Many local businesses still aren't compliant with law

By Jennifer LaFleur
Of The Post-Dispatch
Elyse Nettell And Crishon Terry Provided Research Assistance For This Story
Sunday, Sept. 3, 2000

Local businesses still have work to do when it comes to making their facilities more accessible to people with disabilities.

A Post-Dispatch survey, which included an on-site audit of restaurants in Missouri and Illinois, of 110 restaurants and 136 hotels in the St. Louis area found:

• More than one-third of the restaurants surveyed do not have accessible entrances.

• Nearly half the hotels surveyed do not have the number of accessible rooms required by the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

• One-fourth of the restaurants surveyed with parking lots do not have any accessible parking spaces.

• Only a handful of restaurants have Braille menus and restrooms that are properly designed for accessibility.

The Post-Dispatch found that in addition to specific violations of the disability act's guidelines, many businesses simply exhibit inconsistencies. For example, a few restaurants had accessible restrooms, but the buildings themselves were not accessible. In one case, a business had an accessible front entrance ramp, but an ashtray stand blocked the ramp. In another building, elevator buttons were installed at the proper height for someone in a wheelchair to reach, but garbage cans were placed in front of the buttons, making them inaccessible.

Barriers include steps, narrow doorways and too-high doorknobs.

Sometimes it seems businesses just don't think about their disabled customers, says John Laker, executive director with LINC Inc., an independent living center serving St. Clair, Monroe and Randolph counties. For example, stores crowd aisles with merchandise, making them too narrow for wheelchair users.

"People slip into benign neglect," Laker says. " 'Let's not worry about it,' even though they're hurting their own business."

ADA requires access

For people with disabilities to participate in everyday activities in their communities, they need access to the goods and services provided by businesses, the U.S. Small Business Administration says.

The ADA guidelines for accessible design are specific and intricate. For example, door handles need to be no more than 48 inches from the floor and ramps need to be at least 36 inches wide. But businesses seldom follow the guidelines exactly.

Just because a restroom has a stall with a bar on the wall doesn't mean it's accessible. It needs to be designed so that people in wheelchairs, for example, can pull up next to the toilet and slide themselves onto it. Sinks need to be designed so that someone who cannot grip a knob can still turn on the water. Placards need to be placed on the wall next to the restroom, not on the door -- someone with a visual impairment could get hit trying to read the door.

All businesses are covered

Some businesses that existed long before the ADA still claim that they are excluded from rules requiring them to be accessible.

"Ten years after the ADA, I'm still hearing, 'I don't have to do that,' " says Frank Nelson, director of the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities. "It's what I call the 'grandfathered-in' myth. They have to do something."

"That is a little like saying that it would be OK for a bar in the South to have a colored restroom," Gina Hilberry, a St. Louis architect who specializes in accessibility design, says. "This is a civil rights law, not a building code law -- just because someone used to discriminate doesn't make it OK to do so now."

Businesses that serve the public must remove physical barriers that are handled without much difficulty or expense. The requirement is based on the size and resources of the business. Larger businesses with more resources are expected to do more than small business to remove barriers.

When a business has resources to remove barriers, it is expected to do so. The issue is what is "readily achievable" and what is not.

"If you can afford to do it, you need to come into compliance," says Bob Elliott, vice president of engineering codes and standards for the American Hotel and Motel Association. "For very small mom-and-pop operations, it's difficult for them to come into compliance. For major chains, it is more readily achievable."

New construction allows for accessibility planning, Elliott says. But renovating an existing building to meet ADA compliance can be costly. Retrofitting one hotel guest room, for example, can cost $12,000 to $24,000, Elliott estimates.

But not all renovations have to be costly, Hillberry says.

"A lot of times, there are both expensive and nonexpensive solutions," she says.

For example, Hilberry says, a business owner with a door that doesn't quite meet width requirements may think the solution must be to remove the door, remove the jamb and widen the wall. But nine times out of 10, the problem can be solved by buying new hinges that open the door wider, Hilberry says.

"Sometimes it just takes some creative thinking," she says. "If you can't move down a mirror over a sink, just add a full-length mirror somewhere else."

Layton's, a diner in Clayton, has received some complaints about its narrow restrooms, says owner Gary Giessow.

"The building is 50 years old and to remodel the restrooms would be astronomical," he said. "I know people see our parking lot and think it's a gold mine, but we're a family owned restaurant with a low profit margin. If I could remodel it, I absolutely would." Giessow also owns the Best Western Kirkwood Inn, where he spent $40,000 to remodel the restrooms.

While not all adjustments are inexpensive, funding and tax relief is available for those businesses that make their facilities more accessible:

• The St. Louis Office on the Disabled runs a program called ABLE that provides a rebate of up to $2,000 for making a commercial building accessible. ABLE funded 22 projects in St. Louis last year.

• The Internal Revenue Service allows a tax credit for small businesses and a tax deduction for all businesses.

• Starting this year, small businesses in Missouri may qualify for the Americans with Disabilities Act Tax Credit to offset the cost of complying with access requirements.

Because the ADA is enforced through complaints, people who encounter barriers need to speak up more often, says Max Starkloff, president of Paraquad, a St. Louis-based independent living center.

"We all need to be doing more," Starkloff says.

Start by calling the manager in a polite way and pointing out the situation, he says. If that doesn't work, file a complaint, he suggests.

"I'm not suffering because I'm in a wheelchair," Starkloff says. "I'm suffering because I can't just go to a restaurant. And it's needless."

One local company that made an effort to make all of their locations accessible is the St. Louis Bread Co., part of a national bakery-cafe chain with 240 locations. The company put in ramps, added Braille and large-print menus and adjusted its counters by installing openings.

"If someone's in a wheelchair, we can pass their order back and forth through the counter opening," says Larry Rusinko, vice president of marketing of Panera Bread, the corporation that operates St. Louis Bread Co. sites.

The company was sued in 1994 because a Central West End location did not provide a ramp into its sun room. The company settled, agreeing to make all locations ADA-compliant.

"If we're not going to do things for the customers, we're not going to be in business very long," Rusinko says.

David Newburger, the lawyer who filed the lawsuit, says, "The company deserves applause for what they have done."

Businesses that make their facilities accessible say they see far-reaching benefits.

Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and music club in University City, added several accessible features during a 1997 renovation, including: removal of interior steps, the addition of accessible restrooms and installation of an elevator to the basement where live performers appear.

"That's just the way it should be," says owner Joe Edwards. The restaurant received the "access to participation award" earlier this year.

Besides, Edwards notes, the changes provide access to more than just patrons with disabilities.

"There are pluses to everybody when features are added," he said. "The elevator is great for bands loading equipment and the automatic doors are really nice for delivery people."

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Information about Americans with Disabilities Act tax incentives for businesses:

Federal Tax Credits and Deductions

Businesses with revenue of $1 million or less or with 30 or fewer full-time employees are eligible for a federal tax credit that can be used for architectural adaptations, equipment and services such as sign language interpreters. The amount of the credit is 50 percent the expenditures, up to a maximum expenditure of $10,250. There is no credit for the first $250 of expenditures; therefore, the maximum credit is $5,000.

Businesses of any size may use a federal tax deduction for removal of architectural or transportation barriers to a maximum of $15,000 per year.

For more information, request IRS publications 535 and 334 or Form 8826 to claim your credit. To order information, call 800-829-3575, TDD: 800-829-4059.

Missouri Tax Credit

Missouri Americans with Disabilities Act tax credit to offset costs of complying with access requirements. Starting the 2000 tax year, this credit is 50 percent of the amount of expenditures up to a cap of $10,250. The credit cannot exceed $5,000. For more information, contact

The Missouri Department of Revenue
P.O. Box 37
Jefferson City, MO 65105

or call 573-522-2089

City of St. Louis Rebate

ABLE: The city of St. Louis offers a rebate program for making commercial buildings accessible. The program pays one-half the construction costs to a maximum of $2,000. For more information or an application, contact:

The Office on the Disabled
City Hall, Room 30
St. Louis, MO 63103

or call 314-622-3686