Answer Man: Disabled have accessibility advocate

Editor's note: Answer Man offers answers to questions submitted by readers about people, places and things in the Marion area. To submit questions, email jjarvis@marionstar.com, call 740-375-5154, send a Facebook message or contact him via Twitter @jmwjarvis.

Question: A Marion woman who uses a wheelchair to get around said she has encountered several businesses in Marion that do not have appropriate access for people who use wheelchairs. What can a person in her situation do?

Answer: Steve Chaffin, Marion city assistant law director, said she should call Ohio Disability Rights Law and Policy Center Inc., more recently known as Disability Rights Ohio, at 614-466-7264 or 800-282-9181.

"They do statewide advocacy for the disabled," Chaffin said.

The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 requires governmental agencies "to do our best to facilitate the rights of the handicapped," he said. "The rights of businesses are a little different."

Kevin Truitt, attorney for Disability Rights Ohio, said whether a business facility that is open to the public is in compliance with the ADA "depends on the situation, so it's going to depend on when like the building itself was built. So if it's a new construction, then the business has to comply with these really specific design standards, the (Americans With Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines. Most of these businesses are not going to be new construction," which he said generally is building done since the early 1990s. "Most of them will be held to a different standard, the Readily Achievable Standard."

"So if there's some type of barrier, like a physical barrier to someone in a wheelchair, the business has to remove that barrier if it's 'readily achievable' to do so," Truitt said. "All of these cases are kind of determined on a case-by-case basis. What exactly is the barrier? What would it cost? What are the resources of that business? Things like that."

The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section, states that the ADA "strikes a careful balance between increasing access for people with disabilities and recognizing the financial constraints many small businesses face. Its flexible requirements allow businesses confronted with limited financial resources to improve accessibility without excessive expense."

People with disabilities face architectural barriers that limit their access to the goods or services offered by businesses, the Disability Rights Section notes. Examples include a parking space with no access aisle to allow deployment of a van's wheelchair lift, steps at a facility's entrance, aisles too narrow to accommodate wheelchairs, counters that are too high, or restrooms that are simply too small to use with a wheelchair.

Truitt said if the barrier can be removed "without significant expense" the business would be required to do so.

Who determines whether the corrective measure is "readily achievable" by the business also appears to depend on the specific instance.

"We would always prefer to kind of work with the business to make it as accessible as possible," he said.

He said it's to the business's benefit to provide accessibility to as many potential customers as possible.

"The older the building, the less successful it's going to be" at providing accessibility to disabled individuals, he said. "People just didn't think about these things back in the early 1900s."

He said Disability Rights Ohio personnel "would have a conversation with" any person who contacts it with a concern" to obtain more information such as the businesses whose facilities aren't accessible and to advise the person of her rights."

"It's always good to talk to the business first and see if you can work out your concerns," he said. "That's always preferred. Most business owners want to do the right thing, but if it reaches an impasse she has legal options."

That person can contact the U.S. Department of Justice and/or file a lawsuit under the ADA to enforce disability rights.

"Again, it really depends on so many different variables," Truitt said. "We would need to do an investigation and find out a lot more information."

Disability Rights Ohio, Ohio's federally funded Protection and Advocacy System, provides legal advocacy and rights protection to a wide range of people with disabilities. These free services include assisting people with problems such as abuse, neglect, discrimination, access to assistive technology, special education, housing, employment, community integration, voting and rights protection issues.