& founder of Access Advocates
With our more than 20 years of experience with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), we are committed to changing the way building owners think and operate. The mission of Access Advocates (ACCESS) is to make a positive difference in the lives of people with disabilities, primarily through a professionally-supported, personal relationship with caring advocates, and to achieving the tasks of making non-compliant buildings ADA compliant, one building at a time.
We provide a solid foundation for those who have been discriminated against due to their disability; providing them with the necessary tools to attain the basic rights as that of an individual with no such disability with our committed staff and volunteers, professional leadership and standards of excellence.
Our business model is unique and it works! We believe we are the only people in the country who are approaching ADA cases in this manner and we’re still learning as we go. We’re often asked, what happens after ACCESS receives an ADA complaint? The complete timeline (from complaint to retrofit) depends, of course, on the specific circumstances of each individual case, but our initial process is rather quick. The following is a case example from last month:
- Thursday (13th) – Received a telephone call from a gentleman whose father fell in a roll-in shower when the “cheap accessible stool” collapsed underneath him during his stay at a major hotel/motel chain. We took preliminary information from the gentleman over the phone and sent a follow-up email explaining our services with a standard request for additional information. Upon receiving an email response from the gentleman with a photo of the broken stool, we immediately began researching the property in question.
- Friday (14th) – Received a final email from the gentleman with the requested additional information from his father (the advocate) and subsequently began preparing the draft complaint.
- Monday (17th) – Our team continued work on the draft complaint and made a call to an attorney in the advocate’s home state.
- Tuesday (18th) – Our team reviewed the draft complaint and performed a quality check of the document. We then received the signed engagement letter from the advocate granting us permission to proceed on his behalf. Received confirmation from the attorney that he will take the case, allowing us to send him the draft complaint, our research and all other case-related file information from our team.
The foregoing steps took a total of only four days! The remainder of the process is explained in detail on the “How it Works” page on our website.
We see this as a time for monumental change as passionate advocates refuse to take no for answer and demand equal access by teaming with us to get buildings ADA compliant, one building at a time.
Access Advocates, Inc. is a 501(C)3 company, which means we are a non-profit company. There is no fee or cost to those who use our services. The time for change is now. Care to join us?