A sandwich board blocking the sidewalk. Straws and utensils placed at the back of the counter. High chairs stacked in front of a restaurant’s bathroom door. A mini-fridge tucked under a hotel bathroom sink. These might sound like normal things you could come across in daily life, and unfortunately for wheelchair users like me, they are. They’re unfortunate because even though laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act ensure public accommodations are built so I can access them, ADA protections don’t necessarily mean they’re convenient for me to use.
Let’s use hotels as an example. I’m an accessible travel blogger and travel agent, so I spend roughly four months every year in hotel rooms. The ADA mandates that hotels incorporate certain architectural standards, like wider doorways and roll-under sinks, in rooms designated as wheelchair accessible. However, room design doesn’t fall under the ADA. This means that an interior designer has the legal freedom to place heavy furniture in front of the window and curtain pulls, a soap dish that’s unreachable from a roll-in shower bench, and yes, a mini-fridge stashed beneath a roll-under sink in the bathroom.
Wheelchair users are inconvenienced like this every day in the public sphere. My ability to roll freely down a sidewalk is often blocked by restaurant furniture and signs, construction barricades are placed on top of curb drops at intersections, and delivery trucks stand in front of and block curb drops at shopping centers. None of these things are illegal. However, they serve as stark reminders to the wheelchair community that we are still invisible to society at large.
I’m out and about in local places like Orlando, Winter Park, Lake Mary and Sanford (my home) on a regular basis. I also consider myself to be an advocate for access, so I’ve made it my mission in life to gently and kindly bring awareness of these issues to local business owners. I have found that 99 percent of the time, these inconveniences to wheelchair users happen because business owners (and the general public) just “never thought about it.”
Once I point these things out, managers and employees are usually quite eager to move things around for me, and are also grateful to have the issue pointed out.
But the burden remains on wheelchair users to educate business owners on what we need to go about our daily lives just like everyone else. After that, it’s the responsibility of the restaurant manager and store owner and hotel designer to make sure we’re not forgotten. Together, we can ensure wheelchair users become a more visible part of the Orlando community.
