This year, 2020, marks the 30th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a civil rights document that was signed into law (on July 26, 1990) with the intent of creating an equal opportunity for people with disabilities. The essence of this law is to protect the rights of the disability community by preventing discrimination in all areas of public life. However, the ADA is poorly enforced and has yet to be fully met. It does not fully protect the rights of the disability community.
Many people with disabilities have faced unnecessary discrimination that the ADA should have eliminated. This has led to many cases of litigation as currently, that is the best enforcement of the ADA. This is costly, but if an entity is breaking the law, they should not be allowed to continue to do so. Entities like the Metro Transportation Authority of New York City, Harvard University and Uber would rather fight in court than become compliant. Litigation is by far more expensive than becoming compliant with the ADA. There has been plenty of time to learn about the ADA and to build compliance into every business structure.
There are not only entities and locations that are not compliant with the ADA, but many situations that would be compliant with the ADA that should not be considered okay as well. The ADA only requires elevators in private buildings that have three or fewer stories if privately owned (like shops, hotels, apartments…). A person who cannot access stairs still cannot access stairs if there are only stairs, period. Not just too many of them.
Access buttons, also known as door openers, are also not required by the ADA. However, the ADA does require accessible parking spots, curb ramps and accessible bathrooms, but this does not keep people from piling snow in access isles and in front of the curb ramps nor keep people from using the accessible bathroom as a storage room. These actions do not provide equal access to people with disabilities.
Where MRA Comes In
Mobility Roadside Assistance (MRA) was created due to the ADA not completely providing equal access in the area of towing services. There was a gap in roadside assistance and MRA strives to fill that gap by providing peace of mind to travelers who otherwise could not receive proper assistance by other towing companies.
The ADA ultimately could not cover everything as accessibility is not one size fits all and a law is not capable of improving the mindset of our society including that of disability. So many people have to take accessibility into their own hands. And, that is exactly what MRA is doing. Just as the ADA is an important piece of history and like the writers who penned the ADA, MRA is determined to continue to bring positive impact to society by providing access to reliable towing for all.
