The ADA is 21 years old but the New York Times wants us to feel pity for businesses that are still inaccessible

Carr Massi, who uses a wheelchair, has sued five businesses in Manhattan for violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act. (photo Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times)

The New York Times came out swinging against compliance with the ADA in the story Disabilities Act Prompts Flood of Suits Some Cite as Unfair.

It’s the “White’s Only Lunch Counter” and Selma, Alabama all over again, only this time blacks are escaping the discrimination backlash and the bigots are in New York. The New York Times thinks lawyers who sue for compliance under the Americans With Disability Acts are “ambulance chasers.”

“A small cadre of lawyers, some from out of state,” writes Mosi Secret in the NY Times, “are using New York City’s age and architectural quirkiness as the foundation for a flood of lawsuits citing violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act. ”

“The lawyers are generally not acting on existing complaints from people with disabilities. Instead, they identify local businesses, like bagel shops and delis, that are not in compliance with the law, and then aggressively recruit plaintiffs from advocacy groups for people with disabilities.” NY Times

It’s the “White’s Only Lunch Counter” and Selma, Alabama all over again, only this time blacks are escaping the discrimination backlash and the bigots are in New York. The New York Times thinks lawyers who sue for compliance under the Americans With Disability Acts are “ambulance chasers.”

What’s taking the businesses so long to make their premises accessible? There are grants to assist them. The problems seem to be one of discrimination against people with disabilities not money or time. It’s been 21 years since the ADA was passed by Congress. If it were a health and safety violations, the City of New York would prosecute and shut the delis and restaurants down. The weak, the tired and the huddled masses of people with disabilities are left to hire lawyers.

Former President George H. Bush on 19th Anniversary of the ADA

“There is no place in our society for prejudice of any kind,” said President George H. Bush “yet it was not that long ago when Americans with disabilities were often not given equal rights and opportunities. Whether the cause was ignorance or indifference, it was not acceptable.”

I say thank God for lawyers who want to enforce what the EEOC doesn’t have time to investigate and prosecute.

It’s a double standard that business lawsuits are common, an accepted practice even yet the New Yorker with a disability Cari Massi in the NYT story is portrayed negatively for being involved in 5 ADA suits.

People with disabilities face exclusion from public places on a regular basis. They have lower incomes, higher rates of personal violent crime, and higher rates of unemployment than the general population.

The ADA as amended tries to level the playing field and one of obvious issues is getting through the door. If you can’t get public transportation, rail or air travel, your groceries, a restaurant meal or whatever activity of daily life most people take for granted, what’s another name for it? Try segregation. Keeping the wheelchair crowd out on the sidewalk, or better yet, in the closets of America, will become patriotic according to the New York Times.

The New York Times used to be a defender of civil and human rights. Since when did it become a revisionist rag for Libertarians and the far right-wing? They may become another Fox News.

It’s with some irony, I note that it was Republican President George H. Bush who passed the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1991. After more than a decade of reversals by conservative courts, it was again a Republican President, George W. Bush, who negotiated more than 1,100 pages of Amendments as the ADA as Amended. It was President Obama’s turn to sign the Amendments into law.

George W Bush sings ADA Amendments September 2008 (White House photo)

On July 24 2009, President George H. Bush said  “We can all take pride in how much the ADA has accomplished, which is evident every time you attend a sporting event, ride the subway, or go to work.”

“Yet, there is always more to be done, which is why it’s good not only to celebrate our successes, but to look forward at what still must be done. As long as we never forget that every life is a miracle and each person has something to contribute, we will finish the job.”

It’s time for businesses to make their premises compliant 21 years after the law was passed. 50 million Americans living with disabilities are waiting.