OPPOSITION TO WHEELCHAIR RAMPS IS ABLEISM – PART 2

THE ABILITY TO DESIGN IS A GIFT

DESIGNING IN WAYS THAT EXCLUDE IS THROWING AWAY THAT GIFT

The ableist architect: “Retrofitted wheelchair ramp=terrible, ruins the facade.” “Fire escape=sculptural urban beauty.”

Both are add-ons.

If disability access offends the designer—he is prejudiced against people with disabilities.

IMPRESSED WITH TURISMO DE LISBOA

ACCESS FOR ALL GUIDE TO LISBON

Steep topography, narrow winding alleys, centuries old buildings, historic trams -- the very things that make Lisbon so charming -- create difficulty for those who use wheelchairs for mobility.

That why we're so impressed with Lisbon’s guide to wheelchair access.

First off, we appreciate that the introduction, written by the then deputy mayor for social rights, acknowledges that the city has a long way to go to provide the kind of inclusion that people with disabilities deserve.

The second thing we like is the specific details. 

Many times, a route to an attraction is mapped – with routes that are independent and route that don’t have steps, but may have cobblestones so bumpy that a wheelchair may requires a companion to help navigate.

The attractions themselves have vivid details. So you know if one floor of a museum is barrier-free, but other parts are not.

Elevators, accessible restrooms, direct links to the attractions and other fine details make the guide an excellent English-language wheelchair access guide to access to sunny Lisboa.

file:///C:/Users/User/Downloads/lisbon-accessible-tourism-cml.pdf

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 10)

MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

So, why not ask city leaders to sweep wheelchair access into capital improvements, help your small businesses apply for mom and pop grants to build ramps, and encourage landlords to install elevators? 

Push your city, your CRA, your county transit system, your state DOT, your self-taxing district to fund wider sidewalks, safe crosswalks, accessible train/bus stops and on street accessible parking.

It’s sound business practice. It’s an egalitarian use of tax dollars. It’s sustainable and resilient. It will produce a great return on investment – simply by being welcoming to all.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 9)

MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

Spending money to create inclusive spaces makes sense for businesses because it can helps capture a bigger market segment. 

The CDC says upwards of one in four people will experience some level of disability in their lifetime. I know small businesses that spend tens of thousands of dollars on marketing plans aimed at capturing less than five percent of a new market segment.

And it’s money well spent. 

Now, imagine capturing the many billions of dollars of disposable income within the disability community – which includes their spouses, children, parents, friends, caregivers, healthcare professionals and colleagues.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 8)

MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

Even during boom times, small businesses are not flush with corporate cash to throw at major building upgrades. 

But a lot of main streets feature old buildings that require 40-year recertification as well as major roof, HVAC, plumbing, and electrical upgrades.

Inclusive design can easily be incorporated into that work. It would cost dimes on the dollar when folded into other renovations.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 7)

 MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

Street furniture is great, but make sure benches, wastebaskets and bike racks are not creating a barrier to pedestrians, especially those who use assistive mobility devices.

Dockless bikes and scooters can be a great boost to walkability and first/last mile mobility.

But be sure to heavily regulate how they are used and where they are parked.

Otherwise, bikes and scooters pose literal barriers when they block sidewalks and passageways -- denying basic civil rights under the ADA.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 6)

MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

Here’s another tip: restaurants should provide accessible tables. Providing only picnic tables or high-top tables is not adequate. 

Businesses need to provide plenty of regular height tables with leg room underneath. 

Also, please help educate your businesses that one lowered “special” table for “special needs” is not enough.

Here’s another path to accommodating all that doesn’t cost a cent. 

Make sure bus, train and circulator stops are free of clutter that would block wheelchair access. Work with transport engineers to ensure that electrical boxes for streetlights are not creating barriers on sidewalks.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 5)

MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

Epic Fail -- no access to pandemic-era outdoor dining. Wheelchair users boycotted.

During the time of COVID, there are additional concerns as cities relax restrictions on streets and sidewalk use. 

It’s imperative to make sure to keep sidewalks accessible if your main street’s restaurants are expanding outdoor dining service due to a ban on indoor service.

Even if part of the street is marked off for pedestrians, how can a wheelchair user make it up the curb midblock?

Even with a temporary ramp, my wife cannot get to the pharmacy next to you or the grocery on the other side if tables are blocking the sidewalk. 

And no, it’s not okay to make diners jump away from their tables to make way for the wheeler.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 4)

 MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

Inclusive design should not be done for pure ADA compliance, but rather done in a way everyone from 8 to 80 can be comfortable with. 

It is achieved using ramps and topography, building fresh sidewalks and curb cuts and incorporating accessible restrooms, thresholds and maneuverability into capital improvements.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 3)

 MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

The ADA turned 30 this year (July 26 is the specific date), but sadly, people with disabilities are still experiencing ableism.

I’ve published quite a few essays that are calls to action for developers, landlords, tenants, architects, planners, engineers, remodelers, business improvement districts, development authorities and main streets organizations to remove barriers and join the world of universal design. 

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 2)

MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

The sad thing is most of the charming urban corridors, the main streets, were built long before people thought about a built environment that included wheelchair users, people with other assistive mobility devices as well as folks with visual, hearing, or cognitive impairments.

I wrestle with issues each day. Do I patronize the used book shop, even though the piles of dusty design books block the path of my wife’s wheelchair? 

Do I boycott the coffee house in an old building up a few steps from the sidewalk? 

Do I settle for delivery from the hip, eclectic restaurant because it’s in an old building with a restroom downstairs and no elevator to accommodate my wife? 

There are no quick and easy answers.

THE POWER OF INCLUSION ON MAIN STREET (Part 1)

MAIN SPOTLIGHT: THE ADA AT 30

I adore main streets, historic districts, restaurant rows, quirky corridors and all the unique urban flavor they deliver with mom and pop shops, sidewalk cafes, scratch bakeries, used bookstores, restaurants, beautiful architecture and other unique experiences that are far from cookie cutter any town.

When I’m on Main Street, I also demand wheelchair access – on wide, unobstructed sidewalks, along safe crosswalks, through easily-accessible doorways, around the shelves at shops, at tables in different areas of restaurant and in the restroom.

BIRTHDAY WISH, FINAL THOUGHTS

WE QUESTION THE COMPETENCE AND CARING 
OF ARCHITECTS WHO CANNOT DESIGN INCLUSIVELY FOR ALL 

I’m now officially 54.

I’ve walked the Earth for more than half a century.

My wife and I have a combined century-plus of life experience.

Speaking of my spouse of 30+ years: she uses a wheelchair for mobility.

It never made her less of a person to me. Yet, clearly, it makes her less of a person to a lot of architects and designers.

They bristle at even the simplest request to design bathrooms that are comfortable for her, or to design accessible front entrances (as opposed to the "deliveries only" back entrance) and that they don’t relegate her to third-class citizen status because she can’t negotiate their grand (or is that grandiose?) stair cases.

I posted a couple days ago that my simple birthday wish was that urban designers, town planners, architects, engineers, landscape architects and the entire lot of other designers and regulators – in both the public and private sectors – admit that if they’re worth a damn, they can design for all.

The blog item ended up drawing out the inflexibility and closed-mindedness of planner/urban designer types.

Being all about inclusion, I have dedicated this essay to shaming architects, engineers and others who design for the built environment yet push back against the concept of universal design.

If I had a dollar for every architect -- from no-name designers of chain sandwich shops to world-famous starchitects (whose influence rivals their out-sized egos) – who call “no fair" on the ADA, I’d have enough money to sue all of them for malpractice.

The civil engineer or town planner who cannot seem to design a community park without stairs that push wheelchair users off to some corner and the architect who balks at designing for all should be off flipping burgers at the mall or otherwise making an honorable living that doesn't create a segregated world off limits to tens of millions of people with disabilities.

“But the ADA puts us in a nanny state. I have someone looking over my shoulder, so I can’t think creatively before I sit down to design my building,” says the pigheaded architect.

So that must mean when the height district is capped at 30 stories, you walk away from the commission. Such a restriction on your "build to the moon" mentality makes it impossible for you to work.

Or if your town center must fit on 40 acres, you turn away the client because your dream design covers 50 acres and you just can’t be constrained.

Sound idiotic, on the border of French farce?  I’m just starting.

So if an accessibility standard destroys the design process, then do architects disregard fire, electrical, plumbing, HVAC requirements?

What about flood plain issues? These are major constraints to building design.

Why are these code requirements seen as a welcome challenge, a chance for creativity, an opportunity to show off skills and resilience?  Why do architects meet that new challenge with boundless enthusiasm, yet turn spiteful toward a wider entrance, a larger bathroom, a lowered sink, a zero-step entrance?

Perhaps the reason is prejudice: pure and simple. The AIA’s finest are harboring these toxic attitudes toward designing for anything but the mythical 5 foot 10, 180-pound, non-disabled male.

In South Florida, we have building requirements about roofs, shutters, impact class, construction materials, etc. to keep our residents from perishing inside a structure not built to withstand 100+ mile per hour hurricane winds.

How is it that architects accept hurricane building standards yet resist designing for inclusion?

If it is not bigotry -- specifically ableism -- I don’t know what it can be.

As a reporter, public servant and communications consultant, I have talked to world famous architects who have had the guts to point at their woeful retrofit, their shameful defiance of ADA, their new tower with built-in barriers to all but the most fit of occupants…and say “you know, I’ve never had wheelchair users complain about the usefulness of my buildings.”

Maybe they can’t even get in the place, because your entrance has stairs with a sad, little mechanical outdoor lift off to the side. A lift that will inevitably break down within a month leaving people with disabilities out in the cold.

When you put up barriers – physical, visual, symbolic – you effectively discriminate against one out of five Americans. People who have every right to enter without needing to be carried, lifted, or directed toward the locked back door adjacent to the garbage bins.

I will say this to the grave: if you are unwilling or unable to design for all, then you should surrender your professional license.

Go make floral arrangements, or the prettiest cupcakes for sale at the mall.

But please -- for the sake of social equality -- stop designing. The world is already filled with prejudice and hate. We don't need it in our buildings, too.