TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/060490/0604106.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.7 KB | 128 lines

                                                                                NATION, Page 54

Opening Doors for the Disabled


But the handicapped-rights law may harm those it aims to help

By NANCY TRAVER


    Norma Westfield eases her wheelchair out of the elevator of
her apartment, through the front door and to the Handi-Van
waiting in front of her building. It is a vehicle with
hydraulic lifts that the city of Fond du Lac offers to disabled
residents. Westfield, 43, who has used a wheelchair since she
was stricken with polio as a child, relies on the Handi-Van to
reach her doctor's office and a local hospital where she does
volunteer work. She is not strong enough to push herself to the
bus stop a block away, and during the winter Westfield's
wheelchair could easily tip over on Fond du Lac's icy streets.
She can rely on the van until 10 p.m., while city buses run
only until 6:45 p.m. And the 60 cents fare is no higher than
riding the bus. Said Westfield: "It's a godsend."

    Like disabled people in hundreds of small towns across the
nation, Westfield fears that the Americans with Disabilities
Act, passed overwhelmingly by the House last week and expected
to be signed into law by the President in July, will
unintentionally harm those it is designed to help. Widely
viewed as the most sweeping civil rights measure in more than
25 years, the act offers the nation's 43 million disabled new
employment opportunities and greater access to public
accommodations, transit systems and communications networks.
Until the law goes into effect, handicapped people are
protected by only a patchwork of state and local laws.

    Some advocates for the disabled argue that those local
ordinances were better tailored to meet the needs of the
handicapped than is the new law. One provision of the
disabilities act, for example, will require all new buses to
be equipped with hydraulic lifts that will cost state and local
governments up to $30 million annually for the next several
years. Meeting that requirement will confront hard-pressed
small towns with a difficult financial choice.

    In Fond du Lac, a town of 40,000 curled along the shores of
Lake Winnebago, lifts will boost the price tag on each new bus
$15,000.  Operating and maintenance expenses will tack on an
additional $5,000 each year. City-council members worry about
finding enough money to both continue the Handi-Van service and
install lifts on the city's fleet of twelve buses, half of
which are due to be replaced this year.

    Disabled-rights groups lobbied hard to defeat an amendment
to the bill that would have exempted transit systems in cities
of fewer than 200,000. They argued that disabled people should
not be segregated in special buses or vans. But Stan Kocos,
chairman of Disabled Advocates of Fond du Lac, admits that his
group was torn between support for the new law and the
Handi-Van. Says Kocos: "We want lifts on buses, and we want the
alternative service. But we'd hate to see a taxpayer backlash."

    Kocos said many local store owners are confused and fearful
about the improvements they will have to make, which require
businesses to be made accessible to the disabled by the end of
next year. Business groups have estimated that building a
concrete ramp can cost between $1,000 and $10,000, while
widening an exterior door runs $3,000.

    Martin Ryan, a manufacturer of artificial limbs, has talked
to business owners about the bill at local Chamber of Commerce
meetings. The cost of improvements can be kept down, he
maintains, by building wooden ramps instead of concrete ones
or simply attaching a buzzer on a front door. "Many business
owners say, `I don't have many disabled customers, so why
should I build a ramp or widen my doorways or install a pull
on the door of my store?'" says Ryan. "I just try to tell them
it's a cost of doing business, and it's worthwhile."

    Though finding accessible housing remains a problem for Fond
du Lac's disabled, the city has made progress in opening some
public accommodations. Movie theaters have removed rows of
seats to make room for people in wheelchairs. Several service
stations offer to pump gas at no extra charge for disabled
drivers, and grocery stores provide electric carts for shoppers
who cannot navigate the long aisles. Parking spaces marked with
the blue-and-white symbol of a wheelchair are vigilantly
guarded; anyone who illegally slips into one is subject to a $30
fine. Rather than rely on police to enforce the law, many
disabled residents carry ticket forms that can be slapped onto
the window of an offending car. Their eagerness to be tough on
parking violators is a sign that the disabled do not intend to
allow the unhandicapped to walk all over their rights.


____________________________________________________________
MAJOR PROVISIONS OF THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT WOULD:



    -- Prohibit firms with more than 25 employees from
discriminating in hiring or promotion against workers with
physical or mental impairments.

    -- Outlaw tests that tend to screen out handicapped job
applicants. Employers would, however, be allowed to inquire
about a worker's ability to perform a job.

    -- Require companies to make "reasonable accommodations" for
disabled employees, such as providing readers for blind workers
and arranging part-time or modified work schedules.

    -- Force restaurants, stores and other "public
accommodations" to widen doorways and provide ramps for people
in wheelchairs. If such modifications posed an "undue burden,"
operators could use alternatives, such as meeting handicapped
customers at the door.

    -- Require that inner city buses be made accessible to the
handicapped.