It covers more than 49 million Americans-more than one in six. Approximately 1.4 million of these people use wheelchairs. Although Spencer agrees the downtown area is more accessible, he says only about 90 percent of the city is unaccessible to the disabled, he said. The ADA may have made governmental buildings and hospitals more accessible, but some other key buildings are still difficult to gain access to, he said. I understand people need to go to the hospital, but you've got to eat.
Grocery stores have to be accessible.
Advocacy is one way to promote change this, Cowan said. It's the squeaky wheel that gets greased. But sometimes it can be hard to make your wheels squeak. The city's engineering and construction department only receives about one accessibility complaint a month, said Shelia Montgomery, design engineer for the department. When Spencer decided to ask for the curb cuts, he tried to attend a meeting of his neighborhood association.