A Barrier Wednesday June 1, 2022
As a disabled person who uses a power wheelchair, it is more common to encounter barriers than days without any. So I am not surprised when I encounter 1 or 2 in my day-to-day activities. On Wednesday, I was surprised by the number of barriers I encountered. So this blog is to document them and be able to share the details with others.
Barrier 1
I had a somewhat busy day with medical stuff and I was planning to attend a block party to table for the Santa Clara County Green Party — Yes on Measure B!! As I was coming back from my appointments, I picked up lunch and opted to go to the park to sit and eat. When I arrived at the Guadalupe River Park and Garden at the Rotary Playground in my wheelchair accessible van, I noticed that someone felt it was correct to put the mulch pile in the disabled parking space. There were other parking spaces open but that does not make the disability parking an appropriate place to pile debris and gardening supplies.
Barriers 2 and 3
Next, I made it home to head to the Measure B Block Party. I opted to roll to this event as parking in downtown San Jose is difficult for everyone. One my way (about 0.6 miles), I encountered two more barriers. During the first year of the pandemic, my city shut off the push button walk lights and made them automatic. This was so nice to not have to worry about pushing a button on pole that is often out of my reach and out of my way to press when I need to cross the street. I used to call it my corner pedestrian dance because I have to wheel up the sidewalk curb cut and go to the post with the button on it. Then I press the button and circle back around to point in the direction that I need to go. I often miss a light cycle and knowing how driving is in my city and that these lights are technically used to prevent pedestrian deaths, I sit and wait for the next one.
This button was out of my reach though and there was not a sidewalk to use to access the device. So I waited until I knew which way the light was going and when it was safe, I crossed the street without the walk light. While this is not hard to do, I wonder if someone will remember to sue the city when I get hit doing this next time or the time after that or the time after that… I would think that would make change but I have seen how my city quickly brushes the pedestrian deaths away, especially when it involves someone in a scooter or wheelchair. Sure, they track the deaths on one of their dashboards but do they remember that it is parents, spouses, siblings, friends, and other relatives who are killed in these accidents.
The third barrier is a little bit different while still pertaining to the use of disability parking spaces. As I continued on my way to the Block Party, I saw a van parked straddling 2 ADA parking spaces at a health center in the downtown area. The contractors in the van told me that the health center gave them permission to block the ADA parking spaces when they were working there. I do not feel it is the contractors’ fault if they were told they could park there. Just because I know there are some who need this detail, I will add that Blue ADA Parking spaces do close when your business does unless you have controlled access to the parking lot. Building access is still needed.
Barrier 4
The next major barrier was on my way home from the Block Party. I was on a different street as it would take me home faster and in the middle of the block. If it was a full barrier to my sidewalk access, I would have had to turn around and go back to the corner to be able to travel on the other side of the street. Sidewalks get old and start to breakdown but also, as trees grow, sidewalks get destroyed and access is compromised. This is probably one of the worst sidewalks that I have encountered in the city of San Jose. The 2 slabs of sidewalk were offset by at least 2 inches which meant possibly damaging the underside to my chair. I debated on turning back to go down the other side and then decided I really did not want to do that. So I gingerly bumped my chair down the sidewalk displaced area. Luckily with no damage. If I had been going faster and not seen it in time, I would not have been pretty.
There were 3 different sections that were painted green to mark them. I assume they are on a list to be repaired at some point. I live in a city that believes the Census disability statistics instead of understanding that 25% of people in the US are likely disabled.
Barrier 5
Downtown San Jose is going through a lot of development so there are items that have broken down or sink holes to fill on the sidewalks and it does not seem that the city is getting around to fixing things in a timely way. I am slowly learning to take things a bit slower so that I do not break a caster or a wheel and end up stuck at home because my wheelchair repair place does not have loaner chairs when mine needs repairs.
This barrier was avoidable and did not really interrupt my travel but I am including it because there are many other examples of this same situation all around the downtown area. Other items that need to be replaced are the PG&E utility access points but reporting things is not as easy as entering it into the city app for issues because these items are ADA accessibility issues and they have to be called in to an unstaffed phone with a person who does not understand the first thing about why the person is reporting this issue to them. An inconvenience to non-disabled people can be a life stopping issue to a disabled person. So I do not always report these items. Given that my ADA complaints go unanswered, why would I trust the city to fix anything else?
And just because, I wish to share this last photo on if “Build Back Better” was a swing set.
