Importance of the ADA
I’ve written numerous times about the importance of the Americans with Act and how it attempts to create environments that are accessible to all. I’d also said I didn’t want to be in a wheelchair while arguing for the rights of those in chairs. Except for time I was sedated and in ICU, I’ve spent nearly two months in a wheelchair. When you cannot walk, the chair represents freedom and mobility. I know that I will walk again — slowly and likely with a cane at first. Ramps, slopes, railings and such will all be important to me for my own personal mobility even when I return to walking.
Over the last month of rehab I’ve met many people who didn’t think they’d end up in wheelchairs, using a cane or walker. Fellow patients have included those injured in car accidents, diabetics, those who fell (causing brain damage leading to mobility issues), others that had strokes, people that got nerve/muscle-damaging infections and so on. While I hope not, please understand that each of you could end up in my same position. Seriously, nobody is immune.
This is why it is so important that we build environments accessible to all. While a person in a wheelchair is unlikely to go to Lowe’s for drywall they may need a new fridge that will be delivered. Or perhaps they just need a new light bulb or a new houseplant? Being regulated to a chair or other device doesn’t reduce the need to function in society.
I prefer to push my own chair rather than have someone else. Doing for myself is very important. Environments that allow me and others to be self-sufficient is a minimum we should provide — especially for tax subsidized projects. The ADA and accessibility should not be an after thought such as at Loughborough Commons. Every new project should start with a pedestrian plan just as you would plan for the circulation of cars.
Even those who don’t find themselves with permanent disabilities may find those accommodations useful for short periods during our lives. I spent nearly 6 months on crutches back in the 1970’s, long before ADA came along …. I was a kid, but even the most basic things like getting to the pickup area at school, visiting a courtroom on a class field trip, or opening the classroom door were difficult because of the stairs or lack of clearance provided. When I found myself on crutches again in 1999, things were so much easier … we need to continue that forward progress.
The mindset around the country is slowly changing and coming around to understand the importance of the ADA to all of us. Unfortunately, the metro St. Louis area isn’t leading the way . . .
> Unfortunately, the metro St. Louis area isn’t leading the way . . .
However, St. Louis does have leaders … the Starkloff Disability Institute and Paraquad both advocate for accessible design in St. Louis. And David Newburger, a local attorney who is himself disabled, is a tremendous advocate for accessibility. Newburger was involved in ensuring accessible design for the new stadium.
Unfortunately, this is a field in which the work is endless. Every time a sidewalk is redone, every time a building entrance is remodeled, every time a restroom is updated, mobility issues arise. St. Louis is fortunate to have some excellent folks out there working to ensure that it’s done right.
I keep hoping that designers and builders – both residential and commercial – can start sneaking in design that benefits everyone under the guise of Universal Design. Wish they’d just zone it mandatory so that it’s never an issue for a wheelchair, a walker, a baby stroller, a bike or a broken limb.
I agree that we have local leaders. I was just saying that the average mindset hasn’t embraced accessible design to the same degree that I’ve seen elsewhere in the country. As we’ve discussed multiple times here in the past, there’s plenty of new construction that misses the mark, sometimes completely, around here, to say nothing of existing construction that has yet to see any attempts at compliance. Until we, as designers, elected officials, government workers, business owners and individual citizens make it a point to provide accessibility to ALL of us, it will remain a low and often ignored priority!
Moving toward a requirement of not only a base LEED certification for buildings over certain minimum square footage, but also for universal design (UD) makes a degree of sense. It will have a large front end cost implications as well as result in smaller room/space/unit yield because of the accommodations afforded to UD layouts, be cannot move forward without experiencing the unpleasant growing pains.
An important distinction to remember is that the ADA is actually federal civil rights legislation, not code (although it then manifests itself in building code). The law exists and the resultant building codes are required as opposed to recommended, so if new projects are getting built and are not meeting ADA, the Owner/Developer is still directly liable (even if the local/city building official signed off on it). If a ramp or handrail doesn’t meet ADA Standards (or doesn’t exist at all in a new project), it only takes one call to Washington DC to report it.
You’re right about that, Jim. And the sad thing is, even when accessibility is built into the plan, local architects often get it wrong. And even when they get it right, construction crews screw it up. So one way or another, the guy in the scooter is left in the lurch.
What’s amazing is how, once I got to know people who worked in that field, I suddenly started seeing all the problems that used to be invisible to me. Like, if you’re in wheelchair, and you take the Metro to Manchester-Maplewood station, and want to catch an eastbound bus, it’s a very big problem. There’s only an elevator on the north side of Manchester. There’s no curb cut where everyone else is crossing (jaywalking). There’s no sidewalk heading east to the crosswalk at Hanley Road. And to the west, it’s a mess of commercial driveways, and a sidewalk which does enough lurching to make you seasick. And this is just one place, out of many thousands.
The original plans for the Metro Extension provided plans-designs making the right-of-ways along the tracks accessible and useable to all. In the end, the marketed pedestrian-jogging-bike paths connecting stations and other destinations along the route were eliminated. This is important as destinations that are only 1000 feet away from some stations are now over a mile away on foot or in a wheelchair.
– –
In building the Page Extension west of 270, approximately five miles of paths were built to link the Katy Trail with the trails in Creve Couer Park…a good thing.
– –
How many miles of paths are provided along the New 64 for alternatives, whether for pedestrians, cyclists, joggers, the invalid, mass transit, etc.? Answer: ZERO. Get healthy Steve.
The City is a lead partner in the production of universal design, as evidenced by the work of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. For some fine examples of their collaborative efforts, visit the new townhomes built with ADA access on North Market in the Old North St. Louis neighborhood.
ADA, Universal Design, and urban infill can all be accommodated together, and beautifully. Now, try that trick with historic rehab and you’ve got a different ballgame. The raised foundations, steep stairs, and narrow corridors and clearances make that pretty much a nonstarter.
One more point…while UD and ADA are important goals for all of us, by and large, most of those units so produced wind up serving able-bodied residents.
As a design professional, I know the difference between the ADA and the Building Code, and how they’re enforced differently. While anyone can file a complaint with the feds after construction is done, it’s not a very effective way of getting results – it acn easiluy take years. The reality is that current building codes have comprehensive accessibility requirements that, IF followed, will assure 95%+ compliance with the ADA. The breakdowns occur when plans are prepared incorrectly (owner and/or architect), when plan review misses problems before permits are issued (plan reviewer) and when the field inspectors sign off on construction that does not precisely meet the building code. Whether it happens out of ignorance or expediency, the results are the same.
.
In areas that I’m familiar with, that have embraced ADA to a higher degree, it takes a combination of a vocal, motivated and, at times, militant disabled community and elected officials who “get it” and are willing to both fund infrastructure improvements in the public realm and to demand performance from government employees on accessibility issues, on both public and private projects. The reality is that most owners won’t change the way they’ve always done things until either they’re told they won’t get a permit (until they bring in plans that are in compliance) and/or they’re forced to rip out and redo (and spend money on) work that doesn’t comply before a certificate of occupancy is issued. Letting things slide and/or simply missing the basics is too common around here, especially on site development and site accessibility issues, to be accounted for by an occassional “honest” miscalculation. The simple truth is that most officials and most owners just don’t embrace the concepts of UD and the ADA, and are only doing the bare minimum, if that, and/or dropping in a few random curb ramps and declaring a project “good” (enough?). To be successful, especially as a community, we need to both “sweat the details” and look at the bigger picture. Responsibility for accessibility does not end at one’s property line, it involves connecting into larger transportation infrastructure and networks.
I am actually working with a major financial facility to bring their retail banks up to meet ADA standards. The larger the business, the bigger the target, and there are groups that go around looking for businesses that do not conform to the ADA guidelines. We have other remodel projects that are in for permit and they are finally looking at the percent of cost that is used for ADA upgrades. Thankfully municipalities are finally coming around, and if you expect to get a permit for a renovation- even if its not related to accessibility, you will need to spend some $$ to address areas of accessibility or you dont get a permit. Other municipalities make you sign off saying that you are fully compliant or have gone through and made an accessibility assessment of the existing facility and are addressing issues that way. Finally-States are even getting in on the act. Jim alluded to this earlier- federal ADA guidelines are not enforceable by the building code, but the code does have these items built into their structure. Some states even take it farther and have their own Accessibility code. CA, TX, and IL all have their own accessibility codes to name a few. Texas goes so far as to require third party accessibilty review and have a whole new market for professional accessibility experts.
How do you address accessibility at your business? Email me and I will be more than happy to talk at length about it. My client starts at the parking and works their way in. If you have to spend 20% on ADA upgrades- a new parking overlay at the entrance to fix slope and drainage issues with a descent curb ramp and front door operator would knock out an easy $10K.
Texas requires the state submittal to be complete prior to proceeding with plans review in a municipal building department. The TAS review could be a model for other state-level requirements the precede permit submittal at the municipal level. Some unincorporated areas would still be without means of administering compliance, so there would be a need for other overlays to ensure that all publicly accessible buildings meet a standard that both protects projects from tort litigation and of course provides those with the level of accessibility that is needed to be truly a equal part of this civil society. The ADA of 1990 was simply a furthering of the intial omnibus legislation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, and perhaps most importantly the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 with all of their language of equality, and administering its intent at the state level prior to permission of building at the municipal level may be best. The ADA does not specify accessibility standards in architectural detail, but rather the American National Standards Institute, with its physical space requirements reflected in the respective model building codes and Graphics Standards reference.
Nick, I just want to comment on what you mentioned about the situation for people in a wheelchair at the Maplewood Metrolink station. Eventually, if they ever get it finished, the lot that is now fenced off will become a loop turn around for the buses to pull in. So if you are in a wheel chair on the train and need to make an eastbound bus connection the bus driver will pull into the loop and pick you up there so you don’t have to cross the street. At least that’s how I see it. What people are supposed to do in the meantime I don’t know.
Very good post. I think the best way for people to “get it”. Is to have them try to “get around” in a wheel chair. Just telling them “they may” have to be in one won’t cut it (though I still agree). I appreciate your efforts and hope / pray for a full recovery! You are a blessing for many and a bane for some who can’t / won’t change the status quo…but the more drips of change will eventually become a flood to break the dam!
Steve:
So sorry to hear about your recent stroke. I wish you the best in your recovery at Mo Rehab. You must have made it in before I left–I’m an escaped SSM Rehab nurse now working for the feds in spinal cord rehab, close enough to ride my bike or walk to work.
Yes, it’s true, anyone of us could be in your situation. Good design (and ADA compliance) should be easy, not a fight.
Keep on rollin’ (and hopefully soon on that scooter!)