Ramps.
You think ramps solve all your accessibility problems. If you are a merchant, you install one, either wood or concrete, and voila, you are in compliance with the ADA laws, right? Uh uh.
Picture this: An entry door is usually 36” wide and opens out. A merchant builds a ramp 36” wide and is in compliance with ADA rules, right? Any mobility impaired person can now enter and exit easily, right? Wrong.
A prospective customer rolls up the ramp and is confronted with the usually heavy door that opens toward the customer. Customer leans forward to open the door and can’t unless he can go to one side. See where I am going with this. Customer can’t roll to the side without falling off the ramp. Customer can’t open the door without help. So customer gives up and leaves. Merchant could assign an employee to stand there and open the door for all customers, but that seems to be a misuse of human resources and awfully expensive. Merchant could install an electric door activated by an electric eye when customer approaches. Problem solved.
See what I mean.
Everybody is happy and all customers can spend money in merchant’s store or restaurant.
You may wonder why I spend time talking about ramps. Or talking on this blog every day. Sure, I hope to bring awareness to the merchants of Mountain View, Arkansas, and the rest of my readers.
But mainly I am trying to make people understand that we who need different ways of getting from one place to another are not different from anyone else. We move differently, but other than that, we go to work, pay taxes, drive cars, commute, buy groceries, go to the movies, and expect to be treated like everyone else who does the same things. Is that so very difficult to understand?
