Submitted by Allison Hope
Imagine this: You break a leg playing pickleball and require a wheelchair for several weeks. You cannot get to your pharmacy on Greenwich Avenue because it is not accessible for people in wheelchairs. Or, you have a child with cerebral palsy. They cannot access their classroom because our public schools are not accessible for people in wheelchairs. Both scenarios are a reality for family, friends and neighbors in our town.
More than one in four adults, or 28.7%, has a disability in America, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Even more significant, most of us will have a disability at some point in our lives, whether temporary or permanent.
Not only is it ethically wrong to stall on creating more accessible schools and avenues; we are in violation of federal law.
This week, Greenwich will celebrate the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Supporting this life-changing law and our residents with disabilities is most welcome, but it comes at a time when the symbolism feels hollow given our continued failure to comply with the law and provide basic accommodations for people with disabilities in our town.
The most recent efforts to bring Greenwich Avenue into compliance with the ADA was voted down by all of the Republican members of the Board of Estimation and Taxation (BET), the entity that controls the budget for the town, on the cusp of the ADA anniversary and Disability Pride Month. The Republican members of the BET, none of whom are experts on the topic, are even out of step with their own party.
Our First Selectman weighed in publicly in favor of moving forward with this straightforward project, saying, “Not only do we have to comply with federal law, but we also have a moral obligation to do this.”
The Department of Public Works in Greenwich, which consulted with third party experts, affirms that the specs for the project — adding ramps at intersections along the avenue and widening parking spots — are accurate and in compliance with the law. There is no good reason to delay and many reasons not to.
The pattern of Republican-led stalemates on our disability community extends to our schools. A report published this spring documents with granularity where we violate the ADA. While the cost to fix it is high, it is only going to grow as we continue to punt, not to mention the cost of an untold number of lawsuits as students and staff remain unable to access the same facilities as their peers. That says nothing of the moral stain we all bear in failing to meet this clearly articulated and legally mandated need.
The ADA, a civil rights law signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, requires that we make accommodations accessible to all who live and visit our great Greenwich.
In a town that has a reputation for wealth and aesthetics, it is particularly egregious that we are failing to provide the minimum standard required by a decades-old law to ensure that our residents with disabilities can do basic things like access our main commercial district or schools.
What’s more, the benefits of creating greater accessibility extend to all beyond the disability community. A ramp also helps a parent with a stroller, a kid on a bike, an older adult with a shopping cart.
July is Disability Pride Month. The designation is intended to “celebrate persons inherent dignity and inalienable rights,” according to the Human Rights Watch and other organizations. I hope that the Republican members of the BET show up at the ADA ceremony outside of Restoration Hardware at 10 a.m. this Wednesday and realize the ill of their ways. One doesn’t need to look any further than their own hearts and heads to see the moral imperative of acting now. And if they are hardened to the needs of their constituents, the law is pretty clear.