WHY SO MUCH WORK?

All of us have hills that we are willing to die on. All of us have differing definitions for the level of work we put in on a daily basis to exist, survive and thrive. I’m not talking about career, job, or any other legal way that we make money. Today I am going to share a personal story about an ongoing struggle simply to get into a public building without help. This is something that you “ables” take for granted. If it’s raining, cold, hot, snowing or sleeting and you have somewhere public that you must be, you grab your favorite head covering (or umbrella), run for the door and simply pull (or push) it open. At fancy places like supermarkets, the mall, and most banks….even Walmart…..the door opens automatically. You take that for granted too, but us wheelchair users LOVE when that happens since we need to get out of the weather also, but we usually are not holding an umbrella. So why do I ramble on here? Because some things….like entering a public building, should not be this hard. Let me explain.

There is a business in my hometown where I have been a loyal customer for over 20 years. It is a healthcare business and I will leave it at that. I know I have choices when it comes to this, but this business also serves my wife and children and we have come to know all of the employees. They are very kind people, and are good at what they do. The business is in an office building that has two floors and other businesses reside in the location as well. The business I need to access is in the back of the building and it is on the ground floor. There are two handicap parking spots outside and easy access to the building until one approaches two heavy glass doors that swing out. When I have an appointment at this location (4-5 times a year), I park, then call inside on my phone to have an employee come out and open the door for me. It’s annoying, and, frankly, I find it to be somewhat condescending.

What to do? Take action of course. More than a year ago, I spoke with the business owner and that person guided me to the maintenance specialist who takes care of the building. I wrote an official letter describing my situation, while suggesting an automatic door be installed on the building that could be operated with a button affixed to the wall outside.

I received an email telling me that “this had been looked into years ago, but then Covid happened and there were no more contractors.”

I wrote back, thanking the person, and providing the business with two companies that I do business with: one is the company that services the lift (elevator) in my house, and the other has done work to make my bathroom accessible. I soon got an email thanking me and I was told that this would be “looked into after the holidays.” This was last December and I am sparing you the details of each exchange, but I do want you to notice a pattern, loyal reader.

While recovering after my January illness, I wrote again in February and heard nothing for a month. I emailed again in March, and left a voicemail on the maintenance person’s phone. A few more days went by and I received the following email:

“I do plan on getting quotes for the ADA door system, I simply haven’t had the time yet as I am the finance person here and December into March is my busiest time of the year.“

In April, I received word (after another email from me) that a technician was coming to the building to take measurements. I later learned that commercial buildings have more specifications than residential door installs due to the Americans With Disabilities Act, a federal law that has been in place and revised several times since it was passed in 1990. This law is not perfect but it is the reason why all public buildings are supposed to be accessible, and businesses need to have a certain number of disabled parking spots. And here I was thinking people did all this out of the goodness of their hearts. (that was sarcasm).

Back to the story. Are you bored yet? Are you thinking it shouldn’t be this hard to enter a building by yourself? Welcome to my world. So it goes…

In early May, I wrote again to all of the lawyers that own the building, the business that I use, and the maintenance person to find out where the hold up was. I did not hear back from any of the six lawyers, but the maintenance person told me that he had not been given a quote and would call the install people.

Since I know them, and I have wheelchair repairs pending, I called them to ask what was going on. I was told that they mailed a quote in early May but could not discuss the situation with me, as I am not the building owner. I relayed this message, via email, to the maintenance person and here is what I got back:

“Per our e-mail chain, I spoke with ***** from (install company) on or about 4/9 and he said that he stop by the following week to do a site inspection. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to come in for a couple of weeks.

When he did come in, he said that he’d get me a quote later that week.

You inquire again on 5/16 re: the status of the doors and at that time I informed you that I was still waiting for a quote as I had not rec’d one yet, despite me reaching out to (install company) a couple of times.

I reached out to *** again on 5/20 and finally got ahold of him. He said the delay was due to (install company) primarily doing residential installations, so he needed to check with the town re: commercial installation requirements and with the manufacture re: openers for double doors, so he got back to me a couple of days later with a verbal quote (no quote was received on 5/9).

Once I had a price from (Install company), I reached out to the building owners to get the okay to proceed, but this was not a quick process as some work in the office, some work remotely, and one is retired.

I did get the okay to proceed from the building owners and I’ll be contacting (install company)in the next day or so.

Per my last conversation with (install company), they said that it would probably take several weeks to get the parts from the manufacturer.  Once rec’d, he’ll contact me to arrange an installation date.”

I received the above email two days ago (June 11). Now I wait. Longer. Can you understand why this is taking so long? I just want to enter the business by myself when I have an appointment. I am going to wait about a week and begin following up again. Living with my disease has taught me perseverance, and I hope that when this door finally gets installed, others will use it to their advantage and not even think about how long the discussion was to have it there in the first place.

Please don’t ask me where the business is, or who the install company is. I want to continue to assume positive intent. A wise co-worker taught me this skill.

Stay safe, stay awesome, stay tuned, and next time you pull open a door, think of me.