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The home for VPR's coverage of health and health industry issues affecting the state of Vermont.

Luskin: Inconvenient Access

A few years ago, as I was leaving a doctor’s office, an elderly gentleman was pushing an older woman up the handicapped ramp. I held the outer door open, but even with my help, it was an awkward maneuver in a narrow passage, first to reach the inner door, then open it and push the chair in. The woman in the chair leaned aside as best she could, and the man succeeded, but muttered, “Accessible doesn’t mean convenient.”

I didn’t think of this episode again until last month, after I broke my ankle. At first, I enjoyed the excuse to stay seated and read. But life goes on, and it didn’t take long to discover that this minor break was a major inconvenience. Fortunately, I could still drive, and I could hobble around with crutches. So when the long-awaited appointment to take my 90-year old dad to see the dermatologist arrived, I drove him as planned. We went to the VA in White River Junction. I didn’t park in a handicapped space because I didn’t have a sticker. I parked about a hundred yards away instead. Normally, I wouldn’t have thought a hundred yards much of a distance, nor would I have even noticed the incline. But when you’re lame, geography’s different, and a slight incline might as well be Mount Everest.

I figured I was at least getting a good workout as we approached the old hospital. It’s one of those stately brick buildings with white columns and granite stairs. Or maybe they’re marble. In any case, there were too many, and no indication anywhere there was another way in.

I climbed all thirteen stone steps and was glad Dad was there to open the doors. After his appointment, I asked if there was a handicapped exit. There was: Just take the elevator down to the basement, follow the hall to the new building, and exit through the Emergency entrance. I took the steps and was thoroughly relieved to get back to the car.

Since the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, most of Vermont’s public buildings have installed railing and ramps and lifts for the lame – no easy task given the age and architecture of our old buildings. But my guess is that while these accommodations fulfill the letter of the law, many are, as that elderly gentleman so accurately put it - accessible, but not convenient.

Deborah Lee Luskin is a writer, speaker and educator.
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