# Presentation: 496232

## Discovering Diversity Series

**Discovering Diversity Series**

- Disability Etiquette:
- People Who Use Wheelchairs or Have Mobility Impairments

- The purpose of the Discovering Diversity Series is to assist the State Conservationist, the New Mexico Civil Rights Committee, and the Special Emphasis Program Managers to deliver information about equal opportunity, civil rights, and special emphasis issues and events.  You also can discover a convenient starting point to obtain information pertaining to equal opportunity, civil rights, or special emphasis by going to the NRCS New Mexico Civil Rights website at _[www.nm.nrcs.usda.gov/about/eeo/civilrgt/html](http://www.nm.nrcs.usda.gov/about/eeo/civilrgt.html)_
- This website provides access to agency and departmental civil rights information as well as information specific to New Mexico.
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status.  (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)  Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at (202)720-2600 (voice and TDD).
- To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C.  20250-9410 or call (202)720-5964.

## New Mexico NRCS Disability Emphasis Program

- If the service counter at your place of business is too high for a wheelchair user to see over, step around it to provide service. Have a clipboard handy if filling in forms or providing signatures is expected.
- If your building has different routes through it, be sure that signs direct wheelchair users to the most accessible ways around the facility. People who walk with a cane or crutches also need to know the easiest way to get around a place, but stairs may be easier for them than a ramp. Ensure that security guards and receptionists can answer questions about the most accessible way around the building and grounds.
- If the nearest public restroom is not accessible or is located on an inaccessible floor, allow the person in a wheelchair to use a private or employees' accessible restroom.
- People who use canes or crutches need their arms to balance themselves, so never grab them. People who are mobility-impaired may lean on a door for support as they open it. Pushing the door open from behind or unexpectedly opening the door may cause them to fall. Even pulling out or pushing in a chair may present a problem. Always ask before offering help.
-  If you offer a seat to a person who is mobility-impaired, keep in mind that chairs with arms or with higher seats are easier for some people to use.
- Falls are a big problem for people with mobility impairments. Be sure to set out adequate warning signs after washing floors. Also put out mats on rainy or snowy days to keep the floors as dry as possible. (Make sure they don't bunch up and make the floor impassable for wheelchair users.)
- People who are not visibly mobility-impaired may have needs related to their mobility. For example, a person with a respiratory or heart condition may have trouble walking long distances or walking quickly. Be sure that your office space has ample benches for people to sit and rest on.
- Some people have limited use of their hands, wrists or arms. Be prepared to offer assistance with reaching for, grasping or lifting objects, opening doors and display cases, and operation of equipment.

- People who use wheelchairs have different disabilities and varying abilities. Some can use their arms and hands. Some can get out of their wheelchairs and even walk for short distances.
- Wheelchair users are people, not equipment. Don't lean over someone in a wheelchair to shake another person's hand or ask a wheelchair user to hold coats. Setting your drink on the desktop attached to someone's wheelchair is a definite no-no.
- Don't push or touch a person's wheelchair; it's part of his personal space. If you help someone down a curb without waiting for instructions, you may dump him out of the chair. You may detach the chair's parts if you lift it by the handles or the footrest.
- Keep the ramps and wheelchair-accessible doors to your building unlocked and unblocked. Under the ADA, displays should not be in front of entrances, wastebaskets should not be in the middle of aisles and boxes should not be stored on ramps.
- Be aware of wheelchair users' reach limits. Place as many items as possible within their grasp. And make sure that there is a clear path of travel to shelves and display racks. When talking to a wheelchair user, grab your own chair and sit at his level. If that's not possible, stand at a slight distance, so that he isn't straining his neck to make eye contact with you.