Since 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act has protected the civil rights of citizens with disabilities. This expansive set of regulations covers issues ranging from discrimination in the workplace to barriers to telecommunication, and it has been immensely effective over the years in reducing inequalities that have existed in this nation for centuries. For example, according to a study conducted by the National Council on Disability, numerous disabled people “perceive improvements in their quality of life and… attribute those improvements to the ADA,” specifically in terms of “public facility access and public attitudes.”
Yet, while the ADA has certainly benefited the disabled community in the past two decades, glaring discrepancies remain in access to services for certain demographics of disabled people, especially in the field of user-oriented design. Specifically, “handicap-friendly” accommodations, while greatly benefiting wheelchair-bound citizens, tend to overlook the large population of people who suffer from conditions that impact their upper extremities.
Rupa Valdez, an assistant professor in the University’s Department of Public Health Sciences, specializes in developing systems and technologies that address health disparities existing in patients’ daily lives. Regarding the failures of accessibility designs for upper-extremity conditions, Dr. Valdez stated appropriate accommodations for these patients “may not be space for a wheelchair, or even a shorter walking distance. Instead, they may be a push button on a heavy door or automatic functionality for common tasks that require strength and dexterity.”
Upper extremity conditions often create a necessity for automatic functionality, as simple tasks — such as opening a heavy door or operating the various knobs and handles in a bathroom — can become practically impossible for those whose conditions have seriously limited their strength or dexterity. An arthritis or multiple sclerosis patient, for example, often does not benefit whatsoever from physically accessible showers, which tend to accommodate the needs of those who cannot move around easily but still require a large degree of manual exertion in order to function.
Furthermore, difficulties with manual dexterity and upper body strength are rampant in the United States. According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 52.5 million American adults were diagnosed with some form of joint-related illness in 2013, including conditions — such as rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and lupus — that specifically deteriorate the manual dexterity and strength of the patient. Furthermore, the vast majority of breast cancer patients (percentages differ depending on the whether the cancer is detected at an early or late stage) undergo surgery to treat the condition, which is notorious for causing a lasting detriment on survivors’ upper body strength.
Far more conditions exist than the ones listed, yet a shocking fact is evident in these examples: tens of millions of American people currently suffer from conditions deteriorating their dexterity and upper body strength, while technology has lagged behind in supporting their specific needs.
The ADA is an immensely important piece of legislation, but it has failed to enact what is arguably its most important clause: “No individual shall be discriminated against on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of the… facilities… of any place of public accommodation.” If this is indeed a statute of the federal government, why do hotels, dorms and apartments across the country not have automatic doors for their supposedly accessible rooms? Why are disabled people unable to use some public restrooms because they experience excruciating pain when turning the knob on a sink?
It can be argued that a person with a waist-down condition tends to be the stereotypical image of a disabled person. The internationally-recognized symbol for accessibility, after all, is a man sitting in a wheelchair. As a result, our brains have been conditioned to associate the word “disabled” with waist-down conditions, causing public accommodations to be disproportionately focused on a misguided public perception of what constitutes a “disability.”
This flaw in public perception needs to be addressed by the ADA. Citizens who require special accommodations must be addressed equally, from the floors of Congress to the drawing table of an architect, regardless of whether they fit the image of “handicap” that has tended to drive design in recent decades. And, while automatic functionality has seen substantial improvements in recent years, we cannot stop until every disabled person in America can enjoy the government-mandated right to public accommodations — otherwise a substantial portion of the American population will continue to be denied a civil liberty they were promised 25 years ago.
Ryan Gorman is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at r.gorman@cavalierdaily.com.
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