Happy 30th Anniversary, ADA!

Today we celebrate the signing into law of the Americans with Disabilities Act on July 26, 1990. This is a significant day in history not only for individuals with disabilities, but for the country as a whole. The law itself is an act of perseverance and courage. It took years of advocating and protesting, for this to happen. While much has been accomplished since then, and I'm thankful for the progress we have made, there is so much work still to be done.

In 2013, I began the long and tedious process of having accessible parking signs posted at my yoga center (which is in a building with many other offices). There were no accessible parking spaces there at the time. The very faded paint on the ground indicated that there once were such parking spaces, but there were no signs posted. So those spaces were hardly noticeable. Because of this, I was always unable to get a close parking spot and I had to walk a far way. And van lifts? It was impossible for anyone who needed to use a van lift to park in any of those spaces, even the old faded ones. They were too small. (By the way, the "zebra" next to parking spaces are NOT parking spaces. They are there to give people with disabilities space to exit and enter their vehicles. Please don't park on those stripes.)

I started the process of obtaining accessible parking signs by trying to reach out directly to the parking lot management company. When my multiple attempts at speaking to someone there were unsuccessful, I took the issue to the county, which involved the local ADA office staff. It was determined that I did in fact have grounds to file a formal complaint because the parking lot was in violation of ADA. Public parking lots, especially ones as large as the one at my yoga center, are required to have a certain number of accessible parking spaces depending on how many total parking spaces there are.

After ten months of site visits, phone calls, emails, and paperwork, the signs were finally posted. But even when they were posted, they were not yet complete. In my county, in order for the law to be enforced, the amount of the fine has to be displayed. So, that was another round of phone calls, emails, and paperwork that needed to be done. Thankfully, having the amount of the fine posted did not take nearly as long as it did to get the signs posted.

I'm thankful that I had the law to back me up, but why did it take ten months to bring about such a simple and necessary change? No construction was needed. All they had to do was re-paint the lines between the parking spaces and post the signs.

Unfortunately, the entrance to the building is not accessible. There are stairs going into it from the front entrance. There is a so-called "accessible" entrance on the sign of the building, but it is hardly accessible. It's too narrow for wheelchairs and the angle isn't easy to walk on either. There are also no automatic doors. I had a county ADA staff member advocate with me on this one, but ultimately our efforts were unsuccessful because the building is "grandfathered in" and its age exempts it from complying with the law. When construction is needed, older buildings are not required to comply.

That's how the law works (or rather, doesn't work). It gives us something to stand on, but the process of enforcing it isn't easy. Plus there are loopholes in it that excuse many businesses from complying. Thirty years after ADA became the law, we should be much further along than we are now.

Any one of us can become disabled at any time. It could be you or a loved one who one day needs this kind of accessibility, if you don't already. Before changes to the law are made, attitudes must change. So today, let's celebrate that we even have a law, but tomorrow let's put away the party hats and keep on actively advocating for change.