doors

[adrian_turtle]

I live in an apartment building that makes no pretense of being accessible to wheelchairs. Sure, there's an elevator...but every door to the outside has a nasty trip-ledge and several steps up to street level. I don't need wheelchair access, personally. I need doors I can open, despite chronic hand and shoulder problems. I had thought I was coping ok. Then I noticed how often I was staying in the apartment to avoid the additional pain flares caused by pulling open the heavy building doors.

I haven't asked the landlord to install automatic door openers. I don't know if it's something they're legally required to do under the ADA or some Massachusetts law. It's not a workplace or any kind of public building. It's just a 40+ year old building with a few dozen apartments. I don't even have a sense of how difficult and expensive it is to install an automatic door opener (for an outside door that has to be locked). If it's a small thing, I think I'd feel more willing to push for it. I also don't know how my neighbors feel about it. Demonstrably, they can all get the door open, but some may well find it painful or difficult. My disabilities are not generally visible, and I've lost jobs for disclosing them. It makes it feel dangerous to speak to landlord or neighbors about a situation that's painful but not intolerable.

Any suggestions--diplomatic, legal, or technical? Or reassurance that of course nobody would try any kind of retaliation?

Comments

[megaptera]

Door openers are easy peasy to install. In my building it was done in an afternoon. A heavy door may have to be changed to be compatible with the opener; our building's front doors were already lightweight enough that the motor could handle them.

I googled a bit and found the Massachusetts Office on Disability, which seems to be a state government department that makes sure regulations etc. are followed and also seems to do some advocacy for citizens. Their client services page might be the way to contact someone and ask what your rights are, and in particular you could say that you're worried about how your landlord would react if you asked for this to be done.