Disabled patron claims discrimination by a local restaurant

There are two sides to every story, and the complaint in a lawsuit only gives one. I am anxious to hear how the Bristol (known for great customer service) is going to respond to this allegation. It doesn't sound good.

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/091707whasmjdTopBristolSued.e37ce70b.html

I just don't see how this can be justified. I have been at dinner as a party of two and had a party of 12 seated next to me...loud? Yes! Moved to the corner? No. People often bring small children to restaurants, children who can't help but cry when frightened, tired, frustrated, hungry, etc. I have never once seen a family with loud children be moved to a corner.

I actually have a hard time believing that someone complained.

A big part of my legal practice is representing children with C.P. They can't control the level of volume of their voice. It's part of the disease. This seems very out of character for the Bristol management that I know to be very accomodating and highly professional. Perhaps this was just a manager on duty who lacked knowledge of the disability or didn't have sufficient experience to deal with this type of situation.

[Robin Garr]

It's only a slight digression to the overall issue of wheelchair access (and accessibility to other forms of disability) in Louisville and just about everywhere. Only lip service (at best) is given to the requirements of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and as I understand it, the city's Inspections, Permits and Licenses folks don't do much to enforce the ADA in older buildings. All of which may not be as overtly nasty as this incident as reported, but are just as effective at keeping disabled people out.

The New York Times dining critic Frank Bruni had a strong article on this just last week, and it generated an unusually large number of assenting letters in yesterday's Food section:

When Accessibility Isn’t Hospitality

Letters

Very interesting material, worth reading, thinking about and asking skeptical questions about, particularly when IP&L forbids restaurateurs to build a small ramp over a single entrance step if it extends into the sidewalk.

I don't think it is a digression at all. My father was confined to a wheelchair for a period of time, and it was a real eye-opener when we tried to go out to eat. Some establishments were incredibly accomodating while others made it clear that we were a huge inconvenience for them. If you want to be open to the public, then you will have to accomodate the public.

My father had polio as a child, and as an adult, walked with canes, then a wheelchair. We always had problems with certain establishments (KT's comes to mind) because the only"Handicapped" seating they had was in the bar. Needless to say, we didn't go there very often.

Handicapped accessability has long been a sore spot with me. Even thou Dad has been gone for 6 years, I still "size up" a place before I go in for accessability (40 years of habit is very hard to break). I've found that more and more establishments are following the ADA guidelines, and are welcoming with wide open doors those who haven't had access before.

Let's face it...there is not enough tax dollars available to keep up all the codes enforcement, and the ADA is not a high priority. However, I will continue to show my thanks to those who do by voting with my wallet!

Our store was new so it admittedly easier for us to do so, but not only was our building and restauroom accessible (as required) but our store floor-plan and shelf/aisle layout was designed to be wheelchair accessible. This is a real rarity in smaller food places: you might be able to get thru the door, but can't navigate the crowded aisles and/or around the tables/chairs. I love Lotsa Pasta , but after trying to navigate it with a stroller, when we were designing our space we swore we would create an openness of the layout to make it accessible.

We had multiple wheelchair-bound customers who thanked us repetitively for making our store a pleasure for them to shop and eat at.
To the owners out there: not only is it the right thing to do, but in our case, we had a number of great repeat customer who supported us because of it.

Deb

Being a “chairiot-rider”, I find this an interesting thread. There are many places that are great about accommodating people with disabilities but others lack. Now, I do not always blame the establishment. I get my haircut at Woody’s on Baxter. There is a ½ step into the place. They cannot put a ramp out due to a tripping hazard yet the must have a ramp via ADA… What do they do?

There are many places I frequent, mainly Pestos, Bistro301, Saffrons, Melillos, Artemisia, 4SL, Felice, Browning’s, Flanagans, Molly Malone’s, and The Bodega at Felice. They all are great for accessibility. Other places lack accessibility but work around it (Webb’s Market, Jerry’s, Woody’s et al…). I have been (rarely) to other places that treated me like an issue to deal with. Usually it was a server that was uncomfortable with my disability and not an issue with the establishment. Now I cannot blame the server for something I have been guilty of in the past. In the various places I tended bar, I never had that issue but one day at Kelly’s I ran across a past girlfriend’s step brother who was fresh out of the hospital wearing a halo and needed a boost into the bar. I was uncomfortable. I gave him a quick boost, headed to my car, thought ‘thank god I had my health’ only to have him visit me in rehab a few months later with his exact same injury… Interesting visit. I truly believe most of the bad experiences I had were just wait staff with the fear of the unknown and not demeaning.

Thanks for that insight J.P.

[Robin Garr]

Thanks for that insight J.P.

I agree, although I'm a little skeptical about that "tripping factor" that IPL apparently uses to forbid shops to build short sidewalk ramps.

In the first place, they don't worry about permitting many other obstacles in the public sidewalk, from tables and chairs to bike racks to flower pots to CJ (and LEO) racks to stairsteps and even all manner of junque outside little "antique" shops. It's kind of hard to understand why they choose not to enforce a requirement expressed in a federal law when they seem to be quite free to allow a pass on all manner of other obstacles.

They could also check the effective way that Lemongrass on Bardstown solved the one-step issue without a tripping hazard. Of course, that was originally done to permit access for ... motorcycles.

Jennica's is very accessible and I highly enjoy their courtyard. Pain to get to but worth it!

Toast is also a worthy option...