Accessibility laws for the mobility impaired are just feel-good gestures

My life dramatically declined the last week of September 2021 when I felt excruciating pain throughout my neck and back. Days later, I was paralyzed by a spinal cord infection that had gone undetected. I quickly went from being fully functional to quadriplegic.

Fortunately, my paralysis is incomplete — meaning that walking again might be possible. So, I exercise daily and attend weekly physical therapy, though I still use a wheelchair.

Becoming paralyzed has motivated my attention toward society’s disingenuous “accessibility laws,” which do little for mobility-impaired citizens. The blue stick-figure-in-a-wheelchair signs posted outside buildings in Modesto and elsewhere are analogous to the numerous ribbon colors worn to supposedly show others “we care.”

Spare me.

I recently complained to a local grocery store when it was unclear which cashier lanes were wheelchair accessible. Only two of the seven lanes allowed for wheelchair entrance, but the accessibility signs were hidden behind boxes of Duraflame logs. Rather than posting the signs at a higher level, which can more easily be seen, management simply removed one box of logs.

Wow. Thanks for doing as little as possible.

The result is — sort of — better but does little to truly assist those seeking out these accessibility signs. Businesses often do little more than address the bare minimum of legally required compliance expectations. The threat of enforced fines or lawsuits are the only reasons these weak obligations are even followed.

Larger grocery stores and other national stores often utilize motion detectors that automatically open front doors, making entrances and exits from these buildings easy when using wheelchairs. Most businesses post the wheelchair symbol outside their buildings yet require those of us in wheelchairs to struggle while opening the doors.

Unfortunately, these posted wheelchair symbols mean only that the door is wide enough for a wheelchair to enter — not that the wheelchair user can easily enter. I recently discovered this at a local movie theater with my wife. Fortunately, she was able to open the door for me so I could enter the building. Otherwise, I would struggle to enter and exit the building by myself.

Fix has nominal cost

A quick Amazon search would educate these business owners that it costs only around $700 to $1,000, depending on type and brand, to install an automatic door opener that is activated by an accessibility button. If store owners cannot absorb this small cost to accommodate — rather than discriminate against — mobility-impaired customers, then perhaps they should not be in business.

The reasons are clear: (1) citizens in wheelchairs should be provided the accommodations needed to open doors themselves out of respect for their dignity, (2) others are not always around to help open doors, (3) surprising as it might seem, others are not always willing to help, and (4) our money spends just as easily at these businesses as anyone else’s.

It should be unnecessary to file numerous lawsuits against businesses to comply with simple, basic accessibility needs of mobility-impaired citizens. But keep ignoring us and that’s what will happen.