Kevin: 0:33

Living with these disabilities for over 20 years, we have developed helpful hints and life lessons that we would like to share with you that has made our life easier and possible in some cases. We consider ourselves disability advocates and intend to educate ourselves and you about other disabilities and issues and also talk about things we find interesting and frequently encounter when we're out and about. Hey Kevin, welcome to the podcast for June.

palmi: 1:06

June already. Summer.

Kevin: 1:09

I know.

palmi: 1:10

It's hot here.

Kevin: 1:11

We have temperatures within the 95, 98. So it's hot here in Missouri.

palmi: 1:17

Yes, it is.

Kevin: 1:19

So our um episode is about something that we had talked about previously in a previous um episode, when I mentioned haphazardly that it was against the law, and you said And we spoke in jest about it and said there's no such thing as disability police. Right, yeah. So we're gonna go back to that. So this episode is about why we need ADA police.

palmi: 1:50

And that was published where? In what publication? Oh well, I I was- We didn't just make this up.

Kevin: 1:57

Yeah, yeah, we read this in the Global Disability um website. This is their latest report. It was for April 9th. Uh, it was written by Meg O'Connell, uh, who's in a wheelchair herself. And it was a it was posted in April 10th.

palmi: 2:18

So And it's not our original opinion, but she's got some good points.

Kevin: 2:25

Well, I think it is. We do agree that it should be there should be police. How and why and how it's funded might be the questions that we we have uh might be the questions that we are gonna talk about today.

palmi: 2:39

Why don't you give them the cliff notes of the article? And then I have some objections to other things that are not the principle of whether or not should be done just how and when right.

Kevin: 2:54

So this article is based on the fact that she was in a wheelchair um and her family and her went to uh a movie. Uh they parked and headed to the elevator where they take it up to go to the lobby. On the second floor is where you enter into the movie theater. And that da-da-da-dung, that will that um elevator was out of order and had been for quite a amount of time, they said. So they, you know, were immediately trying to figure out how they could get their mother up the, you know, up the stairs or up to the second floor. Uh, and so they went to the the theater uh manager and said, asked for an assistant, assistance, and he said, I apologize that this is that's the only elevator and it won't be fixed until maybe next week. Sorry. So what happens next? Well, that's what her con her her uh article talks about is you know, there is no ADA police. You know, if that elevator was not fixed in a week, two weeks, three weeks, forever, if they just decide never to fix that elevator again, who do you complain to? Do you know?

palmi: 4:04

I do know, but Well, it's pretty much there is no no easily fixed That is correct. It would have to be handled as an individual. You'd have to actually take the company or the theater owner to uh civil court, yeah. Yeah.

Kevin: 4:27

So um, and it would be fine if this happened just once or twice, or like she said, even a hundredths time, but it certainly wouldn't be the last time that she was denied access to a place, not necessarily the movie theater, but else anywhere. We ran across this several times while traveling. Uh most recently we were in Tennessee and had an Airbnb that we rented, and uh they we asked for the in the original request that it be handicapped accessible, and that was a specific question we asked the host, and she said sent us pictures. She said, yes, it is handicapped accessible, and sent us pictures of a bathroom that hand had handrails, a entrance that was not was at entrance level, and that is exactly what did not happen. In addition to the fact that the gravel in the parking lot was so thick that you got stuck your wheelchair got stuck in it, and we literally had to remove him from his chair and walk him inside and have two large gentlemen lift the chair out of the gravel because it had sunken so low down, he had basically buried himself in in the in the gravel. Basically, we were uh beans. So we were sent a picture of uh all those handicapped things at um accents, and none of them were in the unit that we had. And funny consequence is the one next door was at street level. So we assume maybe the picture she sent us was of that other unit that was right next door. But we don't know because we never went inside the other unit. But we were definitely sent pictures of a handicapped accessible bathroom for sure. You know, who do we go to? Do we go back go to the host and complain? Yes, that's what we did. Are they required to make changes? Uh no. And there was absolutely nothing we could have done while we were there, except we were smart, we are smart enough now to carry ramps and handrails and um stuff like that with us.

palmi: 6:44

It was a painful lesson, but yes, we have to take time. We realize that somewhere along the road on whatever trip, that sort of thing is gonna happen.

Kevin: 6:57

Right.

palmi: 6:57

And so we just so happen we got to use the uh suction cup grab bars and the wrap all in one place.

unknown: 7:07

Right.

Kevin: 7:08

Usually it's not all of it, and not only that, we we so we carry stuff and we are able to, but there are a lot of people that are below poverty level that because they are disabled that could not afford these items to travel with them or to take with them when they go elsewhere, or they're in a home before they become handicapped and are unable to leave or manage it the house by themselves without these adaptation adaptive um equipment and can't afford to have that equipment either. So this on her point, the ADA is 30, it's turning 34 years old this year, and for more than 30 years, the men the mandates of the law have been to allow access and inclusion for people with disabilities. But most people with these disabilities still face barriers, challenges, or even purposeful exclusion to in including access to accessible homes and people with disabilities face double the unemployment of those with with disability, without disabilities. And one of the most offensive uh uh offenses is accessibility features that are not maintained.

palmi: 8:30

Well, a lot of uh especially public buildings just kind of took what they had and for example used up did the verbon room just to get by.

Kevin: 8:45

Right. Because not everybody is grandfathered in. Uh unfortunately, that the fact that the ADA does not enforce the rules affects 61 million uh um Americans with disabilities. So that's a large portion. I think at one per we said it was like 45 percent of the the uh population.

palmi: 9:09

No, I think it's more like 25 percent, but that's grown to 26 percent. Since we said that okay.

Kevin: 9:19

So 26% of the total population of the United States is being affected by this, and it is not being talked about, fixed in any way, shape, or form. We find it on a daily basis. So in this letter, she says she believes it's time to propose the addition of a special unit within the Department of Justice that would act as an ADA police or for other or for each state to have their ADA um access offices that would oversee accessibility needs and concerns throughout the state. Um, in her letter, um, she's outlined five areas that she would like to see represented. And the first one was to review and monitor compliance of city buildings, county building codes, public works departments regarding the ADA and its regulations, such as providing cities with accessible uh sidewalks, entries, and pathways without barriers or reasonable accommodations and effective communication. The second idea she suggested was to insist in actifying access issues like the ADA Access Office would help with cities, states, local governments, and businesses to find solutions to for these accessible areas or issues. They would keep the local and national best practices to help entitle addresses and rectify any problems. The third idea was an investigation, investigate cases such as a neutral party educated in the ADA requirements of the office that would be involved in investigating these cases that are reported, make recommendations, and prosecute the cases of neglect, discrimination, abuse, and misconduct. The fourth would be to provide training and technical assistance to agencies on how to interact with people with disabilities in a respectful, safe, and proactive manner, and how to prevent and resolve access issues and concerns. Fifth and final is to educate and inform the public, especially people with disabilities and their families, about the rights and responsibilities under the ADA and how to report and seek solutions for any of these violations or grievances. Uh, this would the creation of this would handle what the exact complaint that we've been had we've been pointing out throughout this whole podcast. But Kevin and I do not agree on the solution. And Kevin's gonna give you an idea of why he doesn't uh agree with um starting that agency here and now bear in mind I don't disagree with the ideas, just I don't think now is the time to do it, and I'm gonna read you a statement why I went ahead and wrote it all out to make sure I had everything factually correct.

palmi: 12:31

So if you're wondering, yes, I'm gonna read off a piece of paper here. But unfortunately, my voice is still gonna be messed up. Our country is 34.67 trillion dollars in debt as of June 2024. That, you know, is based on the uh fiscal data.treasury.gov, they have a debt countdown, if you will, that keeps track of how far debt the the country is. And for the sake of simplicity, if you're gonna do mental gymnastics with Indy, these numbers just drop the 6-7. If we can raise $34 trillion, that is $670 billion, it's not gonna be an issue. So I'll concede that point. But if you're looking at $34 trillion and if you're breaking into trillions of dollars for the first time, that's whatever number it is fall by 12 zeros. 34 fall by 12 zeros is 34 trillion. This scale has never happened in the history of this country. We typically run a deficit, but it's only a few billion dollars. This debt is accumulated by a very range of activities on behalf of Congress. Fines are levied, funds are raised, basically taxes could be used for this, but everything has never been done like this before. In this age right now, you're seeing a bunch of politicians. It's a lot of people are undergoing election right now. The entire House of Representatives, and of course the president is due to be decided. According to our Constitution, the president does not submit legislation, it's the members of Congress that do that, the legislative branch. But if somebody has a good idea, be it a president or one of his cabinet or jump blow in the street, I don't care. That idea needs to be discussed. And as far as I know, nobody has come up with an idea of exactly how we're gonna raise $34 trillion, not pass it on to our children. I think uh this is this amount of money is so large and vast and impossible to pay down that we're gonna end up, you and I, in our lifetime, taking the can down the road and our children are gonna be stuck with the tab as future taxpayers, if you will. But when politicians are discussing this topic, especially when they don't want to look like non-caring fiscal idiots, when you elect them to office, they're going to try and compare this to the one and only previous choice where this humongous debt was paid off within the uh limits of what the loans were, and I'll go ahead and explain that for you. They want to point to a twenty year period. In our country's history, it's part of American history, but we didn't have to repay thirty four trillion dollars. At the end of the Depression era, the country had accumulated a bunch of debt from the social work programs they implemented in an effort to keep our economy from crashing for worse than it was. And those efforts did pay off kudos to those past politicians. I'm not saying it couldn't have been done better, but hey, it worked. Which led us to the next crisis, which was World War II. That cost a lot of money. The third era was after World War II. All the stuff that was destroyed from all the fighting had to be rebuilt. And each country, it was kind of under unfair for each country to have to forge ahead in the future because some countries were better off in the world in the uh destruction department than others, namely American had very little damage to repair. But on the other hand, uh France was occupied by Nazi Nazi Germany for quite a while, and they had things to that the Nazis had destroyed in their country that needed to be rebuilt. Not to mention there was Germany itself had to move away from Nazism, change their government, and rebuild basically a country that would be destroyed by the Allies, if you will. Some countries had it a lot less serious as far as damage is concerned than others did. So really you can't compare this huge debt over a short period of time to the not too huge debt or not as large debt that was accumulated over 20 years of time. It just it's like comparing apples to oranges, the uh is not a fair comparison. It's not fair both because of the uh the ground circumstances surrounding the uh debt was not the same, was not handled the same, but the economy of our country was not the same. Our economy was booming once we got things ramped up after the Great Depression. And when World War II came around, industry yes had a Stop building some things and start building other things for the war effort, but their main uh obstacle was manpower. Their employees were being employed elsewhere in the war effort, and so women played a large role in saving our ass production in this company in World War II. The aid in reconstruction was done. A lot of the actual work was done by the company with the US providing the money to either buy materials needed or loan equipment.

Kevin: 20:49

Or convert.

palmi: 20:50

Or convert. I'm actually gonna summarize this by saying it's not the best time to increase police budgets. I the DOJ. Not to imagine the DOJ presently is not the most trusted police organization out there. Just do some of their past recent actions. Decreasing the national debt has got to be addressed. We have to have two different questions that we have to ask ourselves about the debt. How are we gonna address it? And in what time frame is this gonna happen? Let's not just take pecan down the road to our progeny and let them handle it. It's not fair to them. They deserve to have a more or less place late. I'm pretty sure that there will always be a deficit because of the way we budget. Things happen that we didn't account for when we propose those budgets and get them approved things that have to uh be addressed, that can't wait till next fiscal year to address. I don't disagree with the concepts of a uh ADA police, but I think for the fact of austerity, now is not the time to try to figure out how to uh come up with the funds to put these people in place, train them, etc. In some cases, I'm sure states are better equipped to handle this. For example, I'll give you a program that our state, Missouri, was considering, and that is engaging matters, where they're talking about, you know, as a part of the natural cycle of life, you're going to become less and less able. Your eyesight's gonna go, your hearings gonna go, your joints are not gonna work the way these two, so there are a lot of disability issues that will have to be addressed as people age. That would be a wonderful place to start the AD policy movement in Missouri, but that may not be the case everywhere. And with that, I'm done.

Kevin: 23:46

Okay. So yeah, that was my thought. Um, yes, I agree. You know, Kevin, just straight to the facts. We're basically in in debt in a huge amount for the federal government. But I each state varies. Some states are better off than other states. But I think that is where you sh we should have this policy come being inner enacted by is the states. I think the state should take responsibility of the ADA policing. I think they have currently have uh agencies now that it would easily slip into, like Kevin said about the aging. Um, that because I don't think same thing, don't kick the can further down the in the f down the road because people are suffering today. You are unable to access areas and things that you would like to do to have a full life. You have a shorter life already, so it is imperative that you make the most of what you have. And I think being not able to attend places or or not go somewhere because of your disability, it is you're not being treated fairly. So I don't think putting it wait until the future is better is the answer. I think it should be established within the state's um police ADA policing versus the federal. So that's the only place I differ from you. You know, I just think it's not gonna help you in 20 years, you're not gonna be here in 20 years. So, and that happens to be the case in most disabilities. It shortens people's lives. So that is where I stand on that. So we agree that we should have policing, we're just not sure who should provide it, correct?

palmi: 25:36

That's correct. Or how it should be better or paid for. Right.

Kevin: 25:41

Okay. Well, you and I are not gonna be able to solve this problem.

palmi: 25:45

No, we're not.

Kevin: 25:46

We are advocates, that's why we're out here uh giving it a voice, uh putting it out there, and hopefully we'll be able to investigate um a little further down the line how to get it into a state-sponsored agency.

palmi: 26:02

And you, I'm pretty sure most of our listeners are either disabled or have a friend or family member who they're trying to assist every now and then with their disability.

Kevin: 26:21

Remember, 25% of the possi population is disabled. So all right. Well, let's end the episode here, Kevin. There was a few things we wanted to remind people of.

palmi: 26:34

Yes, there were.

Kevin: 26:35

Go ahead.

palmi: 26:36

Okay. First off, our podcast hosting site has a brand new feature where you're able to send us a message. This doesn't involve email, it doesn't involve uh a text, it's basically a text message, but via the internet. You don't have to use your your data, you don't have to use your minutes, you don't have to give us your email address, you do have to give us your email address if you want to enter our contest for the end of your giveaway. But we don't normally collect phone numbers or email addresses, we don't do marketing that way.

Kevin: 27:34

So leave us a line, just speak into the is there an app on the website or what is it? How is it set up?

palmi: 27:42

It's just basically a tab that goes to a link.

Kevin: 27:46

So there's a tab, and you can just speak what your comments are uh and let us know how you're enjoying it and what more we could do. We just came, I just got an announcement today while I was at lunch. We have a thousand downloads. I mean, I'm sorry, a hundred downloads. I wish it was a thousand. So we have a hundred downloads, and that marked a compliment accompliment for us. Um that is the most we've ever had.

palmi: 28:15

Our goal for this year was to uh expand our listening audience.

Kevin: 28:22

So help us out with that. And if you enjoy this, pass it on to somebody else and share our link and our um website.

palmi: 28:29

Spread the knowledge, tell them about the podcast.

Kevin: 28:33

That way we can have more ADA compliance everywhere.

palmi: 28:39

And it also helps if you rate or if you the podcast on whatever service you're getting it from, be it Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, which is taint to YouTube music, blah blah blah. Yeah. If somebody asks you to give us some stars, give some stars or explain how we can improve.

Kevin: 29:09

Yep. All right, let's say goodbye now.

palmi: 29:12

We'll see you next time. Bye.

Kevin: 29:16

We are always looking to improve the podcast. So if you want to hear a specific topic, have a different opinion, want to add something to the conversation, drop us an email. Our contact information is listed on our website. It's www.whenlifegivesolemons.net. We have recently added a companion YouTube channel called Making the Lemonade. If you enjoy the podcast, continue your enjoyment by joining us on YouTube.