Wheelchair users squeezed out
By Michael Booth
Denver Post Staff Writer
June 29, 2000 - Come along with Joe Ehman as he
experiences the joy of that great American pastime,
shopCping in a department store.
First, to the casual-wear section of Foley's in Cherry
Creek, where Ehman's 28-inch-wide wheelchair bogs down
in the 25 inches of space between a shirt rack and a
display table full of pique polos.
As he torques his wheels to make it through the gap,
his hard-working elbows push a stack of sweaters
nearly over the edge of the table.
A few feet farther, between two hanging polo shirt
racks measuring 22 inches at the breach, Ehman has to
stop entirely before he can shove the dry goods out of
the way and move on. Near the button-down Oxfords, his
elbows`Michael`Booth`Consuming`Thoughts`scrape again
in a 20-inch gap, while a bemused clerk watches from
behind the cash register.
Lord & Taylor receives more of Ehman's scorn, sporting
aisles of 22 inches between a couple of rows of men's
shirts he would like to get a better look at, and a
nearby path of 16 inches that most walking people
would have trouble getting through.
At Pottery Barn, an entire center aisle of living room
furniture Ehman would like to see remains out of reach
as his chair smacks into a coffee table at the
entrance.
"That's not going to happen," he says. "I'd hate to be
in this place when a fire started."
A fire has started under activists in California, who
are still jubilant over a federal court ruling last
week ordering the Macy's chain to establish at least
32-inch pathways between clothing racks at a San
Francisco store. The angrily worded decision is
expected to ripple throughout the country as activists
use it in negotiations with other store chains or
bring their own lawsuits.
Guidelines created by federal agencies to enforce the
Americans with Disabilities Act require 36-inch
pathways between permanent shelving built since the
act took effect in 1992 (long before Park Meadows was
built). For movable racks, and in buildings finished
before 1992, 36 inches is still the goal set by the
ADA, but stores may slip below that if 36 inches is
not "readily achievable."
Moreover, building codes in Denver and many other
cities require 36-inch aisles in all publicly accessed
stores, though the department stores have often
disputed what is an "aisle" and what is merely a
"pathway."
Fed up with the hair-splitting, the California judge
set the 32-inch standard between all racks, temporary
or permanent, a standard that many of the Denver-area
stores do not meet.
"There's a basic law of physics here," Ehman says on
his tour of Cherry Creek, which to be fair is no worse
than other malls and department stores measured in the
metro area. "The shortest distance between two points
is inaccessible."
Ehman's experience, while eyeopening to his
companions, is depressingly familiar to him and any
other wheelchair user who shops at major retail
outlets. "They're horrible," he sums up. "We're like
bulls in a china shop."
"I like catalogs," said Michael Auberger, an activist
with Denver's Atlantis Community.
A member of Dillard's legal department at headquarters
in Little Rock, Ark., who declined to be named,
offered a two-page statement on the company's
compliance with the ADA. It says all fixed racks
should comply with the 36inch standard, and all
temporary racks can be moved by clerks at the disabled
person's request. It also says clerks can assist the
disabled by bringing clothes to them.
Asked about the groundbreaking Macy's decision in
California, the Dillard's legal department said it
knew nothing about it.
A spokeswoman for Foley's in Houston issued a
two-sentence statement saying the company is committed
to providing customers full access to merchandise, and
welcoming suggestions "for improving our access beyond
legal requirements."
The size of the pathways at local department stores
tends to increase along with the prices. At Park
Meadows, for example, the Dillard's and Foley's stores
that sell a wide selection of midrange goods often
shoved racks as close as 15 to 25 inches together, not
enough to fit standard wheelchairs. Sometimes the
stores did leave wider avenues to the same clothes
section, through a more roundabout route in another
aisle.
But as Ehman put it at the Cherry Creek stores, why
should he have to go the long way? "It depends on my
mood. Do I have the energy to go around, or am I like
most guys who want to get there, get it and get out?"
As Ehman rolled through Cherry Creek, he wasn't just
thinking about buying. He was thinking about working -
and how hard it would be to work at any of these
stores while in a wheelchair. If it's hard to get
through on one short trip, he said, imagine what it
would be like to hit those obstacles every day, all
week long.
Space increased at Lord & Taylor, generally offering
more expensive items, and still more at locations like
Neiman Marcus in Cherry Creek and Nordstrom at Park
Meadows. Their aisles often reached 50 inches in
width, more than enough to roll along and even turn
around in using a wheelchair.
The disabled community has forced changes for better
access all over Denver. In the next step, opening up
store aisles, Ehman said activists would much rather
negotiate than file a lawsuit, despite the success of
the California action. But he also knows that promises
to change can be empty, and are often followed by the
hiring of expensive consultants who have no
experience.
"They're not in the chair," he said. "So they're not
going to think like that."
Michael Booth's columns on people and ideas appear
Tuesdays, his consumer column on Thursdays. Contact
him at 303-820-1686 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.denverpost.com/news/booth0629.htm
__________________________________________________
THIS IS HIS PUBLIC Email Address, MAILTO:[log in to unmask]
Darrell also is a member of:
Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities
Human Rights Commission of South Saint Paul
United Cerebral Palsy of Minnesota/Government Activities Committee
Saint Paul Mayor's Advisory Committee for People with Disabilities
Independence Party of Minnesota - LD 39B Chair
People of Color Committee on Disability - UCP/GAC
Transportation Accessibility Advisory Committee (TAAC)
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