Disabled and denied

"DOJ is so understaffed (that) I don't know if I would waste my time filing a complaint," said Mike Harris, deputy executive director of Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America. He advocates talks directly with businesses. If that fails, he says private lawsuits are an option.

Concerns over accessibility are likely to become more profound in coming years as baby boomers age. By 2030, seniors 65-84 will make up 17 percent of the population compared with 11 percent today, according to the U.S. Census. And with people living longer, the probability of more people becoming disabled in later years rises.

"Disability should be on the top of everyone's mind," said Harold Core, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. "It's literally waiting around the corner for any of us at any given minute not just (for) you but someone in your family."

Life is an obstacle course

Overall, 1.7 million people live with disabilities in Michigan, or about 18.7 percent of residents 5 and older not living in institutions, according to the 2000 Census. Detroit has one of the highest rates among cities with 100,000 people or more. Among the state's working-age adults -- those 21 to 64 -- 8.3 percent are physically disabled.

For those who have to use a wheelchair, the daily business of living is an obstacle course.

The ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in "places of public accommodation" and "commercial facilities." But scores of businesses remain inaccessible to those in wheelchairs.

"Shopping for clothes is a nightmare," said Sherri Bullard, 31, of Taylor, who has used a wheelchair all her life because she was born with cerebral palsy.

"Many dressing rooms are horrible. (They) are like postage stamps. My wheelchair doesn't fit. The clothes racks are too close so you can't fit in between them."

Movie theaters, such as the Cinemark chain with locations in Warren, Grand Rapids and Grandville, have been sued in recent years over their new stadium-seating design. The chain offered only one spot for wheelchair users: directly under the screen, where a patron has to crane his or her neck to see.

The suit, brought by the Justice Department, was settled in November 2004, with the chain agreeing to design wheelchair seating in the middle for all future theaters and modify seating in 100 existing theaters nationwide.

Terra Mundt, 20, a student from Fort Gratiot, outside Port Huron, said vacations are tough.

"You have to call every hotel in the area and see if they have an (accessible) shower," said Mundt, whose 18-year-old brother uses a wheelchair. "We plan vacations one and two years in advance."

Nancy Starnes, vice president of the National Organization on Disability, an advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C, said, "Sadly, it's not surprising."

But Starnes notes that such businesses are not only violating the "law of the land," they are also missing out on customers.

The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that people with disabilities have $175 billion in discretionary spending -- almost twice the spending power of teens, a demographic often aggressively sought.

Carl Hultgren, co-owner of Dearborn's Stormy Records, recognizes that spending power.

His store plans to move next year to the second floor of Green Brain Comics on Michigan Avenue. To make the new location accessible, Stormy Records will have a computer on the bottom floor that will include a searchable inventory of all the records in stock. A salesperson will bring them to customers with disabilities.

"We do have a few customers who are wheelchair-bound and others who don't get around too easily," Hultgren said. "We see a lot of older people who do prefer to buy records than CDs."

Elsewhere, violations of the ADA abound -- and they aren't confined to the private sector.

The River Rouge city hall complex on West Jefferson, for example, has two accessible parking spots, but neither is van-accessible. By law, at least one must be.

A wheelchair user wouldn't be able to use the rest room. That's because the bathrooms have doors that are too narrow and stalls that are too small.

A person entering the jury box would have to climb up a steep step to get into the box. When a wheelchair user is called to jury duty, city officials say a court officer helps him or her over the step.

But many wheelchair users consider it humiliating to be carried, said Harris, who wrote a letter to city hall officials in July 2004 citing the problems. The city of Detroit also was sued by the Justice Department last year for failing for more than a decade to come up with a plan to correct ADA violations at many of its public properties. Under a settlement reached Feb. 27, 2004, Detroit agreed to comply by 2007.

The Department of Justice cited 36 city-owned properties that need to become accessible. Among the places: Belle Isle, where there is no access for people with disabilities either to the beach or the playground equipment; the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, where service counters and the spouts on several drinking fountains can't be reached by disabled people; and the Detroit Zoo, where the Holden Museum of Reptiles is not accessible partly because of the height of the displays.

Under the settlement, Detroit also agreed to equip each police station and jail with a working text telephone for those who are hearing impaired; develop written emergency management policies for evacuating those with disabilities; and make curb ramps at street intersections constructed or altered after 1992 accessible.

Local officials' hands are tied

Such agreements can only go so far, however.

Local government officials have no authority to enforce the ADA against private businesses; they can only enforce local and state laws. But while Michigan has strict laws on ensuring that buildings are barrier-free, they only apply to public and private buildings constructed after 1974. The ADA requires all buildings, regardless of age, to be barrier-free unless doing so is not "readily achievable," meaning it can't be accomplished without great difficulty or expense.

Without federal enforcement, however, many private places remain out of compliance.

One solution: adopting provisions of the ADA into local ordinances, so officials can ticket businesses for being inaccessible.

Peter Berg of the Great Lakes ADA Accessible IT Center, points to Joliet, Ill., which adopted the ADA, the federal Fair Housing Act and state accessibility codes last year into its local laws.

"It's not done as a means to penalize a business; it's to encourage voluntary compliance," said Berg, technical assistance coordinator at the federally funded center, which provides information on implementing the ADA.

Complaints, suits spur change

For now, compliance of the ADA often is driven largely by private lawsuits and complaints to the Department of Justice and other agencies, a process that can be long and complicated. Overall figures for the number of lawsuits are difficult to track because no central agency handles all disability complaints. In fact, finding the right agency with which to file a complaint is difficult.

But since the ADA was passed in 1990, the U.S. Justice Department has received 418 complaints for noncompliance in Michigan. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed 6,568 complaints in Michigan since 1992, when the ADA began to apply to employers. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has fielded more than 7,500 complaints for disability discrimination since 1990, reaching a six-year high last year.

Experts say private lawsuits far outnumber complaints with federal and local governments. In addition, the number of actual violations may be higher than reported because people with disabilities often suffer in silence.

"We feel slighted and ignored and forgotten in some respects," said John Kemp, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney and advocate for disability rights.

Wayne State notes obstacles

Anderson, the Bonstelle theatergoer, can relate. The employees who helped him get into the theater promised to come back after the performance, he said. But when they didn't, a stranded Anderson finally got help from other patrons.

What if there had been an emergency or a fire?

"It's a problem site," acknowledged Jim Sears, associate vice president for facilities at Wayne State University.

But the university doesn't own any parking spots or land around the theater, so space to make the theater accessible is not available, Sears said.

"We literally cannot construct a ramp," he said, noting that the available land is owned by the American Red Cross.

Shortly after talking with The News, Wayne State and Red Cross officials met to discuss options, according to Red Cross spokeswoman Andrea Ward. No agreement has yet been reached.