Visionaries: Episode 10 ADA Anniversary 2024 by Susan Gray

Accommodation Delivers Access

What does the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 mean for people with disabilities?  We celebrate the ADA’s anniversary this month as being one of the most recognizable acts of legislation in the disability community.  Its protections put into place barrier breaking access to accommodations that make the lives of people with disabilities easier.

The most visible symbols can be seen in parking lots with accessible spaces reserved for people with disabilities, and in rest rooms where access has been given to people that use wheelchairs, walkers or guide dogs. 

The less visible part of the legislation offers someone with a disability reasonable accommodations in public places, such as airports, businesses, hospitals, schools and recreational facilities. An example of a reasonable accommodation is the use of an interpreter if a person is deaf and needs to communicate in one of these settings.  For someone blind, the use of a staff member to guide them or help them with paperwork that cannot be offered in another accessible format.  For someone in a wheelchair, the ability to navigate sidewalks with curb cuts and doorways wide enough to allow access. A reasonable accommodation allows a person with a disability the same access as someone without a disability, and, the accommodation itself does not impose undue hardship on the business or facility.    

Technology is constantly advancing to keep up with the needs of people with sensory loss, and there are many devices and applications that people with vision and hearing loss can use that aid in daily tasks. 

Movie theaters offer devices that will describe the scenes for someone blind, or amplify the sound for someone hard of hearing, or close caption the audio for someone deaf that can read English.

Yet, just because the ADA exists, that does not mean that every business or facility follows its guidelines.  In many cases, people with disabilities are denied access or a reasonable accommodation.  When this happens, if the person being denied access is not an advocate, they can go without an essential service, feeling they have no power or agency to change their situation.  This is why self-advocacy training is so critical to our peers with disabilities, and why agency advocates, ombudsmen and watchdog agencies like the Division of Human Rights and the Department of Justice are in place to offer assistance. 

While the expectation is that businesses and facilities will do the right thing for the people they serve, having recourse if access and accommodation are denied is important. 

Knowing your rights as a person with a disability, and understanding how to educate the businesses and facilities in your community in meeting your needs as a consumer establishes access for others with similar needs.  It is a form of trail blazing that breaks barriers and stimulates inclusion. 

In guiding anything larger than ourselves, advocacy is most effective if done with a light hand.  Ships do not respond well when they are turned sharply, and the same is true with businesses large and small.  They will not respond well to a lecture or anger; rather an open, engaging approach is needed to shift viewpoints toward access and accommodations. 

While we celebrate the success stories the Americans with Disabilities Act has lent its support to, inclusion is a journey.  Every day, someone with a disability in our community is being denied access to something they need to live independently.  We have the tools to fix this, but we need our community to work with us to gain access to the services that do not accommodate our differences. 

Community defined is a group of interdependent beings growing or living together.

Help celebrate our differences by engaging in your community this month.

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi