Lessons in the ADA and TTY

I learned something interesting today! While meeting with my church book club at the rural home of one of the other members, one of the ladies in the group told a story. She'd been on the phone to an office that employed an individual who was hearing impaired! I wasn't even aware of this, but the ADA requires businesses to accommodate a qualified employee, even if they have a disability:) Of course I SHOULD have known this. As some one with a disability you would think I'd sleep with a copy of the ADA by my bed! Alas, on a day to day basis it's so clear to me that accessibility is not a priority, as I'm sure many of us who struggle with inaccessibility would agree. So back to what I learned: My friend had heard a recording before the phone call started, indicating that everything she said was being recorded and then visually represented on a computer screen for the benefit of the individual who couldn't hear! Also known as TDD, I've learned that this was created as a feature on telephones through some genius retro-fitting of modems with typewriters in the 1960s, going through a number of revisions and perfections before the creators were satisfied. Read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecommunications_device_for_the_deaf This is a great example of a phenomenon called "The Curb-Cut Effect", through which society makes little changes to accommodate the Disabled, and they end up helping everyone. Remember that picture I shared of "What the Big Stall is For"? This is the same kind of thing. Lots of other people do enjoy the benefits of the big stall, with or without a physical need for it. Mothers (and fathers too, increasingly) have begun using the big stall to change their babies' diapers, which I think is a brilliant way to keep them out of the way of an opening bathroom door when changing the child. Some babies are already stressed out by having to use folding changing tables; why should mothers feel they AND their children are vulnerable to some one smacking them with a stall door or the opening bathroom door, just because they want the baby to have a clean diaper? Imagine, without the TYY feature at use in her call, my friend might not have gotten the service she needed. And the hearing-impaired employee might not have gotten a job! THAT's the curb-cut effect:) That's reciprocity within society. It's a society everyone with a disability deserves to be a part of, without worrying about whether they will fit the mold; let society re-shape the mold. How hard would it really be for the whole country to put these changes into place and maintain them? And by that I mean, restaurants have to make sure the elevators that lower disabled patrons to downstairs bathrooms are in proper working order. And once a business of any kind has installed a blue disabled button to open a door automatically, they have to make sure that it UNFAILINGLY opens an outer door and an inner one, if there is one. I can think of at least one public building in my area where this is not the case. Thank Heaven I'm physically able to handle the heft of an automatic door that isn't working, in order to gain entry into the "abled" world. If I were otherwise disabled, and didn't have the strength to heave open a weighted door, or it was too dangerous for me to lift my hands off the handles of my walker while walking, that business WOULD lose me as a customer. And think, there are ramps that accommodate not only the "rolling", but also the blind! This was something else I learned (my brain got wrinkly again today!)--an extra feature in the curb cuts. Some, including several in my neighborhood, not only slope, but they have distinguishable bumps, so that some one using a white cane to "see" for them can tell when a street ends and the curb begins! These brilliant little fixes are so fascinating and exciting for me:) They would also prevent the build-up of much snow on the bumpy ramps in winter, so that somebody could tell more easily when the curb ends and the street begins, at a time when it's often hard to tell where it's safe to walk, since so many people refuse to shovel the sidewalks. Thank you curb cut effect! The article I read on this subject is quick and fascinating: https://www.burness.com/the-curb-cut-effect-how-a-fix-for-one-group-benefits-us-all/ I am so grateful for the progress we've made on these little inclusions. They make life so much easier for ALL of us, and certainly not just the Disabled. And I'm so grateful for a cool night in early summer to reflect and realize how many more might be just on the horizon.