[Ansteorra] What is "Reasonable Accomodation"?

[Carl Chipman]

Like many others, i have been timid about replying to this topic due tofears of being labeled insensitive or uncaring. However, your phrase 

"A person should not have to call ahead of time to request access to electricity for their powerchair or medical equipment, it should be available."

Struck a cord in me.  I too require electricity for medical equipment.  I have a CPAP  machine, and pretty much must use it nightly.  However, it is my need, which I plan for (http://www.cchipman.com/cpap_on_batteries.htm)and do not require others to do my work for me. I understand that myneed is not as severe as others, but I still feel that I take thepersonal responsibility for what I need to do the things I want. I feelit is unfair to demand from volunteers that in addition to arrangingthe site, the cheap camping, the cheap food, the free service, and theorganization of recreational activities, they should also try toimagine any foreseeable disability and plan for all of them. 

People in the SCA are helpful and kind, and if notified of needs will work to assist.  People can not read minds, nor can they plan for every possible contingency.

With trepidition,
Sieur Jean Paul de Sens



Carl Chipman
Nomadics, Inc.
http://www.nomadics.com


----- Original Message -----
From: Lisa <silvina at allegiance.tv>
To: "Kingdom of Ansteorra - SCA, Inc." <ansteorra at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 19:11:16 -0500
Subject: [Ansteorra] What is "Reasonable Accomodation"?


> It has been posted that the SCA has changed it's policy to require all events to
> be legal under the ADA.  Now comes the question... What is Reasonable
> accomodation????
> 
> To explain my perspective on this I would like to digress a little.  we recently
> had a discussion as to what a reasonable attempt at period garb was.  This is
> very subjective and pretty much the decision of what is reasonable lies on the
> individual making the attempt correct?  With reasonable accomodation, the ADA
> does give us some guidelines, but it is impossible for them to give specifics on
> every possible situation.  What needs to be done is to take those guidelines
> (and there IS a secion on building codes and what is acceptable for facilities)
> and use a little common sense.  For example, if a site is pretty much nothing
> but sand and swamp a golf cart is not an unreasonable request if the person is
> normally confined to a wheelchair and it is obvious that their manual or power
> chair is unable to traverse the terrain.  Hopefully, with this new ruling, we
> won't have that issue as people will become more attentive to the sites chosen
> and look at them for ADA compliance and accessability.  A person should not have
> to call ahead of time to request access to electricity for their powerchair or
> medical equipment, it should be available.  With cabin reservations, if a
> disabled person requests a cabin ahead of time, they should have first priority
> regarding accessible cabins rather than being told "it's on a first come, first
> serve basis and all of the cabins are full because you didn't call/contact me
> fast enough."  I'm not saying that a person who calls at the last minute needing
> a cabin because of a disability should be able to boot someone out, but perhaps
> open the reservation process a little early for those with disabilities to
> contact instead of all 15 (number picked out of the air) cabins being filled in
> 15 minutes and a disabled person and their family/household being unable to
> attend the event because of lack of accomodation.  An event steward looking at a
> site for an event should print out the ADA requirements for facilities and make
> a checklist.  I realise that this is a lot to ask, but look at what a disabled
> person goes through when a facility is not accessible and they attend the event.
>  For example, no electrical access... my husband would not be able to recharge
> his power chair and would be not only stuck in the camp, but also unable to get
> back into the van to go home unless some strong individual was kind enough to
> push his chair up the ramp into the van.  Why not bring a manual chair as a
> backup?   He has severe rotator cuff damage and cannot push a manual chair
> without ending up in severe pain.  His power chair is one of the "lighter" ones
> on the market and it weighs around 300 lbs, he weighs around 170 lbs.  I am 5'4"
> and weigh around 100 lbs... I cannot manhandle the weight of his chair and him
> very far at all, and definitely not up a slope or through loose sand.  Even
> pushing his manual chair is difficult for me for long distances.  Reasonable
> accomodation is using common sense, and doing what is right instead of coming up
> with excuses of how hard it is or how there are no facilities that fit the
> requirements that are affordable.
> 
> Elizabeta of Rundel
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