Disability Access News

Thursday, January 01, 2009, 15:00
Kent & Sussex Courier

THE TUNBRIDGE Wells Area Access Group is celebrating after one of its 10-year campaigns for accessible lifts has paid off and two more have moved a step closer.

Tunbridge Wells train station, on Mount Pleasant Road, will have a lift installed ready to be operational by the summer.

The Adult Education Centre, on Monson Road, and the town's library, museum and art gallery, on Civic Way, are likely to undergo work to make them more accessible.

Chairman of the access group Michael Coggles described the news as "a real Christmas present for everybody in Tunbridge Wells".

He added: "It is something we have all wanted and been campaigning for for 10 years."

Southeastern Trains said designs had been drawn up and the tender process to supply and install a suitable lift was currently under way.

It is expected to cost £200,000 and will utilise the existing lift shaft on platform two providing access to street level.

Mr Coggles said: "We are overjoyed we are getting the lift, not just for us but mothers with young children and the elderly. It will benefit everybody.

"At the moment a wheelchair-bound person would have go down a ramp and press a bell for staff to let you on to the platform.

"Disabled people here up to now, on a train from London, would have to get off at Tonbridge station – where they have a lift – and be driven to Tunbridge Wells by a vehicle provided by Southeastern.

"The lift will make everybody's lives easier."

A feasibility study is being carried out at the library for installing both the lift and disabled toilets, and Kent County Council has said investigations for the lift at the adult education centre were on-going.

Mr Coggles added: "New lifts in these important buildings will mean better facilities and a huge improvement for everybody.

"At the moment at the library you can only get to the ground floor. With a new lift the building will be available to everybody.

Portfolio holder for safer and stronger communities, Cllr James Scholes said: "We have been working on this project behind the scenes for a long time with Kent County Council.

"Improvements to enable more people to access to the museum, art gallery and library building were originally anticipated to form part of a larger redevelopment of the site, part-financed by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

"Unfortunately the bid for funding was unsuccessful. However, work to provide a lift and accessible toilets continues."

By Alison Stateman / Los Angeles Monday, Dec. 29, 2008

Jarek Molski, 38, is a bit of a legend in legal circles. Disabled in a 1985 motorcycle accident that left him a paraplegic, he has filed 400 lawsuits against businesses under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), alleging access violations. He was dubbed a "hit-and-run plaintiff" in 2004 by a federal judge and barred from filing any more lawsuits. Molski, of course, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which finally rejected his case on Nov. 17 without comment. Molski must now petition the Central District Court of California and all state courts first before filing any new lawsuits. (See the top 10 underreported stories of 2008.)

Molski may sound extreme, but he is far from the only plaintiff who has filed hundreds of lawsuits under the ADA in California. A significant number of people who sue under the ADA have legitimate grievances and appear to be motivated by a sincere desire for access rather than monetary gain. However, according to David Warren Peters, CEO and general counsel of Lawyers Against Lawsuit Abuse, a small group of opportunists and select law firms are responsible for a huge percentage of the lawsuits. "I've seen plaintiffs that make Jarek Molski look like a Cub Scout," says Peters, whose San Diego–based firm represents and consults businesses and individuals accused of ADA noncompliance across the state and country. One plaintiff, he says, has filed more than 1,000 ADA accessibility suits alone.

California, along with Hawaii, Illinois and Florida, is a particular hotbed for ADA lawsuits and the law firms that bring them to court. "California may be the worst in the country," says Peters, citing several factors for potential abuse, chief among them two California statutes that provide $1,000 or $4,000 in minimum damages, plus attorney fees, per each successful claimant. Many claimants multiply these damage amounts by the number of conditions they observe at a property. This frequently results in $50,000 or more in damage demands, says Peters. Some serial claimants will file for damages against dozens of businesses they say they have visited on the same day or for repeated visits to an establishment.

"Opportunists see this as a great way to make $12,000 a day or more just by eating out," says Peters. "Easy money with the help of the courts is bound to attract opportunists." Peters adds that a surprisingly large number of suits are filed by individuals with significant prior criminal history. "It's hard enough to get a job if you have a criminal record. It's probably harder if you have one and are in a wheelchair. These lawsuits offer an unbelievable amount of money."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Molski's attorney, Thomas Frankovich, says his client and the dozen or so serial ADA plaintiffs his firm has represented are activists and crusaders. Frankovich dubbed Molski (who does not have a criminal record) "the sheriff" because "he started going into town to clean it up." Frankovich says he has filed 223 ADA lawsuits on behalf of Molski. (Molski used other attorneys to file his other suits.) Frankovich says Molski began suing only after his letters to offending businesses were ignored. (Molski was out of the country and couldn't be reached for comment.) Says Frankovich: "Letters don't work. Only the hammer of litigation gets them to do what they need."

But Frankovich himself is being charged by the state bar of California on three counts of misconduct, stemming from ADA lawsuits he filed on behalf of Molski. One count alleges that Frankovich's litigation strategy amounted to a "scheme to extort money from defendants." Says Frankovich of the charge: "It's an absolute fabrication based on absolutely no supportive facts. Using the fact that he filed 223 lawsuits as evidence of a scheme is absurd. His rights were violated in 223 cases where significant architectural barriers existed."

The flood of potentially frivolous lawsuits, many directed at small businesses of less than 1,000 square feet, can have a profound effect on the local economy. Fearing the costs of a lengthy legal battle, many small-business owners decide to settle with plaintiffs for thousands of dollars. Some can't absorb the losses and end up shuttering their businesses.

Part of the problem, Peters says, is that California has higher standards than the federal ADA mandates, leading some business owners to mistakenly believe they are in compliance when they are not. The federal standard requires businesses to do what is readily achievable — that which can be carried out without much difficulty or expense, determined by practicality and the financial resources of the individual business. In California the standard is any discrimination or distinction in the way a business provides goods or services to the able-bodied and disabled. "If you fully comply with the ADA — and only with the ADA — in California, you can still be sued," says Peters. "Only 2% of buildings are compliant in California since the ADA guidelines went into effect."

In addition, inaccurate information about disabled access standards can leave even well-meaning business owners, who have had their premises inspected, vulnerable. Building inspectors and architects are sometimes misinformed about state compliance standards. In some cases, state and federal regulations are in direct conflict. For instance, California state regulations require a curb ramp to have a beveled lip, while federal regulations say the transition from ramps to walks, gutters or streets should be flush and free of abrupt changes. A new state law, S.B. 1608, approved by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2009, may only complicate the issue by creating a special class of "qualified defendants" (who have opted to be officially certified) who can avoid additional damages and legal expenses.

Andrew Imparato, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities, says his organization's biggest concern is that when the lawsuits are filed, a settlement may be reached, but the access issue is not addressed. "We'd like to see federal judges in a jurisdiction where lots of cases are being filed looking at the phenomenon and trying to work on a solution that results in improvements in accessibility," says Imparato, "and not lining the pockets of plaintiffs or boutique law firms that make a business out of it."

A call has been made for the disabled ramp beside the Narooma cinema’s to be fixed.

The kerb ramp was installed to work with the disabled car park, and it appears the disabled car park itself was made large enough to incorporate the kerb ramp.

But for unknown reasons the kerb access ramp was put in front of a car parking space beside the disabled car park.

As the kerb ramp is in front of a car parking space when vehicles park the disabled access is unusable by people with walking frames and wheelchairs.

Owners of the Narooma Cinema’s John and Janette Griffiths have contacted Council about the awkward access point but have not received a response.

“I would relocate the ramp to the actual disabled car park,” Mrs Griffiths said.

However the likely solution may be to erect signage-disallowing parking in the space in front of the disabled kerb ramp.

Both Mr and Mrs Griffiths are concerned disabled persons will be inconvenienced as they must negotiate their way around other vehicles in the car park to access the footpath.

Saturday, December 6 2008

SEVERAL DISABLED persons on motorised wheelchairs could not join in yesterday’s closing ceremony for Disabled Awareness Week on Harris Promenade in San Fernando due to the height of the promenade’s edge from the road.

The angry disabled persons are calling on San Fernando Mayor Kenneth Ferguson and the San Fernando Corporation (SFCC) to make the area more user friendly for disabled persons.

“We still can’t come up (on the promenade) to participate in activities. The promenade is not useable,” complained chairman of Combined Disabilities of Trinidad and Tobago, Harrilal Singh, 60.

He pointed to the six inch edge of the promenade which made it impossible for wheelchair-bound persons to access the promenade by themselves. Harrilal said he felt disenchanted with the treatment meted out to the disabled in San Fernando.

“I like to go about and participate in activities, but apparently no thought was given to people on wheelchairs who want to use the promenade when it was constructed,” Harrilal said.

Another man, Premnath Samaroo, 48, from San Fernando said it was dangerous to raise the front of wheelchairs too far off the ground since the chair might capsize backwards causing injury to the person sitting.

Samaroo positioned his chair behind a parked vehicle to view the parade of performers because he too could not access nearby chairs and tents placed along the promenade.

Corporation CEO Marlene Coudray said she was aware of the situation. “There is a ramp at the back of the bandstand for wheelchairs. But I saw for myself yesterday that motorised chairs cannot access the promenade from the front,” Coudray said.

She said the SFCC did not build the promenade and said it was a project of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott).

However, she said meetings were held with the Disability Unit months ago and work will start on a ramp for motorised wheelchairs next week.

Incidentally, the week long celebration was to raise public awareness of the different issues facing the disabled.

“Over 25 Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) turned out for the launch of the Disabled Awareness Week on the Brian Lara Promenade,” said Angela Edwards, the Director of Disabilities Affairs Unit in the Ministry of Social Development.

Dec 10 2008 by Aaron Boland, Liverpool Daily Post

Hospital patients angry at disabled car park closure

DISABLED patients at the Royal Liverpool Hospital reacted angrily yesterday after discovering their car park had been closed to make way for hospital staff.

The car park, on West Derby Street, is now being used as an overspill parking area for staff, and disabled patients have been moved to a multi-storey further away.

Phil Balmer, 63, from Farnworth in Widnes, is diabetic and can only walk a short distance after having a quadruple bypass operation.

He says hospital administrators were putting the welfare of staff before that of disabled patients.

When he arrived at the car park – which was yesterday still signposted for disabled drivers – he was refused entry by an attendant at the barrier.

He says the car park, which has space for 50 to 60 vehicles, was not full, and believes the new disabled parking provision on Prescot Street is not suitable for many disabled people.

Mr Balmer said there was no information about the new parking arrangements on display in the hospital.

He said: “People need to be informed about the multi-storey car park and the shuttle service from there to the hospital.

“I don’t think a shuttle bus is the answer as you don’t know how long you’ll have to wait for it, and could be late for your appointment.

“I’m reasonably fortunate because I can walk and could struggle over to the hospital, but others may have to wait. It could a bit lonely, especially at night.”

Hospital chief executive Tony Bell said: “The new facility has improved access, is well lit, secure and maintained, has clear signs and there are also staff on hand to provide assistance to anyone who needs it.” The shuttle bus ensured patients were taken direct to the most convenient entrance and collected afterwards.

He said the new disabled car park opened on November 17, and the old car park remained open for another two weeks.

An extended period of grace had been arranged until early January to ensure those who were not aware of the change could use the old car park.