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| | Issue #19.23 :: 01/02/2008 - 01/08/2008 | Handi-Access Awards
| BY ANGEL CLEARY
| AUGUSTA, GA. - Able disaAbled, a local organization advocating for disabled rights, wants to recognize business owners who ensure their stores are wheelchair accessible.
“They did simple things like making sure the aisles are wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair and putting shelf items within reach,” said Tim Hollobaugh, one of the group’s organizers. The group will recognize two downtown businesses, 8th Street Augusta, a tobacco shop and smoker’s lounge, and the Zimmerman Gallery, for having made their stores easier to access and navigate by wheelchair.
“If we are going to ask for these things, then we need to recognize them when they do it,” said Hollobaugh. Able disAbled recently reorganized and has become more vocal about disabled persons’ rights.
Volunteers who are familiar with the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations will evaluate businesses based on their ease of navigability, he said, but will also consider other services provided, such as Braille signage and personal service.
Businesses will get a plaque and a sign — the standard ADA wheelchair icon — to hang in the window, identifying it as accessible for those with wheelchairs. The group plans to offer the awards on a quarterly basis.
“We have disposable income to spend, too. Then handicapped people will patronize those
businesses much more,” said Hollobaugh, who is often wheelchair bound. “We look for those signs when we go anywhere.”
In other news, District 3 Commissioner Joe Bowles has requested that licensing and enforcement make a report to the Augusta Commission at its Jan. 3 meeting about the current status of cab services, and the fares they charge to handicapped riders. Some riders have recently complained they are being charged extra for their wheelchairs.
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