People don’t always recognize how inaccessible their
businesses can be and how that discriminates against persons with disabilities.
I know they don’t understand when they give excuses that don’t make sense. Some of these excuses make me laugh until it
hurts and others just make me shake my head.
Here are some examples:
During a survey of business owners, the question of
accessibility was posed. One business
owner actually said that his business was accessible since the building only
had one step to get into it! Talk about
no clue. For someone in a wheelchair,
that one step was as good as a steep cliff.
Access is denied.
Another business owner said he wasn’t concerned since no
one had come in to say he couldn’t get in.
Yes, that’s right. (Read it again
if you don’t get it.) He somehow felt
that if people could not get into the building, they would come in and tell
him. How? Do people even think about what they say?
Another interesting response from a business owner was
that he was not required to be accessible since he never said he was
accessible. How about if we apply that
to other laws? Suppose a policeman stops
you for speeding. Do you think that
excuse would fly? Try telling the
officer that you were not required to obey speed limits since you never said
you would. While the officer may have
difficulty writing that ticket at first because he would be laughing so hard,
you can be sure there would be a ticket with a fine attached. The same goes for any other law you
break. This is not a response that will
benefit you.
When I recently complained to a business owner that I
couldn’t attend several events that were held at his facility, he replied that
two out of three of their facilities were accessible. He then invited me to visit the accessible
ones. Somehow the fact that two
facilities are accessible does not help when the event is at the inaccessible
one got lost on the business owner.
Access to the events I was trying to attend was denied.
When you fail to comply with the Americans with
Disabilities Act, you are effectively putting up a “Keep Out” sign. Actually, a sign can be ignored when the
barrier cannot be. Is keeping people out
of your business what you really want to do?
Persons with disabilities make up the third largest market segment in
the U.S. I think that’s a lot of
business to turn away.
Annette Bourbonniere
Twitter:
@AccessInclude
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