Click here for a video on the Accessibility Tour
Learning the life of the handicapped
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Brent Johnson
FOR THE STAR-LEDGER
As he approached the elevator doors in town hall, Edison Mayor Jun Choi swung his wheelchair around and backed his way in.
From there, he pushed the metal wheels from the tax office to the clerk's desk, out the front door and over to the courtroom and police station.
Choi isn't disabled. Nor is Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan. But the two rolled around town hall in manual wheelchairs yesterday to see how well the building is adapted to the handicapped.
Following them in a motorized chair was Jackie Jackson, a South Plainfield disability activist who organizes the accessibility tours in conjunction with the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
They maneuvered around bathrooms, checked the height of reception counters and inspected the curbs on sidewalks.
"Accessibility means more than being able to enter a building," said Jackson, a 50-year-old stricken with two autoimmune diseases: multiple sclerosis and sarcoidosis. "This is to heighten sensitivity and to educate." Jackson has lived with multiple sclerosis for 20 years, first walking with a cane and moving with a wheelchair the last seven.
She's already led wheelchair tours with officials in Franklin and South Plainfield. She tells them whether their buildings are up to code with the Americans with Disabilities Act and where they can make improvements.
"I'm trying to engage in an area where people conduct business on a daily basis," said Jackson, who is also a social worker.
And Choi was game to get behind the wheels.
"They often say: If you really want to know what people go through, put yourself in their shoes," the mayor said. "Or in this case, their wheelchair." Choi said he had driven a wheelchair before. The police chief? Not so much.
Because Edison town hall was built in the 1970s, and this was the first time township officials took a tour like this, some of the building might not be up to code, Choi noted.
And wheeling around the halls, Jackson and company spied an issue with the counter at the tax office. It was too high for the handicapped to look over.
"You can't see the receptionist," Choi said, pushing his arms on the leather seat to lift his torso and stretch his neck to look.
Outside, they found some sidewalk curbs didn't have enough dips, and some concrete ramps to the front entrance were too steep, too.
But Jackson also pointed out the good: Reception bells at the desk that were low enough to reach, offices with plenty of room to maneuver.
"(The township) is making reasonable accommodations," she said.