Comment Re:I know businesses that ended because of the ADA (Score 1) 296
Frankly you don't have a clue how much is costs to run a business or to buy and ADA compliant lift or build a ramp.
So let take one of your premises, using employees to lift the wheel chair gut up the steps. He weighs 300 pounds. One or both of my employees are taken off the job to come outside to lift him and gets hurt. Now I have a workman's comp claim and 1 to 2 employees off work. They dropped the guy and now I have his medical claims to pay and he is filing suit.
Next I need to build a Ramp. My store front does not have any space between it and the sidewalk that I can encroach on. So I modify my building at a cost of $50K to meet the "needs" of maybe 4 customers, who won't ever buy that much merchandise from me in their lifetime.
So I chop off the end of my steps to put a 4 x 4 foot square lift with the required safety rails and signs. Train my employees how to run it. Have it maintained the required 4 times a year for a first year cost of $48k. BTW a quick survey showed a RESIDENTIAL grade lift is $19k to $25k. That is assuming I can get a good deal on the installation. And again I have to take employees off the job to operate the lift. I now have insurance liability for having and operating the lift.
So the handicapped should go where the businesses will spend the money to accommodate them and leave the small business owner alone. If wheelchair guy lives in a small town with no ADA businesses, then either use the small town friendships he has and get help from his friends or move to the big city where there are ADA ready stores.