I have never seen a mall where one store owns its own store, even an anchor store. The mall is usually owned by one entity, there is a management company to run the mall, and stores pay a fee based on the square footage to cover the parking, interior upkeep, restrooms, etc. Some anchor stores also have their own bathrooms.
If this mall is ‘special’ and the anchor stores are separately owned, they’d still have to have a shared wall agreement for customers to enter through the mall rather than the outside. I wouldn’t take the ‘it’s not my problem’ from the mall management.
Why not just make an appointment to speak with the store manager in person? Maybe demonstrate the problem in the store itself. That seems like an obvious place to start rather than contacting attorneys and government officials.
I think I’ve explained very well what I’ve done so far, but just to recap:
The VERY FIRST thing I did was reach out to JCP and the mall. JCP gave me a stock answer and that was the last I heard from them. The mall just answered me today and said they would immediately bring it to the attention to the manager of the store.
I have not contacted any attorney other than a very simple email to a lawyer family friend and a face to face conversation with a classmate who happens to specialize in this area of law. It was in our disability studies class and I had brought this up to the class since that is what we do with the first half of our class each week- talk about real world problems that we run into.
I do not have the time nor energy to go to a meeting with the manager right now. As I have said repeatedly, I am in the middle of finals and plan on doing nothing until finals are done.
Another tidbit that I haven’t mentioned: I do not have the strength to push myself in my wheelchair so I need to go with someone. That has also not been a possibility because my schedule doesn’t line up with my partner’s nor my roommate’s right now.
I know this may not seem relevant, but to me it is. I wonder…how far do we go out of our way to change things that we know are screwed up? What Romani has done so far has motivated me to take action on something that really bothered me today.
I was on an Alaska Airlines flight today, we had a three hour unnecessary delay, with so many obvious and fixable problems. It just drove me crazy, watching people leaving the airplane at the gate…some really upset, because they were going to miss their international connections. I asked the flight attendant to pass what I thought could be helpful information to the captain, who demanded I come up to the cockpit, and when I showed up and extended my hand to shake and introduced myself, he demanded my airline employee ID (though I had a paid for, first class ticket, can’t imagine why he would do that), and then was quite cranky. I guess he felt challenged.
It’s like people are just defensive, covering their butts, and don’t want to solve the problem. It’s about ego, not fixing things. I wonder if that’s what Romani is running into, and honestly, it drives me crazy!!! There’s a problem, they should appreciate help in figuring out ways to fix it, but that doesn’t seem to be the goal, sadly.
More than anything, I think, they’re probably hoping/assuming I’ll just go away.
Unfortunately for them, I’m a persistent little fly and I can and will annoy them into doing this. After classes are over, I have literally nothing to do since my research is on hold while I wait for the government to sort its crap out and give me access to some records.
As I’ve said, I do not want to bring a lawsuit but if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it. I have a lot of privilege and if I can’t use it for something like this, what the heck is the point of having it?
The person with difficulty seeing may be driven by a friend or relative (or a self-driving car in the future).
Also, if all ATMs are made with braille on them, then that simplifies both manufacturing of the ATM and managing ATM installations – any ATM that the bank orders can be installed in any location, instead of the bank having to manage braille versus non-braille ones.
Persons in wheelchairs also need to make special arrangements with the airlines just to board and get off, since normal wheelchairs do not fit in airplane aisles.
It wasn’t until I took the ADA class where they made us ride around in the wheel chair when I really understood why it’s so critical to keep 18" clear of obstructions on the handle of a door that opens in. I design them correctly, but when I go see the site afterwards inevitably someone decides to put a pretty table or the trashcan there. Arghhh.
I remember over the summer when I tried to go into a restaurant and it was just impossible. I can’t remember the exact reason but we ended up not eating there.
The manager apologized and said no one in a wheelchair had ever eaten there so they didn’t know it wasn’t accessible. Gee, I wonder why no one in a wheelchair had ever eaten there :-?
Pushing my older girls around in a twin stroller was a revelation about these issues at times. Grocery stores with perfectly wide aisles just love to put special displays everywhere and they impede the flow of traffic. D1 once pulled two wine bottles off a display like that that they hit the ground before I could reach her!
Regarding the airplane restrooms: Even if a person who needed a wheelchair had a helper with them on the flight, it would still be impossible for both of them to fit inside the toilet. The door would have to be open which would not only be embarassing but block the galley on many planes. But I suppose there’s no real way to accommodate a handicapped restroom on an airplane.
I think using an ATM, drive thru or walk up, requires an awareness of the surroundings. You need to know who is watching, who can see your PIN being entered, where the money comes out, if the card is ejected immediately or at the end of the transaction. There is no way to design a safe drive thru for a blind person who doesn’t trust the driver. The driver is going to see all the entries of the transaction.
I’d not advise anyone who can’t see what is going on to use an ATM in an open area. My kids have been taught to only use inside ATMs, associated with the bank (no stand alone machines). Less convenient, but safer.