Question: This is very important to senior citizens 70, 80 and 90 years old who find many public places, especially restaurants and churches, are not complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires raised commodes and grab bars in the restrooms. Some are so small that seniors in wheelchairs have no way to use them. Isn’t there a penalty for noncompliance?
Answer: Generally speaking, places of public accommodation (including private businesses that serve the public) are required to accommodate people with disabilities, but there are degrees to which they need to be in compliance.
“It sort of depends on the particular situation,” said Louis Erteschik, executive director of the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, the state’s protection and advocacy agency for people with disabilities. As such, his agency has the federal authority to conduct investigations into such matters as ADA compliance.
As a general rule, places of public accommodation built after ADA mandates took effect in 1990 have to comply with very strict codes and regulations, Erteschik said. Places that predate ADA requirements might not have to comply with all the newest, strictest code requirements, but they still have to take measures that the law calls “readily achievable,” he said.
Grab bars, for example, would be a “cheap and easy” fix, he said.
“It would get trickier if it were something that would be architecturally unfeasible or where you’d have to tear the entire building apart to install something,” Erteschik said. “It’s a matter of what’s reasonable and what’s readily achievable.”
If you have a complaint about a particular place, call 949-2922 or 800-882-1057, or email info@hawaiidisabilityrights.org.
Erteschik said his staff can enter a facility unannounced to do a site survey and “give an opinion” as to whether there is a violation.
“Our general philosophy is that we really look for voluntary compliance,” he said. “Typically what would happen is we would to do a site survey to see if there are any violations. If there were, we would send a letter to the owner informing them of the violations. The letter doesn’t say, ‘Do this or we’re going to sue you.’ It’s just to let them know they could get sued.”
Erteschik cited two lawsuits in which he was involved when he was a staff attorney for the Hawaii Disability Rights Center. One involved the International House of Pancakes in Waikiki, which was required to install a lift. The other involved the Hilo Farmers Market, which was required to make the grounds wheelchair-accessible.
“Litigation is a last resort,” he said. For more information about the center, go to www.hawaiidisabilityrights.org.
Question: After last Monday’s huge traffic tie-up on the H-1 freeway in Aiea, I was just wondering, is there a way to get a text message on my cellphone warning of traffic delays? I receive texts about weather, high surf and monthly siren tests.
Answer: You can receive alerts and updates on traffic tie-ups, as well as emergency situations, from the Honolulu Police Department, Board of Water Supply and Department of Emergency Management via the emergency email and text messaging system known as Nixle. To sign up, go to local.nixle.com/city/hi/honolulu. Standard text messaging rates may apply.
For more information on the center, go to www1.honolulu.gov/dem.
Mahalo
To everyone who helped me on Thursday afternoon, March 15. While running to catch the bus on Kapiolani Boulevard, I fell and scraped my face and body. I would like to thank all the people who came to my aid, especially a girl and her youngster who stayed with me, and a kind man who ran across to the 7-Eleven store to buy bandages and medicine. I offered to pay him but he wouldn’t take my money. — Tom
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