10/24/97

Disabled People Do Get Hungry!

Consider this letter I got from a reader:

I am a person with disabilities (both legally blind and a double amputee) as a result of diabetes.  My concerns relate to the lack of adequate conditions for people with disabilities.  As a consumer who likes to shop, I feel that companies are not sufficiently aware of the potential income they discourage because of certain shortcomings in their businesses.

Here are just a few of them:

1. It is almost impossible to get through some stores because their aisles are too narrow.
2.   Many large stores at the malls pile so much merchandise on the tables that someone in a wheelchair can only check out the items that border the main pathways.  If there were a fire, I shudder to think how even an able-bodied person could escape through the tightly packed clothing departments.
3. Most restaurants don't even have one table accessible to a wheelchair.  We who have disabilities do get hungry!
4. Water fountains are often unreachable, too.  I certainly don't expect owners to put in new ones, but making cups available would solve this problem.  Taking medicine is a necessity for some people with disabilities.

Recently, a relative who had to temporarily use a wheelchair, went into a local fabric/craft shop to purchase items to help her recovery time pass more quickly.  Unfortunately, the store was so jammed with narrow aisles and display blocked areas, she left without making any purchases.

Many local busineses are losing revenue because they are not "user-friendly".  I would prefer to spend my consumer dollars locally, but due to inadequate accommodations, I use catalogs and television retail marketing.  Despite improvements prompted by federal legislation, much more needs to be done to make local shops and other community buildings more readily accessible. 

I would like to remind readers that anyone, even a child, is potentially a candidate to become a person with disabilities due to an accident, heart trouble, or other unexpected misfortune.  It is therefore in everyone's best interests to make managers aware of inconvenient or unsafe conditions in their stores.  Likewise, be sure to compliment them on improvements.  I, for one, applaud the supermarket owners who provide electric shopping carts for their customers with disabilities. --- Stand Up for the Little Guy

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.