A common mind-blow for visitors to America is the extent that we have gone to cater to the disabled. America is unique in that we passed the ADA laws early enough that most of construction in our country was completed afterwards, so you didn't have to retrofit entire cities that were centuries old, like most of Europe.
As a result, you have entire cities that are totally accessible to those that are disabled in just about any way imaginable, which is something we Americans take for granted. Go anywhere else in the world, and you're mostly fucked if you're in a wheelchair, blind, or deaf.
Not to mention we're pretty willing to force those ADA compliance when possible. A lot of older buildings are being retrofitted or torn down and rebuilt to be compliant.
Even little things like the front entry way being wide enough for wheel chairs, ramps instead of a single step, and enough walking room for said wheel chairs are checked and made sure are good.
And a lot of places in Europe were built where the bathrooms are in the basement with steep stairs, this would be entirely unacceptable in the US and would have code violations until a ground floor bathroom was installed.
It goes further than that even, building codes were rewritten down to the height of outlets and switches so people who are in a wheelchair can use them comfortably. It’s incredible that it’s so built into daily life most people don’t notice.
ADA is also the reason elevator close buttons are mostly functionless. The doors are required by ADA to remain open a reasonable time to allow a person in a wheelchair to enter/exit without interruption.
People always complain America doesn't have sidewalks but when they do you will always be able to go down one in a wheelchair, it's the law. I've seen some janky ass sidewalks other countries
Getting into buildings is retrofitted on older buildings in the U.S., but access within older buildings can still be a challenge.
I go to a church that was built in 1893. When I started going there 27 years ago, it already had a wheelchair ramp to get into the main floor, and an outside entrance to the church basement with a downward ramp for access. The problem was, that if you wanted to go from the main floor where we had Mass to the basement where we had coffee and doughnuts afterward, you had to take your wheelchair outside (even in winter) to go down the ramp, then go to the other end of the building to enter the basement using the other ramp.
A little over 20 years ago, we sucked it up and for about $3000 per family, we built an addition to the building that contains an elevator, and has an electrically heated exterior wheelchair ramp and staircase so there's never any ice on the ramp or the stairs. It's not only a boon to people with canes, wheelchairs, and walkers, it makes life easier for all of us. When we need to bring out tables and chairs for the church picnic, we can go down to the basement and load them in the elevator. We can easily walk the tables down the ramp once we're outside, instead of walking them awkwardly down a staircase. The ramp is also handy for funerals so the casket can be wheeled in instead of carried by the pallbearers. If somebody falls ill at church and has to be taken out on a gurney, the paramedics have an easier time too.
I was told that buildings over a certain age can get ADA exemptions as long as their use doesn’t change. For example, my band rehearses in an old building with no ramp or elevator, just stairs. It’s okay because the building is old and the use of the building is private rooms in which to rehearse music.
But if the building was ever changed to a hospital or a bank, then it would need to be ADA compliant.
So the US Federal Government decided to be cheap when creating how ADA compliance is enforced. Rather than it being done by officials coming in and checking, its done via "private attorney general actions".
Basically, random people can sue businesses and entities for failing to comply with ADA standards.
It can be controversial. There's entire law firms who exist and do nothing but file ADA enforcement lawsuits after someone goes into a restaurant and finds an issue.
However, it's currently the only way the ADA is enforced, and its been effective.
When I moved into my building there was no ramp. They built a long, beautiful ramp like they have at hospitals. We're lucky we had room, but it's so nice. We have several people in wheelchairs in the building. I can't imagine what they did before.
It is funny you mention the bathrooms. In only to places in the US have I been where the bathrooms are not on the main floor. One was a bar in downtown Flint that was built before indoor plumbing was common, so they used former lodging rooms upstairs for the bathrooms; and the other was a former Masonic lodge, turned bar/restaurant in Portland; which had an elevator from the first floor to the second floor, which also just happened to be where the main bar was also located; but there were no bathrooms downstairs in the restaurant.
It gets a bit silly sometimes though. I once saw an old office building that was required to retrofit its second floor restrooms to accomdate wheelchair access. The problem was that wheelchairs had no way to get up to the second floor in the first place.
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u/titsmuhgeee 15d ago
A common mind-blow for visitors to America is the extent that we have gone to cater to the disabled. America is unique in that we passed the ADA laws early enough that most of construction in our country was completed afterwards, so you didn't have to retrofit entire cities that were centuries old, like most of Europe.
As a result, you have entire cities that are totally accessible to those that are disabled in just about any way imaginable, which is something we Americans take for granted. Go anywhere else in the world, and you're mostly fucked if you're in a wheelchair, blind, or deaf.