On June 27, 2022, Lesamarie Hacker, an IU Health Bloomington volunteer and wheelchair user, submitted complaints to the Herald-Times about the heights of soap dispensers in the hospital’s bathroom facilities and the inaccessible nature of the cafeteria.
Hacker said she was concerned with the lack of accessibility, having waited months for the hospital to address her complaints. Two days after the article was published, her concerns began to be addressed.
“People need to start taking these issues, and disabled people themselves, seriously,” Hacker said.
IU Health Bloomington said in an email they had no further comments given the concerns had been resolved.
Unfortunately, according to Hacker, accessibility issues in Bloomington are not uncommon. Many restaurants and bars in Bloomington remain inaccessible to those in wheelchairs, and there are issues with the heights of objects, or the width of hallways persist.
Hacker emphasized the role of governmental regulations and individuals to help increase accessibility.
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"Instead of abiding by the minimum regulations, the people who work in IU Health or any place should look at this as someone who uses a wheelchair full time, someone who is a little person, someone who uses crutches, someone who has cerebral palsy,” Hacker said. “It could be anyone who is marginalized in our disabled community."
Robin Jones, director of the Great Lakes Americans with Disabilities Act Center, described common issues with compliance with the ADA in businesses and buildings.
According to Jones, it is common for designers to not consider what they think would be small issues regarding accessibility – the height of soap dispensers, the weights of doors, the width of aisles.
“A lot of the barriers that exist are because people don’t pay attention to what they are doing and where they place things,” Jones said.
Universal design, or the design of spaces for everyone, is becoming more popular in construction. Consequently, ADA compliance is trending upward. Technology is also improving accessibility through the adoption of automatic flush toilets, sinks and doors. However, the attitudes of business owners and employees often don’t reflect these advances.
Jones said people should ask themselves how they’d like to be treated in such a situation.
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“Probably one of the biggest barriers is the attitude of the staff that work in many places of business, public or private,” Jones said. “They do not know how to provide good customer service and do not know how to interact with persons with disabilities,”
Michael Shermis, the special projects coordinator in Bloomington’s Community and Family Resources Department, outlined the city government’s main process for improving accessibility. His department primarily conducts surveys to check for accessibility in buildings, and provide recommendations based on those surveys.
“Our surveys for accessibility usually come from complaints,” Shermis said. “However, various organizations will sometimes come to us to conduct surveys for accessibility. For example, the Monroe County election board who asked us to survey 32 of their poll sites.”
Shermis said the majority of their work involves public property and retail spaces. While the City of Bloomington’s facilities are automatically surveyed by the department, and other governmental organizations often ask for accessibility surveys, retail and restaurant industries rarely request these surveys.
Shermis emphasized that creating awareness about accessibility issues is the best way to improve it around Bloomington. Through increased awareness, people will increasingly hold themselves accountable.
