Access is a Civil Right
Imagine yourself as a student. It’s the first day of school, you have your bag all packed, pencils and paper inside. You pick out clothes and get dressed. Maybe if you like school, you’re excited in anticipation of what the new year might bring. Maybe your anticipation is tinged with regret for things that have changed, or worry about if you’ll make friends. Imagine walking into the classroom on your first day. The type of classroom is irrelevant. It could be a college classroom your freshman year; it could be walking into homeroom as a senior in high school; or maybe you’re doing continuing education for your career, and the classroom is a small space in a community center with chairs all lined up neatly. Regardless, you walk in and sit at your place with your writing implements, ready to learn. It doesn’t take a long process of applying and inquisition just to get to this point: You simply sign up, and walk in.
Now, imagine instead that you’re disabled.
Just to get to the point of walking (or rolling) into your classroom on your first day is a maze of obstacles. First, you’ll probably liaise with the disability office or administration of whatever school you’re attending. If there is no disability office, you’ll be talking directly with the support staff of this fine institution. In this case, it’s unlikely that the administrative or support staff have any clue about what the school can or will do to accommodate your disability in the education system (or even how to start this process).
Imagine getting to your first day of class after all of that. First, if you have mobility issues, you will discover upon arriving whether or not the building is actually wheelchair accessible. Is there a step that you have to go up? (Because if yes, that’s not happening in a wheelchair.) Is the automatic door button for disability access actually functioning? Do you have to sit in front of the door until some fully mobile person takes pity on you and holds or opens the door?
If you’re a Blind person going to a class, you will need the class materials beforehand. You will need your textbooks in a format that your screen reader can read or in Braille. The same goes for any overhead materials. If you’re a Blind person with a Service Dog, you will need to bring your Service Dog to class. Your dog has a very important job to do — guiding you through the world! That means that the other students in the class will need to learn that they are never to interrupt the dog while they’re working. That includes waving, going “oh, cute!,” or talking to the dog otherwise, and especially not petting the dog.
If you’re a Deaf person going to class somewhere, it all starts well before the first day. After paying your entry fee, you will email the company offering the class to ask about a sign language interpreter. Most companies will initially say that they don’t (or can’t or won’t) provide interpreters for classes. In addition to interpreters, think about other things that a Deaf person and their interpreters might need to be able to keep up with the class. Language translation is a task, and it requires access to materials ahead of time. Can you imagine trying to translate something into a different language without sitting down and looking over the content? Also, a Deaf person has to be watching the interpreter to follow the class. Can you imagine trying to take notes while keeping your head up to watch someone signing? Maybe it could be done on a computer. But likely, a Deaf person will also need a notetaker to take notes so that they can review the material again after class (or in my case, I would review their notes next to mine to make sure I didn’t miss any huge topics).
However, these necessary accommodations often aren’t offered. Getting to our first day of class, as disabled people, should be equally easy and carefree. But because we’re always forced to advocate for ourselves, often in unkind climates, this is rarely the case. This happens because companies and able individuals don’t realize what their responsibilities are in these situations. For someone with a mobility disability, or in a wheelchair, the business or school is responsible to provide equal access. In this case, that access is physical and tangible. Physical access means working accessible doors and entry buttons so that a person in a wheelchair can enter a business on their own recognizance. It means an accessible bathroom stall that is not behind a manual and super heavy bathroom door. It means wide aisles and seating access that allows space for a wheelchair user to sit.
For a blind person, access required by businesses means things like door labels in Braille. All employees should be aware of Service Dog access and know that a Service Dog with a Blind person is providing a service — in this case, they are a guiding animal. They might do other things, too, like retrieve dropped items, open doors, and bring medications. This is just a small list (and this is true of many Service Dogs, not just Guide Dogs). They need to understand that the dog is allowed everywhere with their person. The exceptions are actually so rare that they probably don’t apply to your business.
Also, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a business is actually responsible to provide effective communication under the law. For many people who are Deaf and whose primary language is American Sign Language, an interpreter is the only means of effective communication.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) became law in 1990. The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA gives civil rights protections to individuals with disabilities similar to those provided to individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, age, and religion. It guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.
Because I identify as a Deaf person first a foremost, and because my Deafness affects all aspects of my life, I want to focus on that for this article, and also how the various titles of the ADA apply to Deafness.
1. Believe That They Know The Best Form of Access For Them
If a person comes to you and requests an ASL (American Sign Language), PSE (Pidgin Signed English — a variant that uses English word order), or SEE (Signed Exact English) interpreter in order to access your services, believe that they truly need that interpreter.
It’s your job as an institution or business owner to provide equal access — and access in the appropriate language, like ASL, is the only correct way to provide this.
Folks have been living in their bodies and with their disabilities for as long as they’ve had them, and for a lot of us, for our whole lives. This means we are the experts at what we need to access the world. It seems like a simple solution to a non-disabled person to just say, “Try reading my lips! Oh, we can just give you all the slide information. Why don’t we use Google Voice instead of an Interpreter?” But these are not true examples of accessibility.
I’ve been Deaf since early grade school. I started signing when I was eleven. When I started signing and had an interpreter in my classes, my grades went from a C average to an A average. This is because only 30% of speech can be seen on the lips. That means that the accuracy varies quite a lot, and a Deaf person who goes solely by lipreading is missing a ton of your conversation or lesson.
If you’re giving a Deaf person your printed materials, but your lecture is expanding on those slides, they are missing out on a lot of information! What are you testing from? Chances are you’re not just using those slides in your exam information. This is not equal access.
What about Google Voice? Google Voice is not that accurate (have you ever looked at auto-captions?). Also, Deaf people who speak American Sign Language are not English speakers. American Sign Language and English are not the same language at all. This is another reason that Google Voice is not a good substitute for an interpreter.
2. Provide Materials Upfront
When teaching a class, lecture, or seminar, if there are any materials that you’ve prepared to speak from, provide those to the disabled person (and their interpreter) beforehand.
Don’t make them jump through extra hoops to get them. Do not charge for these materials. Find a way to pre-address these costs upfront in your overhead. If you’re aware of this need ahead of time, it will be easier for you to accommodate.
Please be aware, though, that this is not a substitute for the equal access addressed in the Americans with Disabilities Act.
3. Make Sure the Space Is Accessible
When many people think about accessible spaces, they think about disabled people with mobility aids or motor impairments: Is there a button for the automatic door to open? DOES IT WORK? (If the button or the door are broken, that is an issue that needs to be addressed as immediately as possible.) Without an accessible door, you are effectively hanging a “No Physically Disabled People” sign on your door. Is there a lip or steps? Do you need to install a ramp? Do you need an elevator if you’re on any floor other than the ground floor? A lot of these basic accessible requirements are addressed in building code. But that doesn’t mean that the space you’re in addresses them.
But accessibility in entering and moving around a space aren’t the only needs.
Specifically for Deaf clients, for example, accessibility looks different. Is your space full of hard surfaces? Those are really difficult to hear around because sound bounces. If you have drywall, wood or tile floor, hard seating, and glass storefronts, there’s nothing to help absorb the background noise and help dampen it. This makes it difficult for Deaf people to be able to use whatever small amount of hearing they have to assist with lipreading. Think about adding soft materials like pillows, curtains, or acoustic panels for sound dampening. Also make sure that you have visual alerts for things like the fire alarm, lights that will stay on in an emergency, and other necessary building code things that help with visual safety.
4. Be Welcoming to Service Animals
Please, believe people who have service animals. But also: Please be aware that the service animal is there to do a job for its human — not to be entertainment for everyone else. That means not petting the service animal. It means not making kissy noises or talking to the service animal.
It depends on what the animal’s job is, of course, but in my personal case, he alerts me to talking and all manner of important sounds — so I have to spend all of my time correcting him if he is doing his job only because you’re making him alert. Also, there are all kinds of service animals — not just guide dogs. Guide dogs are the most visible and the most commonly understood, but plenty of other disabled people use service animals to help with their disabilities.
5. Address the Disabled Person
Not their abled partner, not the interpreter, not a parent. Don’t ask something that starts with, “Does she…?” Just don’t do it.
Think of this in terms of customer service. If you are entirely overlooking a disabled person’s personhood and ability to consent to having a conversation with you, then you’re not going to win their trust or their business. In many areas, it’s already very obvious when a disabled person isn’t welcome in your business — because there’s a physical barrier to entry, usually — and this is just another barrier. It makes us less likely to frequent your establishment. Disabled people are not a small population, in spite of the fact that media makes it seem like we are. Nearly one in five people in United States have some sort of disability, according to the U.S. Census.
Many of us are open to having a conversation with you, but we would like you to be respectful while you do it. A good rule to follow is this: If you wouldn’t ask that question of an abled stranger, then you probably shouldn’t be asking it of a disabled person either. Treat us the way that you would like a person in customer service to treat you, and you will win our business.
6. Finally, Remember That We Are People, Too
Disabled people just want the same peaceful enjoyment of public amenities that everyone else has. We’re not out to get you. We just want to be seen as equals — and because of the way that our society is set up right now, we need you to provide these accesses so that we can enjoy our lives and be around you!
When it comes to businesses and other services providers, this means that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA guarantees equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities in public accommodations, employment, transportation, state and local government services, and telecommunications. Equal access for disabled people includes things like providing ASL interpreters, having a space that is accessible for all kinds of mobility disabilities and wheelchair users, allowing service dogs and not being a jerk about a person who needs their service dog to access your space, as well as treating disabled people like anybody else — addressing us directly, talking to us, and treating us with respect.
