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How ADA accessible are city buildings?
How ADA accessible are city buildings? - Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online
By Lucas High
lhigh@wyomingnews.com
CHEYENNE -- When the city took over ownership of the Taco John's Ice and Events Center in 2008, it got something it hadn't bargained for: the ire of the United States Department of Justice.
That year, the DOJ issued the city a letter of noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The DOJ cited multiple complaints about accessibility problems inside the ice and events center.
The center lacked seating and elevators that were accessible to people with disabilities.
In the years since the DOJ complaint was issued, the city has worked to make the changes necessary to bring the building into ADA compliance, said Rich Wiederspahn, the city’s human resources director.
Wiederspahn serves as one of the city’s representatives on the Mayor’s Council for People with Disabilities, an advocacy group that advises city government on issues affecting the disabled community.
“We cooperated with the Department of Justice,” Wiederspahn said. “They told us what to do, and we found the money to make the changes.”
But many in the local disabled community say they still struggle to access city government facilities, and more needs to be done to bring the buildings into full ADA compliance.
The history of ADA
When the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, it was hailed by many in the disabled community as a giant leap forward in their struggle for equal rights and protection under the law.
“This is one of the most important civil rights laws enacted in this country since 1964,” said Anne Picot.
Picot, who serves on the Mayor’s Council for People with Disabilities, is a city resident who is partially paralyzed as a result of a childhood battle with polio.
The United Spinal Association, a nonprofit advocacy group for Americans with spinal cord injuries, estimates that at least 54 million Americans have a disability covered by the ADA.
Disabilities covered by the ADA run the gamut from blindness to epilepsy to depression.
The ADA defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, such as walking, seeing, hearing, learning, breathing, caring for oneself, or working.”
ADA protection does not extend to those affected by “temporary, non-chronic impairments with no lasting impact,” such as the flu or a broken arm. Nor does it protect individuals addicted to controlled substances.
Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against disabled applicants and establishes the requirement that companies make “reasonable accommodations” for disabled employees.
Title II of the law requires state and local governments “make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, and procedures that deny equal access to people with disabilities.”
This section of the ADA also mandates that governments ensure accessibility to their facilities.
It is Title II that the city failed to comply with when it took over the ice and events center, according to documents from the DOJ.
Accessibility here
Despite the city’s ongoing ADA compliance efforts, Wiederspahn said he receives about four or five complaints each year about accessibility problems at government facilities around the city.
“We take these complaints very seriously,” Wiederspahn said. “We want to do our best to comply. And we want to do anything we can to make (people with disabilities’) lives easier, within the constraints we have.”
Like with most well-intentioned government initiatives, the constraints Wiederspahn and the city face are budgetary, he said.
Retrofitting government buildings n adding wheelchair ramps and elevators, expanding door widths and bathroom stalls n to accommodate the disabled community is “incredibly expensive,” Wiederspahn said.
The federal government can provide funding assistance through the Community Development Block Grant program.
These funds “may be used for accessibility purposes, such as installation of ramps, curb cuts, wider doorways, wider parking spaces, and elevators,” according ADA documents.
Rob Gilkerson, architectural information specialist for the Rocky Mountain ADA Center, said he understands that ADA compliance can be expensive, but there are cost-effective ways to get the job done.
“Cities should put specific transition plans in place to update accessibility in existing buildings,” he said. “Then they can identify the barriers (to accessibility) and slowly get rid of them piece by piece. It doesn’t have to happen all at once.”
Wiederspahn said the city has “demonstrated in the past that we do everything we can.”
“We probably don’t do enough, but it isn’t for lack of trying,” he said, adding, “We are happy to work with people however we can.”
For example, the city is willing to move programs and services to a more accessible building if a resident makes that request.
Gregg Crisp, chairman of the Mayor’s Council for People with Disabilities, said “there are some (accessibility) problems” at the city’s Municipal Building.
“When we go to City Council meetings and committee meetings, there is no place in the audience for people with wheelchairs to sit,” he said.
When someone with a wheelchair wants to speak at a council meeting, it is “awkward and tough to access” the podium microphone, he said.
“Everyone in the community should feel like they can go to meetings and feel comfortable without having last-minute special care given to them,” Crisp added.
Be more proactive
Many in the disabled community say that governments need to be more proactive when it comes to accessibility issues, rather than waiting until ADA complaints are filed.
“Throughout Wyoming, people who actually have the disabilities rarely get called into meetings with builders, designers and architects,” Picot said. “We need to be able to join forces with (the people in charge of building and designing government facilities).”
Picot added, “(If you aren’t disabled), you can’t really understand our problems because you aren’t living it. That’s why we need to be included more.”
This point was emphasized in a recent mayor’s council meeting. The members of the council met with engineers and architects who are in the process of designing the new football stadium at Cheyenne’s East High.
The designers were receptive to feedback from the mayor’s council, but because the stadium plans are close to being finalized, none of the suggestions could be implemented.
The stadium’s designers did, however, assure the mayor’s council that the building plans go above and beyond minimum ADA accessibility requirements.
Cheyenne Police Lt. Mark Munari, who is involved in the planning of the city’s new public safety center, said that building will be “easily accessible to everyone in the community.”
He added, “(Accessibility) is something that is at the very top of our priorities list.”
Gilkerson said it is important for designers to go beyond minimum ADA requirements in the planning stages of building construction.
Compliance problems often appear because of a disconnect between the design process and the logistical realities of construction, he said.
“In the design process, they have a tendency to just throw things up without putting much thought into how those things are going to be used, or if they are actually going to work,” Gilkerson said.
He recommended that design firms hire consultants “that really understand how to make buildings truly accessible” early in the design process to eliminate problems down the line.
There are also organizations that can provide cities with ADA guidance, sometimes even free of charge, Gilkerson added.
“I’m happy to do a quick review of plans for architects myself,” Gilkerson said. “I do that on a daily basis.”
More to be done
Wiederspahn said no matter how much money and effort the city puts into making facilities accessible, it will never be enough.
There will always be new issues to deal with, he said.
As the city’s population ages, it will become even more important to ensure accessibility in the future, Wiederspahn said.
Picot agreed.
“We don’t want mountains in the sky,” she said. “But we certainly do want and need accessibility. And with the city(’s population) getting older, that need just increases.”
see part 2
How ADA accessible are city buildings? - Wyoming Tribune Eagle Online
By Lucas High
lhigh@wyomingnews.com
CHEYENNE -- When the city took over ownership of the Taco John's Ice and Events Center in 2008, it got something it hadn't bargained for: the ire of the United States Department of Justice.
That year, the DOJ issued the city a letter of noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The DOJ cited multiple complaints about accessibility problems inside the ice and events center.
The center lacked seating and elevators that were accessible to people with disabilities.
In the years since the DOJ complaint was issued, the city has worked to make the changes necessary to bring the building into ADA compliance, said Rich Wiederspahn, the city’s human resources director.
Wiederspahn serves as one of the city’s representatives on the Mayor’s Council for People with Disabilities, an advocacy group that advises city government on issues affecting the disabled community.
“We cooperated with the Department of Justice,” Wiederspahn said. “They told us what to do, and we found the money to make the changes.”
But many in the local disabled community say they still struggle to access city government facilities, and more needs to be done to bring the buildings into full ADA compliance.
The history of ADA
When the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, it was hailed by many in the disabled community as a giant leap forward in their struggle for equal rights and protection under the law.
“This is one of the most important civil rights laws enacted in this country since 1964,” said Anne Picot.
Picot, who serves on the Mayor’s Council for People with Disabilities, is a city resident who is partially paralyzed as a result of a childhood battle with polio.
The United Spinal Association, a nonprofit advocacy group for Americans with spinal cord injuries, estimates that at least 54 million Americans have a disability covered by the ADA.
Disabilities covered by the ADA run the gamut from blindness to epilepsy to depression.
The ADA defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity, such as walking, seeing, hearing, learning, breathing, caring for oneself, or working.”
ADA protection does not extend to those affected by “temporary, non-chronic impairments with no lasting impact,” such as the flu or a broken arm. Nor does it protect individuals addicted to controlled substances.
Title I of the ADA prohibits employers from discriminating against disabled applicants and establishes the requirement that companies make “reasonable accommodations” for disabled employees.
Title II of the law requires state and local governments “make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, and procedures that deny equal access to people with disabilities.”
This section of the ADA also mandates that governments ensure accessibility to their facilities.
It is Title II that the city failed to comply with when it took over the ice and events center, according to documents from the DOJ.
Accessibility here
Despite the city’s ongoing ADA compliance efforts, Wiederspahn said he receives about four or five complaints each year about accessibility problems at government facilities around the city.
“We take these complaints very seriously,” Wiederspahn said. “We want to do our best to comply. And we want to do anything we can to make (people with disabilities’) lives easier, within the constraints we have.”
Like with most well-intentioned government initiatives, the constraints Wiederspahn and the city face are budgetary, he said.
Retrofitting government buildings n adding wheelchair ramps and elevators, expanding door widths and bathroom stalls n to accommodate the disabled community is “incredibly expensive,” Wiederspahn said.
The federal government can provide funding assistance through the Community Development Block Grant program.
These funds “may be used for accessibility purposes, such as installation of ramps, curb cuts, wider doorways, wider parking spaces, and elevators,” according ADA documents.
Rob Gilkerson, architectural information specialist for the Rocky Mountain ADA Center, said he understands that ADA compliance can be expensive, but there are cost-effective ways to get the job done.
“Cities should put specific transition plans in place to update accessibility in existing buildings,” he said. “Then they can identify the barriers (to accessibility) and slowly get rid of them piece by piece. It doesn’t have to happen all at once.”
Wiederspahn said the city has “demonstrated in the past that we do everything we can.”
“We probably don’t do enough, but it isn’t for lack of trying,” he said, adding, “We are happy to work with people however we can.”
For example, the city is willing to move programs and services to a more accessible building if a resident makes that request.
Gregg Crisp, chairman of the Mayor’s Council for People with Disabilities, said “there are some (accessibility) problems” at the city’s Municipal Building.
“When we go to City Council meetings and committee meetings, there is no place in the audience for people with wheelchairs to sit,” he said.
When someone with a wheelchair wants to speak at a council meeting, it is “awkward and tough to access” the podium microphone, he said.
“Everyone in the community should feel like they can go to meetings and feel comfortable without having last-minute special care given to them,” Crisp added.
Be more proactive
Many in the disabled community say that governments need to be more proactive when it comes to accessibility issues, rather than waiting until ADA complaints are filed.
“Throughout Wyoming, people who actually have the disabilities rarely get called into meetings with builders, designers and architects,” Picot said. “We need to be able to join forces with (the people in charge of building and designing government facilities).”
Picot added, “(If you aren’t disabled), you can’t really understand our problems because you aren’t living it. That’s why we need to be included more.”
This point was emphasized in a recent mayor’s council meeting. The members of the council met with engineers and architects who are in the process of designing the new football stadium at Cheyenne’s East High.
The designers were receptive to feedback from the mayor’s council, but because the stadium plans are close to being finalized, none of the suggestions could be implemented.
The stadium’s designers did, however, assure the mayor’s council that the building plans go above and beyond minimum ADA accessibility requirements.
Cheyenne Police Lt. Mark Munari, who is involved in the planning of the city’s new public safety center, said that building will be “easily accessible to everyone in the community.”
He added, “(Accessibility) is something that is at the very top of our priorities list.”
Gilkerson said it is important for designers to go beyond minimum ADA requirements in the planning stages of building construction.
Compliance problems often appear because of a disconnect between the design process and the logistical realities of construction, he said.
“In the design process, they have a tendency to just throw things up without putting much thought into how those things are going to be used, or if they are actually going to work,” Gilkerson said.
He recommended that design firms hire consultants “that really understand how to make buildings truly accessible” early in the design process to eliminate problems down the line.
There are also organizations that can provide cities with ADA guidance, sometimes even free of charge, Gilkerson added.
“I’m happy to do a quick review of plans for architects myself,” Gilkerson said. “I do that on a daily basis.”
More to be done
Wiederspahn said no matter how much money and effort the city puts into making facilities accessible, it will never be enough.
There will always be new issues to deal with, he said.
As the city’s population ages, it will become even more important to ensure accessibility in the future, Wiederspahn said.
Picot agreed.
“We don’t want mountains in the sky,” she said. “But we certainly do want and need accessibility. And with the city(’s population) getting older, that need just increases.”
see part 2
