Return to Ambridge Event Center

I was asked to participate in a review of the steps that the Ambridge Event Center has taken since my recent experience there.

People from Salem and people from the Service Delivery Area office in Portland were there. I was glad to see Heather from the SDA office there. She uses a power chair and is versed in the ADA. She had a lot of great input. I am a writer, but I am not very verbal. Joe, a person from Salem who handles ADA issues did an accessibility checklist, one for the basement and one for the main floor. The facilities manager and receptionist for the center were also there.

The upstairs is more accessible, but the room up their rents for ten times as much as the one downstairs. The state is always trying for a deal, but the person who heads the training department was resolute that accessibility should not be sacrificed for cost.


We all pointed out areas of inaccessibility in the center, but the facilities manager had a solution or a reason for each deficiency. Doors were heavy, but there would be someone there to help. The confusing buttons on the basement door were all removed; that door will remain unlocked when there is a State training down there. The restrooms that adjoin the downstairs training room are not at all accessible, but the ones out at the end of the hall are.

Heather has a minivan with a side ramp. None of the handicapped spots available had space on the side for the ramp to come out to. The facilities manager promised to set out a cone to create such space in the future when there is a training.

One excuse that was used many times as to why the center was not accessible was that they building was old and the building was "grandfathered" into the ADA - basically not required to follow aspects of the law due to the age of the building.

Accessibility and older buildings is a difficult marriage. Accessibility is expensive. The head of the DHS training unit said she now sees that assessing a venue's accessibility takes more than going through a checklist over the phone. Seeing a place, and watching a PWD (person with disability) maneuver through a place, is much more informative.

Hats off to the Ambridge Event Center for their good faith effort to make their building accessible, however makeshift it may be.

I am satisfied that my employer, State of Oregon, Department of Human Services, saw that accessibility is more than a checklist. Accessibility has to involve real input from people with physical challenges.

Whatever the outcome is from this exercise, I am excited that the conversation of accessibility has moved beyond the classroom and into the real world.

Cultural Competency class...accessibility takes a back seat!

Important Update: Upon reading the following blog entry, the Department of Human Services met with the manager of the Ambridge Event Center and immediate actions have been taken to alleviate the failings in regards to accessibility of the building.

The door that is on the side of the building where the disabled gain access to the basement will remain unlocked during trainings. No more buzzers to nowhere!

Thank you DHS! Thank you Ambridge Event Center!

You have each shown a high level of integrity.

*******

Accessibility by law,
but
not accessibility in spirit.

In the course of my 18 years as an employee for the Department of Human Services for the State of Oregon, I have gone to dozens of mandatory trainings. Today I went to one facilitated by a dear gentleman named Miguel Valenciano was truly a joy to listen to.

Miguel won me over when he included disability in his course on cultural competency. Jodie and I have often complained to each other how disability does not get included in discussions regarding minorities. One of his case studies included a man with cerebral palsy. Miguel is a gifted man, and I gave him my full attention today.

The training was held at the Ambridge Event Center.

I parked my van in the parking lot this morning. Deb, my desk partner, parked next to me. I got my walker out and headed for the front door. There was no handicapped parking in front. I had trouble finding the curb cuts. I had to walk to the end of the sidewalk, a detour from the front door. I went up to the front door. Deb held the door.

We learned that the training was downstairs and there was no elevator. Instead, there was a door on the side of the building. It is a locked door, so Deb went downstairs to let me in. I had to walk back down the ramp, and around to the side of the building. It was quite the jaunt!

After Deb let me in, I had to walk down a long dark hall to get to the meeting room.

A worker from another branch went through the same thing. She uses a power chair, and her work partner caught up with Miguel before the training. She and Miguel went looking for an elevator together to learn that there was none. Miguel brought this episode up in the afternoon as an example of barriars that get in the way.

I was going to forgo lunch so I would not have to go through the hassle of getting in and out of the building. I had brought some snacks today....okay, I was bad--some candy bars and pop and a yogurt. Lunch came and I decided to go over to the burger place on the corner. Some of my coworkers were there--Social Service Assistants who transport kids and supervise family visits. I see them in passing...but never really have much chance to to visit with them. We had a pleasant time.

They walked with me back to the meeting, around to the door on the side of the building. The sign said to press the buzzer to be let in the door. There were about eight buttons, some for various offices, some were blank, no one button to indicate access. I pressed one button, then another, eventually all of them...no access.

One of my coworkers walked around through the front. He asked the security guard about the buttons and was told "Oh, none of them work."

That is not access!

For an agency whose mission is "Assisting people to become independent, healthy and safe," holding meeting in a poorly accessible location (at best) is not acceptable.