Just don't bitch about it

From the Joplin Globe of Missouri:

Official lashes out after report

By Roger McKinney
COLUMBUS, Kan. — Information from an advocate for people with disabilities that the Cherokee County Law Enforcement Center may not meet all the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act elicited an angry reaction Monday from county Commissioner Pat Collins.

“People go too far,” Collins said during a meeting. “They carry this s--- too far.”

Gwain January, disability advocate for the Southeast Kansas Independent Living Resource Center, presented the county commissioners with information about nine possible violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at the exterior of the law-enforcement center. He said the agency had not been granted access inside the building.

The law-enforcement center includes the sheriff’s offices and the county jail. It opened in 2005 and cost about $6 million to build.

The report from the resource center said, among other things:
— The ramp to the employee entrance is too steep.
— Entrances for the public and employees need a 5- by 5-foot landing.
— A curb ramp needs to be installed at both ends of a sidewalk that is divided by a driveway.
— An 8-inch step needs to be removed.

“Hopefully, these things should take care of the outside,” January said. He said the cost of the work should be paid by the architect or the contractor, not the county.

“It just makes me mad,” Collins said before making his statement about people taking things too far.

January said the resource center would be conducting sensitivity training for Columbus city officials, and that he plans to invite the county commissioners to participate, if they wish. January said part of the training involves spending time in a wheelchair.

Collins said he had no interest in participating.

“If I got in a wheelchair, I wouldn’t b---- about it,” Collins said.

Collins said he would be self-reliant if he were to become disabled, and he wouldn’t expect access to every building.

“I was raised different,” he said.

Commissioner Charlie Napier said people with disabilities pay taxes and have the same right to access to public buildings as everyone else.

Collins asked Napier if that were the case no matter what the cost.

Napier said it upsets him that the law-enforcement center apparently was not built according to the standards of the federal access law.

January was asked outside the meeting what he thought of Collins’ remarks. He said the law states that governments had until January 1995 to make all their buildings accessible, but many still have not done so. He said the resource center is not seeking immediate repairs.

“Mr. Collins has a right to his opinion,” January said. “We’re just trying to make a better world with equal access to all.”

Commissioner Rodney Edmondson said the county would provide a copy of the recommendations to county counselor Kevin Cure, and also provide copies to the law-enforcement center’s architect and contractor.

After January left the meeting, Collins was asked about his comments. He said his remarks were directed at agencies representing people with disabilities rather than the people with disabilities.

“I’m sick of it,” Collins said. “We’ll take care of these items, but what next?”

Sensitivity training

Columbus city employees will take part in sensitivity training as part of a lawsuit settlement agreement with the Southeast Kansas Independent Living Resource Center.