Below is an interesting story from our local paper in Florida. After you read it, Reach Out would like your opinion.

Wheelchair store sued for lack of disabled parking

Donna and Dave Batelaan were downright embarrassed when they learned their business had been sued for a lack of parking for the handicapped.
Their company is Action Mobility, a wheelchair sales and repair store.
And both the Batelaans use wheelchairs.
"At first. I thought it was a joke," Donna Batelaan said, recalling the federal lawsuit that was delivered to the store last month.
But it wasn't.
When Jean Pavlak, 67, of Jupiter, drove to the store with her daughter to look for a lightweight wheelchair, she was upset to find no reserved handicapped parking spots in the stores small lot.
Pavlak said she has been in a wheelchair for the past five years, following a fall. And since then, she has come to appreciate the hardship disabled people in public. Action Mobility is the second local business she has sued over access.
Pavlak never spoke to the Batelaans, and had no idea that they are disabled, too. "I just waited there 20 minutes, and when nobody waited on me, I left," Pavlak said.
And then she sued.
The Batelaan's were shocked, especially since almost all of the store's customers are handicapped, and parking has not been an issue in the store's 20-year history.
The way Donna Batelaan looks at it, their whole lot is handicapped parking.
And when it comes to being sensitive to the access need of the handicapped, the Batelanns are local experts.
Not only is it their business, but Dave Batelaan, a former IBM engineer, is a consultant for other businesses seeking to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Ironically, that is the act the store is accused of violating.
On Saturday, the Batelaans where expected to try to remedy the situation, with new reserved spots. They hope this action will bring an end to the lawsuit.
"What's right is right," Donna Batelaan said, "We'll certainly comply."

This Associated Press article originally appeared in the Miami Herald, August 22, 1999. The article is reprinted with written permission from the Associated Press

We'd like to hear from you. Please use the email links below. Leave the email blank, no responses will be posted. We will not reveal names and/or email of the respondents. We will post the initial results of this survey soon, and will update it often.

If you agree with Action Mobility's owners, that every space is for handicap parking, click here: yes@reachoutmag.com

If you disagree, please click here:
no@reachoutmag.com