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July 2009
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We received the tip about the wheelchair lifts from a concerned parent at Nathan Hale High School in Seattle. He was upset that some of the disabled parents couldn't watch football games from the stands because the lifts were not working. We checked it out and found it was true. We also discovered that other stadiums had lifts that did not work. We inspected Seattle Schools maintenance records, state permit information and data from the manufacturers. We learned that the district had plenty of problems maintaining the lifts. In some cases some of them just sat rusting for years. The problem in covering this story is that much of the information from the state, Seattle Schools and the manufacturers just didn't match. Seattle Schools had issues with the vendors, so their record keeping was not very detailed. The state inspections were less than helpful because they could tell you only that a lift failed inspection, not when it actually broke down. The manufacturers were only on the hook for the first year of the warranty. After that they say they were never notified by Seattle Schools about the problems. The story behind the story seems to be maintenance. One vendor told us that Seattle Schools is forced to use the lowest bidder in choosing the company that will maintain the lifts. The costs needed to properly care for this equipment may be a lot more than what Seattle Schools is currently paying. Making matters worse, to learn that the district employees were power washing the delicate equipment, against manufacturers specs, just left me scratching my head. You may ask what's the big deal? The lifts cost $60,000 and just a few people are suffering the consequences. However, speak to people in the disabled community and this is a huge matter to them. The other issue is the law. The Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA requires all Seattle Schools events to be readily accessible to the disabled. Though the law provides for isolated and temporary interruptions in service, four years of delays is troublesome. After we made a request for information on these lifts, Seattle Schools made the move to approve new lifts in their new budget. The question is - will they be maintained so they work for more than a year or two? 4 Comments |
You forgot about the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
This is the one LAW that all schools have to follow.
In my opinion, the schools show have to build better seating or better accomedations for those who use wheelcahirs. There should have been better training for the cleaning crews so that they would NOT spray water on the lifts.
Now this story is not uncommon to many who use wheelchairs. It is this "out of sight; out of mind" problem that has been going on since 1968 when one law (that has yet to be followed in this state) that gave more rights to the disabled.
I just find this the typical Washington state hatred of the disabled! THis really makes me think that the "Stone Age" thinking needs to have better education to remove it and better training on how to deal with the disabled to break this cycle!
Please let the lifts rust.
Don't waste hundreds of thousands of taxpayer money on something that never is used.
Work out something less costly.
Chep,
You would not say that if you were one who uses the wheelchair. Besides it is the LAW to give "The blind, the visually handicapped, the hearing impaired, and the otherwise physically disabled are entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges on common carriers, airplanes, motor vehicles, railroad trains, motor buses, street cars, boats, and all other public conveyances, as well as in hotels, lodging places, places of public resort, accommodation, assemblage or amusement, and all other places to which the general public is invited, subject only to the conditions and limitations established by law and applicable alike to all persons."
So, if you are willing to say to a Veteran in a wheelchair, (to their face) that they are NOT wanted in public, then you need to help out with the removal of discrimination in this country.
If you don't then you are part of the Hate problem!
from above topics i hav liked these topics You would not say that if you were one who uses the wheelchair. Besides it is the LAW to give "The blind, the visually handicapped, the hearing impaired, and the otherwise physically disabled are entitled to full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, and privileges on common carriers, airplanes, motor vehicles, railroad trains, motor buses, street cars, boats, and all other public conveyances, as well as in hotels, lodging places, places of public resort, accommodation,
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Sam Dermott writes about a number of wheel chair from a lay person's perspective.How the wheel chair helpful is.