ableist journalists.

Stop referring to those who care for people with disabilities as caretakers.

First, it is inaccurate.

Journalism depends on accuracy.

Second, labeling a person as a thing dehumanizes PWDs when they deserve dignity and identity.

Words Matter.

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.