A
No, they aren't. ADA is a minimal standard. It does not mean
that a place is easy or comfortable to get around. Bathrooms
are a good example. ADA requires enough space for a wheelchair to
turn around. A standard manual wheelchair has a small turning
radius, but many electric scooters do not. Sometimes, if I'm using
one of my scooters, I have to pull straight into the bathroom, then
back out. There is no room to turn around. I have to reach behind
me to open the door. That's neither easy nor dignified.
The same thing is true for elevators. Frequently in retrofitted build-
ings, an elevator is big enough for a standard manual wheelchair to
turn around, but not a scooter.
Also, when older facilities retrofit for ADA, they sometimes take
improper shortcuts. In one older hospital, they ended up being cited
for, among other things, inadequate wheelchair maneuvering space,
improper arrangement of grab bars, and toilets and hand sanitizers in
the bathrooms and drinking fountains that were too high.
Q
Making a facility ADA-compliant is expensive already. Why
should facility managers go any further to accommodate dis-
abled patients?
A
The market. A person with disability is not a small part of the
population. Virtually everyone will experience a disability at
some point in their lives. Current estimates are that 25% of the popula-
tion has some form of disability, and it's getting more common, espe-
cially mobility issues.
When the members of the "silent generation" were 35 to 44 years
old, 14% to 18% were obese. At comparable ages, 28% to 32% of the
youngest Baby Boomers were obese. Obesity frequently leads to
arthritis, and arthritis leads to mobility issues.
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