ADA Access Blog

Marilynne Miller has been confined to a wheel chair since last year.  On Friday, she and her family went to the Casa Montez restaurant in Joplin for dinner and found the non-smoking section was not handicap accessible.

And when Miller had to use the restroom, she says her wheelchair could not fit through the door's tight entrance.

"Ordinarily, I can handle my handicap really well," Miller says.  "I can joke about it, I can take jokes about it.  I do anything I wanted to do.  But, I feel discriminated against."

She says she manages to do well on her own inside her home, but when she goes out, she feels at the mercy of others.

"Generally, it's real good," she says.  "People are accommodating to my handicap.  But some restaurants you go to aren't wheelchair accessible."

Miller and her family went for dinner to the Casa Montez restaurant, and she wanted to sit in the non-smoking section, but says steps leading up to the area were not accessible for her chair.

They family decided to stay, but when Miller had to use the restroom, she says her wheelchair couldn't fit through the restroom's entrance.

Casa Montez's owner did not wish to be interviewed on camera, but did say from 2 PM until closing, they set up a table that seats six on the restaurant's main floor, specifically for customers with disabilities.

The owner also says most wheelchairs she's seen have been able to maneuver through their restroom's entrance.

The Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990 by the federal government requires all restaurants and other public facilities to have access for those with disabilities.

But Joplin building code supervisor Steven Cope says they can't enforce this law for buildings built prior to 1990.

"The building codes we have do have portions of the ADA requirements spelled out in them, and we look for that on new builds and the drawings that we get in," Cope says.

However, older buildings still may have to comply with the ADA.

The federal government looks at how much it would cost the restaurant to make it ADA compliant.

Based on these costs, they decide if the restaurant has to make the necessary changes.

"The justice department probably has inspectors and such who would make a determination of that responsibility," Cope says.

Miller says she will write her local congress represenative and others in government asking them to require more businesses to be ADA compliant.

In the meantime, she suggests Casa Montez should build a simple, inexpensive wooden ramp to their non-smoking section for others who are handicapped.

KOAM TV 7 Joplin and Pittsburg News Weather Sports |Why aren't Joplin businesses wheelchair accessible?