Column: Make room for wheelchairs, ramp vans

In Hawaii accessibility for the disabled seems like an afterthought. It took a year after I lobbied a politician for curb cuts in order to reach a public library, for the city to provide them. In shopping malls the marked handicap parking stalls have been repurposed for supply trucks or 10-minute takeout spaces. Old buildings housing doctor’s offices are a squeeze for a normal-sized wheelchair, and hospital lobbies do not have marked spaces for chairs, so that my husband has to park in an aisle.

I advocated for several years before our condo board allowed residents to have one handicap parking stall available to them, after they had sold other stalls to the highest bidders. It is commonplace for private operators to meet federal guidelines for residential handicap stalls in order to obtain their permits to build, and then to sell or paint over the marked spaces.

Many of the covered parking lots in Honolulu are old and do not accommodate modified ramp vans for wheelchairs. The tiny regular spaces are a tight fit, and we have the body-damage bills to testify to that. The public streets do not have marked handicap parking spaces as many other cities do.

Now Honolulu wants to raise the price to pay at the meters in order to discourage transport by car into the city.

Are they thinking about the disabled who must use vans and cannot use scooters, bikes or even small cars? Vehicle transport and close-to-building parking spaces are a must for my husband and many other nonambulatory riders. We are part of a subset of residents who pay huge medical bills and can least afford a hike in prices, but we are dependent on access to medical facilities and public services.

The fact is that planners, builders, investors, Council members and other parties responsible for infrastructure seldom even think about those who cannot ambulate without accessories and wheelchairs. We are confronted with obstacles every time we go out, because we are not included in planning public spaces or residential living. That must change as we prepare for a warming world and the need to modify our transportation.

My husband and I have depended on large, converted ramp vans for 20 years. We cannot transition to smaller vehicles. We need to negotiate public pathways and inside spaces that accommodate wheelchairs. Raising prices for that accessibility without providing set-apart near spaces for our vehicle is discriminatory.

Hawaii should commit to accommodating its disabled residents and protecting their right to park, move about and sit in the areas they need to navigate, just like anyone else. First, the state should provide marked handicap spaces on the streets and modify its parking lots to fit vehicles for the disabled. It should have elevators in libraries that need them and curb cuts on all streets to reach public buildings and parks.

Sidewalks need to be free from holes and obstacles. Medical parking lots and facilities need to be spacious enough for their wheelchair-bound patients. No one should obstruct a diagonally-striped access lane.

One day my husband could hike our favorite trail in the mountains. The next day he was paralyzed and in a wheelchair for life. When we provide for him, we could be providing for ourselves, as well.

Jean E. Rosenfeld, Ph.D., is an author and historian of religions.