Letter: Buildings need sensible access for the disabled

Recently while a passenger of Dial-A-Ride, we stopped at Fresenius Kidney Care. The Dial-A-Ride could not pull up to the entrance of the building because the driveway has such a sharp curve that it cannot accommodate the vehicle. One could assume that many patients using the services of the building would arrive in a vehicle large enough to have a lift.

What seems to be standard practice is to make driveways so that a vehicle with a lift has to go the wrong way to offload a passenger. The lift on vehicles is on the passenger side, but the driveways are designed so that the passenger would be offloaded on the opposite side of the driveway from the entrance to the building.

Another standard practice is to make the restroom door so hard to push open that only a strong able-bodied man can open it; even though there is an emblem on the door indicating it is disabled accessible.

The most sensible building I have ever seen is the Kadlec Healthplex. The driveway is wide, can accommodate several vehicles at a time, offloading in a safe manner. The restrooms that indicate they are for disabled persons have doors that can be opened with a wave of the hand.

This story was originally published May 30, 2017 at 11:05 PM with the headline "Letter: Buildings need sensible access for the disabled."