How to legally deal with inaccessible facilities

We've all come across them ... that so-called accessible bathroom, the not-so-wheelchair-friendly restaurant, etc. Thanks to the Sonoma County SCI Support Group, you will now have a chance to ask a couple of experts at their Monday, April 17th meeting how to navigate your way around the legal requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The meeting features HolLynn D’Lil, a disability-rights advocate for the last forty years, who has played a major role in shaping California accessibility standards, including the first California Building Code standards for accessible public accommodations, historical buildings and housing. Also speaking is Richard Skaff, Executive Director of Designing Accessible Communities. He founded the Marin Center for Independent Living, worked as ADA coordinator for the Department of Public Works and then worked as deputy director of San Francisco Mayor’s Office on Disability.

Together, they will share their work on building codes and access standards: what the standards are, the relationship of the California code and the ADA standards, what steps you can take to address code violations, and similar areas of interest in the architectural landscape. There will be time for Q&A as well.

The meeting is from 4-5:30 p.m. at The Clubhouse at the Azure Apartment Complex, 7 Indigo Drive, Petaluma. For more information, contact Stan Kosloski at (860) 614-8351 or by e-mail at stankosloski@gmail.com.