Columns

Fighting for equality for people with disabilities
NFPA Journal®, May/June 2005

Franklin Delano Roosevelt told America in the darkest days of the Depression, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In truth, we’ve learned that Roosevelt was preoccupied by one fear that he never shared with the public.

Roosevelt contracted polio in the 1920s and it made it impossible for him to walk without heavy braces and required him to use a wheelchair. As a boy, he had seen a relative burn to death in a fire. Once he lost the use of his legs, he was terrified that he would be unable to escape a fire and so at his home in Hyde Park, and later in the White House, he would practice pulling himself across the floor to save his own life if ever a fire broke out.

In those days, little thought was given to the needs of people with disabilities and few attempts were made to ensure that they had equal opportunity. In the decades since, society has changed its attitude toward people with disabilities. At least we say that we have changed our attitude.

In 1990, Congress passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that did much to expand the rights of people with disabilities. Progress has been made in spite of some reluctance by code organizations, enforcement officials, and the construction and development community. The promise of the ADA for the millions covered by its protections has yet to be fully realized.

NFPA can’t solve this entire problem, but our members and those who participate in our code development system can do more to make sure that our codes provide equal access to buildings and equally safe evacuation for all occupants including people with disabilities.

Since 1994, NFPA has included accessible means of egress provisions in NFPA 101®, Life Safety Code®, that are in agreement with the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, but these provisions, while a great step forward, don’t go far enough. One option under the guidelines relies on sprinklers to “protect in place” those unable to evacuate because of a disability. In essence, the presence of automatic sprinklers waives the requisite special stair and elevator provisions for areas of refuge for those with disabilities. Sprinklers are a tremendous means of saving lives and property, but we aren’t doing enough if we say to people with disabilities, “Stay in place and the sprinkler will save you.”

That’s why we’re doing more. We’re working with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, which develops the Safety Code for Elevators and Escalators, on criteria that will make elevators safe for use by building occupants after a fire alarm is initiated and allow for safe operation of elevators by emergency responders well into the fire emergency. These kinds of actions by code developers, which require more creativity and more involvement by those in the disability community, are the only way that we can really say honestly that we believe in equal rights for people with disabilities.

And we have to encourage the enforcement community to do a better job in understanding the requirements of the law and making sure that its principles are applied. We still find too many buildings that are designed and built in ways that limit access and use by people with disabilities and too many public officials who are willing to look the other way.

NFPA is committed to being a force for change. We’ve established the Disability Access Review and Advisory Committee, which reports to me as president. The committee identifies existing needs and emerging issues within the disability community and makes recommendations on how NFPA can provide leadership on disability issues. The committee also ensures that our codes and standards development process includes proposals and comments that reflect the latest thinking on disability issues, access provisions, and other matters of concern to the disability community.

It will take all of us who are committed to NFPA’s mission to take the ideas that come from the committee and turn them into real improvements for people with disabilities. Only then can we say that we really believe in equality for people with disabilities and that our mission at NFPA is to make the world safer for everyone.

In this Section:

			Buzzwords New technology requires more training

			Firewatch Smoke in elevated train injures 73

			First Word Fighting for equality for people with disabilities

			Heads Up Protect against freezing year-round

			In A Flash NFPA certifications

			In Compliance Bills offer an economic incentive

			Mail Call Letters to the editor

			Outreach Preventing cooking fires

			Structual Ops Accountability systems

			Treasurer's Report 2004 NFPA Treasurer’s Report