John Wood

I am an author and an accessibility advocate with spina bifida. As a wheelchair user, I see something every day that really gets on my nerves— “improper accessibility.” I’ve tried to do something to change it. I live in a small town and although most new places are totally accessible, most older businesses have either no ramp, a badly built ramp, or a ramp that you’d have to be Evel Knievel to go up or down.

As a person with a severe physical disability, I crave proper accessibility. When I go to a public place only to see that it’s not accessible, it makes me upset because people like me deserve the same accessibility as everyone else. It makes me happy when I go to a business and see that it is accessible because I know it means the business is accommodating. Proper accessibility means I can expect to see a ramp, or a wide doorway, or both. it all depends on how big or small the building is.

Earlier this year, with the help of members from my local church, I got together a crew to help rectify a form of improper accessibility, a very poorly built ramp at the front entrance of our church’s main sanctuary, taking a death trap and turning it into a lifesaver. ADA standards require a minimum of a 1×12 slope ratio, meaning for every 1 foot of horizontal rise, you have to have 1 foot of ramp, the minimum of 36 inches of width on the ramp and landings of 60 inches in length or more. I finally surveyed the finished product, and I was pleasantly surprised to see the ADA being put into effect. I gave the project my seal of approval. Not only this, but I was able to give talks to several other local businesses on the importance of proper accessibility, as well as discussing this on my accessibility blog and its corresponding YouTube channel.

Up until a few years ago I didn’t know what proper accessibility was. I was carried up stairs, hurled over curbs, and pushed down bumpy sidewalks and over poorly made curb cuts. Only after experiencing this was I finally mad enough to do something about it, so I created my first YouTube channel “As Told From The Wheelchair,” a weekly vlog channel where I discussed accessibility through the eyes of someone with a physical disability.

After years of arguing with people over the facts and concept of proper accessibility, I was finally being taken seriously. More and more businesses started enhancing their accessibility avenues and this made me happy as I knew somehow I was being heard. For those being plagued with improper accessibility, it’s time to stand up for your rights.

The ADA was created to enhance accessibility avenues for those of us who desperately need it, for folks like me. When I was born, the ADA was entering its fourth year of enactment, but nothing was being done for those still needing proper accessibility. Of course, it took extreme effort and expense to get more school districts to follow the law and allow students with disabilities to attend schools. My parents had to fight to get me my education and not have me shoved in a corner learning diddly squat. Students with disabilities and 504 plans deserve their accessibility rights. As a former 504 plan student, I had to stand up for myself numerous times to be allowed my rights. It’s only when you stand up for your rights enough times that you are finally allowed those rights and the ability to be taken seriously by others. We’re people with disabilities, not string puppets!

Let me give you a few examples of improper accessibility and how I fixed them. In middle school, I had several classrooms that led to grass fields outside with the only sidewalk being 50 to 100 feet away and through dirt. Only then did I ask for sidewalks behind these classrooms when possible. In high school, I had to beg for the right to not be guided around like other students. I had to fight to get my GED class after graduation and I had to fight for several programs I needed. Since I graduated in 2013, I’ve noticed that accessibility has worse. It seems more places are reverting to poor accessibility features unless they’re a brand-new place just opening. Why do we have Walmart buildings that are 2 million years old or schools that you need a tour guide to walk through? Why can’t these places just follow the ADA and become fully accessible to everyone, not just people without disabilities? You might be able to talk some sense into them about what accessibility needs to look like. I know I’ve had to do that a time or two in my life and let me tell you, it’s infuriating. If others knew what accessibility could look like, this world would be a lot more accessible.

Let’s switch gears and talk about what you can do to help others with accessibility issues, like I had.

1 If you see improper accessibility, document it!
We all have smartphones. Use yours and document the issue, and show it to the owner of the establishment.

2 If it’s inaccessible to you, it’s definitely inaccessible to someone in a wheelchair or other accessibility device.

3 Find it, fix it, tell others about it.

If your accessibility is being hindered by someone’s negligence, don’t be afraid to step up and ask to help them fix it. It’s been my experience that nobody gets upset because I want to fix the issue. I’ve been doing this same thing for years, and it’s gotten easier just asking to help.

If you’re willing to help, step up, and do it. You will indeed be changing the world around you by your actions.