Members of the Council for Community Accessibility greeted employees of 35 downtown businesses with balloons and Hershey Kisses on Wednesday to recognize handicap accessibility.
At Breaking Down the Barriers, the City of Bloomington awarded new AccessAbility decals to 10 local businesses and visited other accessible locations. Seven groups of about 30 council members total stopped by downtown businesses.
Council for Community Accessibility member Karin Willison uses a wheelchair and a service dog due to cerebral palsy.
“It’s really important to me because I really feel like Bloomington, as a community, really cares about accessibility,” she said. “It’s a priority here more than it is in other places that I’ve lived, and I love that.”
The businesses awarded decals Wednesday are the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, Chico’s, Seaview Outfitters, Opie Taylor’s Sports Grill, MainSource Bank, Gather: handmade shoppe & Co, the Green Nursery and Lil Bub’s Lil Shop.
The AccessAbility decals are awarded to businesses after council members survey the buildings. They look at features like parking, restrooms, stairs and elevators to decide whether the business is accessible to people with disabilities, Community and Family Resources special projects manager Michael Shermis said.
If the business does not meet the requirements for the AccessAbility decal, a council member informs the employees of these barriers and what they can do to improve the store for customers with wheelchairs and other accessibility needs.
Shermis said he wanted the event to make the community aware of people with disabilities and the need for a more accessible community.
“A community that is not accessible to all of its members is lacking in being a really good community,” he said. “It needs to be accessible and it needs for people to be able to get around in it.”
He said while many downtown businesses are accessible there is still plenty of room for improvement. He said many businesses on Fourth Street are not accessible to people with disabilities because many are located in old houses.
Susan Russ, chair for the activity and events committee for the Council on Community Accessibility, said accessible businesses are important for seniors and parents with strollers in addition to people with disabilities.
“Having a business that is accessible is really a valuable thing to make sure the city of Bloomington is a cool and easy place to visit,” she said.
Russ said she would like to see more Bloomington businesses become eligible for AccessAbility decals.
“There’s more to be done,” Russ said. “It would be great if we were delivering to every single business in town, but we’re not quite there yet.”
Pamela Boswell-Dike, assistant general manager at Chicos, said she was excited for the business to receive a decal for the first time.
She said the downtown business already had many accessible features before the council surveyed the building, which includes ramps, handrails and a public restroom.
“We have a lot of clients who need this access, so we were happy to provide it,” Boswell-Dike said. “It’s important to be accessible to everybody.”
Willison said she wanted to show her appreciation for accessible businesses to encourage more places to become open to people with disabilities.
“I think it’s important to thank the businesses that are accessible and show businesses that we have buying power and being accessible is worthwhile,” she said.
