Source: Disability Rights Oregon
Eight Oregonians with disabilities filed suit today in federal court, demanding that the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) take swift action to fix curb ramps around the state. Currently, people using wheelchairs are forced to navigate their chairs in traffic on busy highways because of lack of adequate curb ramps. Blind people can only guess where and when it is safe to cross the street. The Association for Oregon Centers of Independent Living (AOCIL), along with the eight individuals, have joined together to bring the suit. AOCIL represents seven communities of people with disabilities around Oregon.
For decades, ODOT has done little to make the roads safe and accessible to people with disabilities despite a legal obligation to make steady progress. ODOT has dedicated only a fraction of a percent of its multi-billion dollar budget to making roads safe and accessible to people with disabilities. Twenty years after the passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, ODOT determined that more than 75% of the needed curb ramps on Oregon state roads were missing or in poor condition. Despite that finding, ODOT’s current rate of replacement will require people with disabilities to wait several decades more for safe and accessible crosswalks. [Read more at Disability Rights Oregon…]
