NOW CHAMPION OF UNIVERSAL DESIGN, INCLUSION FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT
Gratified to report that the brilliant and caring Mitchell Kaplan responded in less than an hour to my email underscoring a major wheelchair access issue at his flagship Coral Gables Books & Books store and café.
He was two hours from needing to attend
to a very major issue – but he made time to commit to fixing the barrier that I underscored in my passionate letter.
KUDOS to a giant of literature, creativity and inclusion/equity for all.
I wrote “Dear Mitchell Kaplan:”
You are a Miami literature
giant.
You have my highest gratitude for
Miami Book Fair, etc.
You speak of inclusion.
So please stop blocking wheelchair
access to the men's room at Books and Books Coral Gables.
The foyer to the restrooms NEVER is
storage space.
You would never guess this wheelchair blocking mess is the pathway to the toilets.
I am in that store easily every 10 days.
It always is like this.
People who use wheelchair deserve
independence.
They should never have to go ask
someone to stack the chairs higher, to move a hand cart out of the way.
Can you imagine having a bathroom
emergency and having an accident, waiting 5 minutes to find someone, 5 minutes
for a response plus 10 to fix the issue?
Even if the cart is pushed away, the
stacks create maneuvering issues.
Saying things will be cleared upon
request would NOT be a good answer to me.
People with disabilities are a minority group.
A beloved store that is a community cornerstone would NEVER say
people who are Jewish or Black or LBGTQ must make prior arrangements, or make a
humiliating special request -- simply to wash up and use the toilets, while
enjoying the courtyard cafe, back room indoor cafe, browsing for books in
Spanish or English, attending one of hundreds of readings, visiting the
children's section, enjoying the hallway rotating art displays, etc.
That is the end of my sermon.
I very much want to hear back from you
or your proper manager.
I live in an historic house in
Shenandoah, just east, so it is easy to drop by to review things.
I am not an ADA architect or attorney,
but my partner of 33 years used a wheelchair for mobility.
I know what I speak of.
Because you are a beacon of inclusion, arts and creativity in this community -- since long before I arrived in 2000 -- I have every confidence that this problem will be addressed soon and permanently.
