This month, BFL President/CEO Paul Feuerstein discusses some of the challenges involved in running a ‘Cross-Disability’ Program

There are challenges that arise when setting up a program to work with a wide variety of people with disabilities. An accommodation for a person with one type of disability can be a problem for a person with another disability. 

History

A classic ‘accommodation’ example involves the development of curb cuts, otherwise known as pedestrian ramps. Wheelchair users fought hard to have cities create curb cuts on every corner so they could more easily move throughout the community. When they began to be installed, there was a realization that curbs were an important way in which people who are blind knew whether they were on a safe sidewalk or moving into traffic on a street. 

Curb cut specifications were changed to mandate that ridges on the curb cut top help an individual who is blind to identify the transition into the street. Variations on that theme can be found in the design of accessible shelters.

Freedom House Accommodations

Every apartment in BFL’s Freedom House Emergency Shelter was designed to accommodate a person in a wheelchair. All of the doors have ADA approved door handles that make it possible for an individual with limited arm or hand strength to be able to open our doors. 

This also means that the average young child who is big enough to reach the door hardware can let himself out of any door. That has been particularly challenging when we are working with a family that has a child with autism. 

We have had a number of incidents in which a child with autism has let himself out of his family’s apartment and had the run of the facility. 

We dealt with that by upgrading our safety measures. We have closed circuit cameras in every hallway, elevator lobby and elevator. We have not only added cameras by the doors but by the roof of our building. Each of those doors is alarmed. 

We also have a two-way communication system between our front desk and a speaker system by each door. If any child tries to open the door to go to our roof, they will have both a loud alarm bell to discourage them as well as a stern message from someone at our front desk. 

It usually takes only one such incident for a child to learn that they need to stay away from those doors.   More often than not, one of our staff sees a child alone in a hallway and communicates with our maintenance staff to find them and escort them home.

Every one of apartments has red emergency call buttons in the bathroom and the main room of the apartment to allow residents to contact the front desk in case of an emergency. Our staff is required to both call the apartment and make a home visit to be sure the family is safe. 

Because all of the buttons are at a height accessible to wheelchair users, they are also quite accessible to toddlers who love to push our buttons. They get the positive reinforcement of the telephone ringing immediately after the button is pushed. 

We have had families that have had a half dozen such incidents in the course of an hour. This required us to do additional training for our staff to relieve their frustration levels. Staff have still had to make the call (we never know when it might be a real emergency), but a simple “I’ve got it” from the mother was enough to excuse them from making home visits or writing up reports.

Strobe Lights

Because we work with deaf residents, we designed the building to have strobe lights in every apartment as an auxiliary system. This system could be turned on when we had a deaf person in an apartment. 

When it came time to open our building, we were informed that we had to leave the strobe lights attached to our central alarm system whether a family with a deaf member was in the apartment or not. 

For the most part, this has been an additional way in which families can be aware of a fire drill or a real fire. 

If a family member has a seizure disorder, however, the flashing lights can put them in real danger. We have not been able to resolve the issue with the fire department. 

When we have a family member with a seizure disorder, we have them fill out a request to cover up the flashing alarms in their apartment. We advise residents with seizure disorders to keep a pair of sunglasses near their front door so they can put them on before they leave their apartments. We have found that they can help temper the effects of strobe lights in our hallways and common areas.

We have been able to overcome the cross-disability challenges that have come our way. If you have stories you would like to share, send them to odt@bflnyc.org.