Access for Disabled

Re “Businesses Inaccessible to Handicapped Kept on Run by Paraplegic,” May 11: Bravo to Kornel Botosan for his efforts to force businesses to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The reality for disabled people is that a large number of businesses, both large and small, as well as public agencies, do not take the ADA seriously and have the attitude of “so sue me” when contacted about their inaccessibility and noncompliance.

As a paraplegic who has worked as a pharmacist in Southern California for the last 20 years, I can attest to the number of situations in which even minimal compliance with the ADA can only be obtained through litigation. In the eight years since the ADA was passed, the disability rights section of the Department of Justice has initiated only four lawsuits, and only two went to trial and judgment.

The disabled are tired of hearing businesses complain over and over about why they need not make their facilities accessible because they don’t have any disabled customers or employees (talk about circular logic). After waiting passively for over seven years for these businesses to “do the right thing” and comply with the law, the squeaky wheels of the disabled community will sue and sue if that’s what it takes to realize our right to fully participate in society as Congress intended.

JOHN M. POIRIER, San Diego