adrian_turtle (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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accessibility_fail2012-04-23 10:13 pm
adrian_turtle) wrote in accessibility_fail2012-04-23 10:13 pm
Entry tags:
doors
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?
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?
no subject
I can't speak to Massachusetts law at all, but under federal law, neither the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or the Fair Housing Act (FHA) have any specific requirements that automatic door openers be installed. However, the ADA requires that services and programs be accessible, and the FHA requires that certain housing units have minimum levels of accessibility. It may be possible to argue that you need automatic door openers to have equal access and enjoyment of your home.
Even if that doesn't apply, your apartment complex is most likely required to allow you to install an automatic door opener. This is the stance may apartment owners chose to take, because it means you're required to pay for the costs instead of them.
Installing automatic door openers on existing doors can range from relatively cheap to $10,000+, depending on whether or not it's a fire door, and how much force is required to keep the door closed based on prevailing interior and exterior air patterns and local weather. There are often state, federal, and local grants that can help pay for accessibility repairs and upgrades, and you may be able to tap into some of that.
In considering whether your apartment manager may retaliate, some questions to ask yourself which may help you find an answer are:
• Are you asking them to pay, or paying yourself?
• Do you have legal or professional support that the property manager knows about? (Support from a lawyer, legal service, or advocacy service can encourage them to allow the modification, but if they decide they don't want it, the same support can escalate retaliation because you're getting outsiders involved to force the issue.)
• Does the property manager prioritize building uniformity over tenant usability vice versa? (Do all of the buildings look identical, or are there things like ramps and lever door handles which exist in some places but not in others?)
• Do you have an established, good relationship with your property manager and maintenance staff?
In general, if you feel comfortable advocating for yourself, I'd recommend starting by having a conversation with your property manager, telling them that the force needed to open specific doors aggravates your disability (you don't have to specify what that disability is, and they're not allowed to ask), and that installing automatic door openers would make your home livable again, but you're open to other possibilities which would have the same result.
If you don't feel comfortable advocating for yourself, there may be a legal assistance center or center for independent living in your area where someone can help advocate with you.
I know this is a lot of information, but I hope at least some of it is helpful!