Dis-Inviting the Disabled

Had to go to downtown Albany this week for work. Interesting thing about Albany: the capital city of one of the most progressive states in the union basically invites anyone with a disability to stay the hell away. My meeting was in the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building directly across from the Capitol. The parking situation downtown is terrible for everyone. There are just not enough garages, lots, or spaces for all the bureaucrats and those doing business with them. State workers, business people, and local residents all complain, and they’re right. It is more difficult to find a parking space in downtown Albany than it is in Manhattan.

What is for most people difficult and daunting can be overwhelming or impossible for someone with a disability. Most of the time I walk with a cane, gimping around with a bad back and knees derived from poor genes and bad habits. As these things go, I don’t have much of a disability nor much to complain about but under the right circumstances, even my minor disability can be handicapping. Negotiating the Empire State Plaza is such a circumstance. There were some disability parking spaces in front of the Smith building but they were time restricted and I did not want to have to leave my meeting several times during the day, negotiating security each time to get back in the building after feeding the meter, presuming I could locate enough quarters. I knew enough to get to Albany early and, after some frustration, happened upon a lot that wasn’t full. The lot had no handicapped spaces so I found myself at its back, with an uphill walk of perhaps ½ to ¾ of a mile on a cold and windy morning. The lot and road surfaces were uneven and pot-holed from the winter’s wear and there were small mounds of snow and ice on the sidewalks, necessitating greater caution than usual to avoid ending up on my ass in Albany. As I approached the Smith Building, stiff and hurting, I saw that the entrances were not easily handicapped accessible – no ramps, and steps that were for whatever reason higher than usual. I know this because I tripped on one and looked at it to see if the cause was the step or my clumsiness.

As I entered the building I thought about the people I know with significant disabilities, most with much more limited mobility than I, some in wheelchairs. What was for me mainly annoying and irritating could for them become insurmountable. There would simply be no way for them to gain access and conduct their business with or for the State of New York. More than 17 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and equal access is an illusion more than a reality. That is unacceptable