Fighting a tiny battle for disabled rights?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Ok, I admit I am lazy, and am looking for the easiest way to handle this. If I cannot obtain an easy number to call that will actually get me directly to someone that can look into this, then I promise to research it fully online on my own and follow through.

There is a grocery store in my city called Tops Market. They have a pretty ghetto location that I rarely go to, but do go to sometimes.

Of the 5 times that I have gone in the last year, coincidentally, 3 times I have seen a disabled person struggling to exit through a narrow pathway.

The have bars up outside the place so that folks can’t steal the grocery carts. The metal bars are spaced out enough for you to pass through, but not enough for you to steal the carts; and not enough for a wheelchair.

Now, next to the narrow pathway, there is a locked gate that the wheelchairs can fit through. They are expected to locate a manager and request the gate to be unlocked.

The times that I noticed that people were struggling (a woman the first time, two men the last two times), there was no manager in sight. When I went in to locate one, it was hard to find one. It took several minutes each time for an employee from customer service to get a manager up front, and then they always seemed to need to go get the key and come back to let the people out.

I have complained to the managers about this, but they don’t care. Seriously. They really don’t care. I explained that there are probably laws about this, and that it doesn’t seem safe.

Listen, I swear to you, I am not a busy body. I am not the type that is bored and always looking for a battle to pick. But this really did bother me. The last time was quite unsettling. I watched a very dignified and independant older gentleman struggle long enough and awkwardly enough that he began to look quite undignified there in that chair…he hung his head and looked embarrassed when he had nothing at all to be ashamed of.

My question is, does anyone know how I can get in touch with whomever I need to get in touch with to report this? I called the manager, the general manager, the district manager. I am telling you, they do not care. The district and general manager didn’t even call me back.

Aren’t there powerful lobbyists or organizations like the Disability Act of something or other that I could call that might look into this?

I have been wanting to vent about this for quite sometime, but the people that I usually talk to just don’t get it…they know it is not like me to get worked up over other folks business, so they aren’t sympathizing with me on this one. Both my husband and my best friend are surprised to see me going on about this.

Here are some picsof the situation. If anyone doesn’t have a super easy way for me to get someone to look into this, I am willing to go ahead and research on line for some answers.

2

The Americans with Disabilities Act sets out requirements for disability access, which I’m pretty sure includes this sort of situation. There’s a website, www.ada.gov, about it; you might want to start there.

I can sympathize with this situation; my late wife needed a cart to get around the last few years of her life, and I remember a few battles with access at some places.

3

There must be some ADA lawyer who needs some quick and easy work, mustn’t there?

4

Ah! I was embarrassed that I couldn’t remember that; The Americans with Disabilities Act.

Thank you LurkMeister. I have already clicked the link!

5

ISTR that you are in Syracuse, NY, from previous posts (and remembering, not fondly) Tops Markets. If that is correct, contact these guys. Though they do mostly inspections of new construction, I’m pretty sure they’re the people for ADA compliance as well.

(Note: If I’m giving away more information than you’re comfortable with having public, please ask a Mod. to hide or delete this post, by reporting it.)

6

I also suggest a call to the local newspaper. Pictures of a person trying to get a wheelchair through a barrier make good stuff. (It wouldn’t have to be a person who actually uses a wheelchair; it could be a rented or borrowed wheelchair used as a test.)

7

Good for you. So many people just don’t think about these things.

8

Funny you should mention that. I was tempted to take a pic of the last guy struggling to get through. Luckily, a switch flipped in my head, like, “Don’t take a picture, moron; nothing could be more disrefuckinspectful.”

Polycarp, my hometown is Rochester; about an hour and a half from Syracuse.

After visiting the ADA page, I am getting a teensy bit discouraged. I get the feeling that it won’t be easy-peasy to get someone to look into this.

But, I have already donned my get-up-in-folks-biz cape, and I am going to follow through.

We do have an ‘investigative reporting’ type local news show. They may be willing to look into this.

9

I have a friend who used to be a volunteer tester for things like that. She would go places with a wheelchair, walker, etc., and use the bathroom or try to sit at a table and see if the arms of the wheelchair would allow her to get close enough to the table to eat; things like that. Once she was able to convince a restaurant that if they’d just reverse the hinges on the doors on the stalls in the ladies’ room, it would completely solve the problem of accessibility. They just took the doors off, flipped the hinges around, and put the doors back on. Gratitude ensued.

Your ADA might have volunteers who do stuff like that.

10

Blocking an exit like that sounds like a violation of fire regulations. The local fire marshals or whoever is responsible for inspecting fire alarms and related items might well have more coercive power to get a change made in this particular instance as compared to someone enforcing the ADA.

11

Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing – see if your town’s L&I office (it’s called “licenses and inspection” here in Philly, it may be called something else in Rochester) might have jurisdiction.

12

ADA and code enforcement are good for info, but what you really want is an advocacy center for disability rights.

13

I really think this would be your must effective route. If you get that shit stirred up with the viewing public, you won’t have to figure out who to call.

14

Thank you guys. I appreciate your help so much. I will let you know what happens.

15

Subscribing. I want to see how this turns out.

If I were in the OP’s shoes, I wouldn’t have bothered calling the district manager, etc. I’d have gone straight to the Fire Marshall. Then I’d have called the news.

16

Call the fire department and complain. The person in a wheelchair would be trapped by a fire. This will probably be easier than fighting for the Disabilities Act compliance on this issue.

17

The ADA is for new construction, so unless this place was built or renovated after the enactment of the ADA then they likely won’t be required to comply. There are egress requirement now for accessability, but unless there were at the time this project was built or renovated they likely won’t be required to comply.

IF they renovate they will be required to meet the ADA and the accessability exiting requirements. So if they do any new construction at the store you can use that avenue to see if this can be brought to ADA standards, but short of that I don’t think you will have much luck using the ADA for compliance and is probably why the Managers are ignoring you.

As far as I know you can’t go back and make someone who has had an existing building meet the ADA requirement unless they renovate. The costs to make older buidlings compliant would be astronomical, and it has been awhile since I read the law but I believe it states something along those lines in the preamble and discussion of the law.

Your only (and best) route is pubic exposure and attention to the situation. Sorry I don’t have better news for you but I think this is your best route to get this addressed.

18

I don’t think this will get you anywhere. Currently there is a requirement in new construction for accessabilty requirements in exiting, but it is relatively recent. Fire departments don’t make older buildings retrofit to the new codes unless the building owners do ‘x’ amount of new work. Think about all the old buildings you have been in–most buildings we live/work in today don’t meet the current building or fire codes. Only new buildings typically meet those requirements.

19

But they have a chain on the gate. Isn’t that something the fire marshall can make them take off? Doesn’t require any construction or anything.

20

Not that I am aware of.

BTW–I am not trying to be all negative to your plight! I am very sympathetic to the issue, especially lately. I have been walking around on crutches for the past 18 weeks due to a broken hip, so believe me I totally understand the issues involved.

Just based on my 25+ years as an Architect I don’t think this is the route to go down, it really needs to be a public exposure issue to get any movement on it.

Think about if say this was a 3 story building and they are on the third floor. You have a stairway to get down or the elevators. But this is an older building, so the elevator doesn’t meet the ADA. Do the have to put a new elevator in? Nope–the firemen carry someone down the stairs. Same here would be my guess.

You can try to see if the Fire Marshall will do anything but I wouldn’t bank too much on that approach. Good luck though–it is a good cause.