Marshall County municipalities confront challenges accomodating disabled population

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In Marshall County, 21.5 percent of people under age 65 are disabled, according to the United States Census Bureau. This is double the amount of Oklahoma (11.4 percent) and two and a half times as much as the rest of the United States (8.7 percent). Despite this fact, Marshall County is largely inaccessible to people with disabilities.

The laws that govern accessibility make this issue complicated to improve. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — signed in 1990 and enacted in 1991 — marked a historic milestone for disability civil rights. The ADA ensures that state and local governments as well as public businesses take measures for their facilities and programs to be accessible and otherwise do not discriminate.

The type of disability covered is as diverse as the type of accommodations required. Someone with a wheelchair, for example, requires the government to provide wheelchair ramps leading up to buildings and lowered counters so that their sitting height is able to see over and utilize the space. For someone who is hard of hearing, a sign language interpreter may be required in certain contexts, such as during a court case or city meetings.

However, the ADA leaves room for discretion on interpretation. For instance, the ADA does not require employers to provide accommodations if it imposes an “undue hardship.” It is up to the government and employers to determine what exactly would constitute an “undue hardship.”

Another example is that older buildings do not need to be as up to date on all accessibility codes immediately. If the accommodation is “readily achievable,” the city or public business must fix this issue. Something not “readily achievable” would be putting an expensive elevator into an old building with stairs. This changes, however, if the facility chooses to conduct a major renovation and the cost of the accommodation is comparable to the price of the project.

In Marshall County, some of the most obvious concerns for people with mobility problems are the lack of ramps, sporadic sidewalks and the quality of accessways, whether it be gravel used in business parking lots or the amount of potholes in a street.

In Madill’s square, there a few corners that do not have ramps. This requires people who use mobility aids such as wheelchairs or walkers, or people that have difficulty walking up stairs with joint or pain problems, to go a longer distance before the next ramp.

The lack of sidewalks can also be problematic. While people who don’t have disabilities may be able to walk across a grassy area, people with mobility aids cannot jump curbs or go through an uneven surface. Disabled people often have trouble with transportation as accessible vehicles are expensive and hard to come by. Therefore, sidewalks are important for people who use mobility aids such as wheelchairs.

Gwen Lesley Wilson, who is the executive director of HFMC Food Pantry, said one of her problems with accessibility is the gazebo by the courthouse.

“Every year my organization holds a Christmas event [downtown],” described Wilson. “One of the issues we have is we love to place [S]anta for photos in the gazebo. The issue is that it has no wheelchair accessibility, scooters, etc for those who want to enter the gazebo.”

The gazebo that Wilson is referring to is surrounded by grass, which many mobility aids cannot get through. On the ADA’s website ada.gov, one of the examples they present is a municipal gazebo. If city-run events are held at this gazebo, it must be accessible to disabled people.

City inspector David Sprouse said he is working on accessibility issues in Madill. Sprouse said he is first prioritizing the square. Within the last few weeks, he walked around the square looking for ramps and other accessibility issues, but so far he has not made calls to check on concrete to address these needs.

Sprouse acknowledged there is a lot of work ahead, especially with needing to destroy some existing steps to place pricey concrete for new ramps. He recognized the amount of work needed to be done is a lot on his plate.

“I’m only one person. I am the building inspector, the code enforcer, new construction. I wear many hats. And I still help out at the water department,” said Sprouse.

In the past, Madill has removed a ramp in front of The Madill Record because “it collected dirt and debris”. Instead of fixing the problem, they removed the ramp completely.

For businesses, much of Marshall County are old buildings that might fall under the “undue hardship” rule, especially with many of the buildings experiencing no major renovations.

However, Sprouse said that Marshall County is doing better when newer businesses arrive.

One example he gave was Hobo Joe’s. When they built their location, Hobo Joe’s could not receive their occupancy permit until they poured concrete in at least a section of their gravel parking lot for accessible spots.

As new businesses grow and old businesses renovate, hopefully too will accessibility grow. Even though the ADA was passed almost 30 years ago, there is still aways to go to achieve the goal of the ADA: “to ensure that all people with disabilities have equality of opportunity, economic self-sufficiency, full participation in American life, and independent living.”