"Accessible?"

[Anonymous]

My cousin and my child's Godmother has CP and has to sit in a wheelchair and even then, if someone just asked me, "Is it accessible?" I'd be thinking transportation too. Accessible by car? Is there parking? Accessible by public transport?

The word "accessible" can have many meanings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I didn't know that the person was handicapped, my first thought would be whether it was accessible via public transport.

Right, but when you answered "yes, we are on the Red Line, two blocks from the Silver Spring station," the person would probably follow up with "I mean ADA accessible", and you would answer accordingly.

I have actually found that there is so much confusion about what constitutes accessible under the ADA that I am better to ask about specific elements: do you have an elevator, do you have ASL interpreters or captioning available, etc.

[Anonymous]

OP asked about the "wheelchair community."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I didn't know that the person was handicapped, my first thought would be whether it was accessible via public transport.

So? If someone you haven't met in person says to you

"Is it accessible?"

and you say

"Yes, it's near Farragut North station?"

It's not really that hard to clarify. Why should a word that works well be modified?

I will say that usually, if I am talking to someone I've never met and there are accessibility issues, I would probably say "I want to make sure that we are inclusive of our members with disabilities, is the space accessible?" or something. I can't imagine that the OP is constantly finding themselves in positions where someone is asking "Is it accessible?" out of the blue. If they are, then they probably should have mastered the word by now?

Even if you phrased it this way, my first thought would be, "Accessible to what?" My brain would have to flip through the space and think, "Are we talking about steps? Are we talking about lighting? Are we talking about braille on the light switches?" What specifically are you asking my brain to think about in the space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I didn't know that the person was handicapped, my first thought would be whether it was accessible via public transport.

Right, but when you answered "yes, we are on the Red Line, two blocks from the Silver Spring station," the person would probably follow up with "I mean ADA accessible", and you would answer accordingly.

I have actually found that there is so much confusion about what constitutes accessible under the ADA that I am better to ask about specific elements: do you have an elevator, do you have ASL interpreters or captioning available, etc.

Even if someone asked me, "Is it ADA-accessible?" I do not know the legal ins and outs of what exactly ADA mandates, so I would not know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I didn't know that the person was handicapped, my first thought would be whether it was accessible via public transport.

Right, but when you answered "yes, we are on the Red Line, two blocks from the Silver Spring station," the person would probably follow up with "I mean ADA accessible", and you would answer accordingly.

I have actually found that there is so much confusion about what constitutes accessible under the ADA that I am better to ask about specific elements: do you have an elevator, do you have ASL interpreters or captioning available, etc.

Even if someone asked me, "Is it ADA-accessible?" I do not know the legal ins and outs of what exactly ADA mandates, so I would not know.

You're probably not the right person to ask then!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I didn't know that the person was handicapped, my first thought would be whether it was accessible via public transport.

Right, but when you answered "yes, we are on the Red Line, two blocks from the Silver Spring station," the person would probably follow up with "I mean ADA accessible", and you would answer accordingly.

I have actually found that there is so much confusion about what constitutes accessible under the ADA that I am better to ask about specific elements: do you have an elevator, do you have ASL interpreters or captioning available, etc.

Even if someone asked me, "Is it ADA-accessible?" I do not know the legal ins and outs of what exactly ADA mandates, so I would not know.

But if someone asked you "is it wheelchair accessible?" You probably aren't going to know how wide the doorways need to be, how high the toilet needs to be, which doors need to swing in rather than out etc . . . So, either way you won't be able to answer their questions, and will need to find someone who can.

Someone is much more likely to know whether their building meets ADA guidelines then to know all of those details.

[Anonymous]

I'm the PP with a walker. To avoid any confusion I generally just say "I use a walker. Can I get into your building without using stairs?" Or something similar.

Although that doesn't always work. One building didn't have stairs, but their sidewalk was under construction. They had wobbly planks to get across.

If your building meets ADA guidelines, someone will know. Unless you get the question "What is A.D.A?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I didn't know that the person was handicapped, my first thought would be whether it was accessible via public transport.

Right, but when you answered "yes, we are on the Red Line, two blocks from the Silver Spring station," the person would probably follow up with "I mean ADA accessible", and you would answer accordingly.

I have actually found that there is so much confusion about what constitutes accessible under the ADA that I am better to ask about specific elements: do you have an elevator, do you have ASL interpreters or captioning available, etc.

Even if someone asked me, "Is it ADA-accessible?" I do not know the legal ins and outs of what exactly ADA mandates, so I would not know.

You're probably not the right person to ask then!

Oh don't be ridiculous. NP here. It's quite possible to not know the nitty gritty rules yet also be accommodating & willing to find out the info the person needs. For instance, if I worked in a store and someone called asking how wide our door was. I do not need to know the ADA rule in order to be a helpful person and go measure the door for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I didn't know that the person was handicapped, my first thought would be whether it was accessible via public transport.

Right, but when you answered "yes, we are on the Red Line, two blocks from the Silver Spring station," the person would probably follow up with "I mean ADA accessible", and you would answer accordingly.

I have actually found that there is so much confusion about what constitutes accessible under the ADA that I am better to ask about specific elements: do you have an elevator, do you have ASL interpreters or captioning available, etc.

Even if someone asked me, "Is it ADA-accessible?" I do not know the legal ins and outs of what exactly ADA mandates, so I would not know.

You're probably not the right person to ask then!

Oh don't be ridiculous. NP here. It's quite possible to not know the nitty gritty rules yet also be accommodating & willing to find out the info the person needs. For instance, if I worked in a store and someone called asking how wide our door was. I do not need to know the ADA rule in order to be a helpful person and go measure the door for her.

But surely, if you can accommodate someone by measuring the door, aisles, toilet and distance to the handicap spot, you could also accommodate them by doing one of the following:

1) Asking your supervisor if you're ADA compliant

or

2) Saying "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know whether we're ADA compliant, if you tell me the accessibility features you need I can tell you whether we have them."

Demanding that other people change their language seems like an odd solution to not knowing whether your work location is ADA compliant.

[Anonymous]

Even if you ask "Is it wheelchair accessible?" you are going to get many truly stupid responders.

Many people consider one small step wheelchair accessible -- it's not.

Many restaurants consider bar seating to make their restaurant wheelchair accessible. It makes their restaurant ADA compliant, but it doesn't make it wheelchair accessible.

[Anonymous]

Accessible generally refers to if someone can physically get their body to a specific place. "Braille accessible" isn't a thing. Accessible is more about whether or not someone will be able to get from A to B without being impeded by stairs, restricted spaces (etc) and if ramps are in place to allow the person to traverse them

[Anonymous]

I'm not understanding why people need to be cryptic and unnecessarily difficult.

"I am X (blind, in a wheelchair, etc.) and need accommodations Y. Does your building have that?"

What is so difficult about that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Accessible" is shorthand for "complaint with ADA standards".

I guess this is the best answer. It's an umbrella term.

It just seems that more specific, the better.

But, oh well.

Op- get out of the weeds. You are lost in minutia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not understanding why people need to be cryptic and unnecessarily difficult.

"I am X (blind, in a wheelchair, etc.) and need accommodations Y. Does your building have that?"

What is so difficult about that?

Many times people don't understand.

I use a wheelchair. Is your building accessible via a ramp?

Why absolutely!

Then you arrive -- there's a ramp to the front entrance to the bar area.