[nfbmi-talk] happy birthday ada

[Christine Boone]

Really nice article Joe!  I know you played a major role in getting this into print!  Many thanks! 

Boone Christine Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 16, 2013, at 7:30 AM, "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz at comcast.net> wrote:

> Americans with Disabilities Act celebration turns sour at Flint site that isn't ADA-compliant By Paul Egan Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau LANSING - It
> 
> was billed as a celebration of the landmark federal law intended to make sure disabled people have equal access to public facilities. But the site in Flint
> 
> chosen to celebrate the 23rd birthday of the Americans with Disabilities Act - Kearsley Park - did not meet requirements of the ADA. A wooden ramp had
> 
> unsafe railings, broken planks and protruding bolts. Sidewalks weren't level. A playground area was inaccessible. People who used wheelchairs had to roll
> 
> across grass to reach portable toilets that lacked raised signage for the blind. It was supposed to be an ADA anniversary celebration," said Scott Heinzman,
> 
> 51, an organizer with the group ADAPT who uses a wheelchair because of a spinal cord injury at age 20. That's why it makes it kind of weird to hold it
> 
> in a place that I wouldn't say is compliant with the ADA. The July 26 event at a Flint city park, one of a handful of events held around the state, was
> 
> sponsored by the Disability Network, a nonprofit agency, and the Genesee Health System, the county mental health agency. Disabled activists say it was
> 
> a poignant example of the frustrations and indignities they experience at state and local public facilities on a daily basis. State buildings still fail
> 
> to meet many requirements of the ADA, and the state still lacks a transition plan - required under federal law - for coming into compliance. Though data
> 
> comparing Michigan with other governments is lacking, a 2010 survey by the Chicago-based Great Lakes ADA Center gave Michigan an overall grade of C on
> 
> its ADA report card and a C+ for removal of physical barriers from buildings. That was slightly better than Illinois, Ohio and Wisconsin fared, the same
> 
> as the grades Indiana received, and slightly worse than Minnesota's score. Joe Harcz, a Mt. Morris resident who is blind, pointed out that even the state's
> 
> library for blind people inside the Michigan Library and Historical Center in Lansing - recently renamed the Braille and Talking Book Library - does not
> 
> have an entrance sign in raised lettering and Braille, as required by the ADA. Harcz said he has not found a single state building, including the Capitol,
> 
> that fully complies with that requirement. And state officials do not dispute that. The state is trying to negotiate the settlement of a federal lawsuit
> 
> brought against it last year by Michigan Economic Development Corp. employee Jill Babcock, who uses a wheelchair and sued over accessibility problems at
> 
> Cadillac Place, a huge state office complex in Detroit's Midtown area that includes an office for Gov. Rick Snyder. Late last year, the Snyder administration
> 
> appointed Sharon Ellis as its first statewide ADA compliance director. She will help oversee a transition plan spelling out how and when the state plans
> 
> to come into compliance with the law. We hope to have the transition plan completed within the next six months," Department of Technology, Management and
> 
> Budget spokesman Kurt Weiss said Sept. 4. While the current administration cannot speak to what occurred prior to 2011, the current focus is on improving
> 
> our state facilities and signage so that we are meeting the needs of people with disabilities," he said. A statewide ADA compliance audit - the first since
> 
> 2008 - is under way, and improving signage across state government buildings will be a major piece of the transition plan, Weiss said. For the Flint event,
> 
> a group of ADAPT activists that included Heinzman, Harcz and Bill Earl, who uses a wheelchair because he has cerebral palsy, went prepared. They brought
> 
> video cameras to document the deficiencies and confronted organizer Mike Zelley, who is president and CEO of the Disability Network in Flint and chairman
> 
> of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. In the videotaped interview, Zelley - who uses a wheelchair because he was paralyzed in a motor vehicle accident
> 
> 35 years ago - acknowledged most of the shortcomings the activists cite. We're rebuilding the ramp right now to make it to code," Zelley said in the video.
> 
> The rails are too tall. The park is not fully accessible; it's pretty accessible," Zelley told Earl in the interview. We're improving it as we go along.
> 
> Zelley said Sept. 4 that he had 100 volunteers on hand to make sure people could cross the ramp safely and to assist with other accessibility shortcomings.
> 
> Flint is strapped for cash and volunteers built the ramp, unfortunately not to code, he said. It will be fixed in time for next year's celebration, Zelley
> 
> said. Tisha Deeghan, senior vice president and chief operating officer of co-sponsor Genesee Health System, said the Disability Network handled logistics
> 
> for the event, which has been held at Kearsley Park in previous years. Her agency had not heard of complaints this year, she said. If there were individuals
> 
> who could not fully participate, we would apologize," Deeghan said. It's tough to find a venue that's as compliant as we would like things to be. We'll
> 
> strive to do better next summer. 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nfbmi-talk mailing list
> nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nfbmi-talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/christineboone2%40gmail.com