News & Events

On the Way to Accessibility

July 22, 2007

By Robyn Monaghan Special to the Herald News

JOLIET -- Accessible Cities Alliance leaders Pam Heavens and Chris Book, having just come from a ceremony honoring Joliet police for enforcing parking for the disabled earlier this month, were feeling triumphant.

In the two years since getting itself off the ground, the organization has galvanized community leaders to inspect about 2,600 businesses and make nearly a quarter of them accessible.

The city had passed an ordinance prompting local enforcement of the Americans With Disabilities Act mandates, which have been on the books for 17 years.

The ACA Web site has logged more than 63,000 visitors for accessibility information.

The city hired a full-time inspector and this summer chipped in $5,000 for an the ACA-produced educational film on accessibility requirements.

Will County had revamped nine buildings in a $90,000 access mission, opening four courtrooms to jurors and witnesses.

A wireless microphone and TDD is now on its phone systems. Elevator improvement is next on the county's to-do list.

As Heavens and Book sidled into a roomy parking space for the disabled downtown, their vision of success suddenly turned sour. Looking down the street, the pair watched a store keeper hoist two disabled women and their wheelchairs up a flight of stairs into a shop.

There was the same old problem staring them in the face.

"It's very humiliating to be carried -- and it isn't safe," said Heavens. She is executive director for the Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living and uses a wheelchair.

Book closed her eyes and shook her head.

"We've come so far, but we have so much farther to go," she said.

Patronize, not punish Next month, Kevin Gahr, accessibility specialist inspector for the city, will start enforcing $75 fines on business owners with accessibility infractions. The city has resolved to stop accepting the commonly-used alibi that business owners cannot remove steps because the stairs are city property.

But Book would rather talk about the immense buying power of the county's 56,000 disabled people.

"We don't want to punish these businesses. We want to patronize them," Heavens said.

And it's not just disabled people who suffer when they can't get around in public places Book said. It might be your father after hip replacement surgery. It could be your daughter trying to push your grandchildren in her baby stroller.

All-American accessibility Coming into its second year with a week of awareness-raising events this week, the ACA is kicking off its new "Got Access?" campaign. Advertisements featuring a photo of community leaders using equipment for the disabled are popping up all over town.

There's Russ Slinkard, Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, with a white cane. Will County Executive Larry Walsh, named Accessibility Ambassador of the Year, is in a wheelchair. First Midwest Bank executive Jim Roolf appears with a walker. And Joliet Deputy City Manager Jim Shapard is using a TTY.

The ACA has its roots in the 2003 All America City competition, which through the City Center Partnership ran a massive campaign, galvanizing all aspects of Joliet to put the city's best foot forward in its bid for the award. Although Joliet didn't win first place, it showed organizers at the Will-Grundy Center for Independent Living how Joliet forces could come together to work for a common goal.

"That was our basic inspiration," Book said. "We figured if we could get the same enthusiasm from the same people and other local leaders on helping to create an all accessible city, they could take us further than we'd come going solo."

For the first couple years, the organization went under the moniker of "the All America Accessible Cities Campaign." But that was too big a mouthful, Book said. They shortened the name to the Accessible Cities Alliance -- and it stuck.

As this year's anniversary approaches, surrounding communities are jumping on the access bandwagon. Romeoville joins New Lenox, Channahon, Plainfield and Will County in issuing proclamations of support and hosting activities.

"It just goes to show that any municipality has the where-with-all to enforce national laws with a local ordinance to promote accessibility," Book said.

It has been 17 years since the Americans with Disabilities Act made accessibility the law.

"This is nothing new," Book said. "We're just reminding businesses to do what they're supposed to be doing anyway."

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