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Inclusion Solutions

By Joan Leotta

Imagine the frustration of attempting to fit in a voting booth when your wheelchair is wider than the entryway. Or having to bring a sighted friend to the polling place with you because Braille ballots are not available. Or staying at home and voting by absentee ballot to avoid the public spectacle of not being able to vote as smoothly as others.

For millions of people with disabilities, of voting age, these scenarios have often been the norm. But next election day at polling places all over America, many will be able to vote with their non-disabled peers, thanks in large part to a company called Inclusion Solutions. Inclusion Solutions' devices will ease implementation of the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in more than 44 states. This Chicago-based accessibility provider offers solutions to make polling places and elections accessible to all voters at costs that governmental entities can afford. Combined with HAVA's requirement of accessible voting machines elections will be more accessible in 2006 than ever before.

But helping to achieve accessible election days is just part of the Inclusion Solutions equation. Since 2000, the company has made accessibility in everyday life its business.

Accessible Election Day

If the Americans with Disabilities Act has been in place since 1990, how have accessibility problems at polling places escaped scrutiny for so long? Sometimes election officials didn't fully understand or appreciate the requirements to make polling places fully compliant. Hollister Bundy, VP of Inclusion Solutions, says, “In Illinois, county election officials statewide reported that they were 99 percent accessible. When advocates and attorneys surveyed the sites, the reality was closer to 40 percent. Fortunately we are finally back at the high numbers—but its taken extraordinary efforts, statewide.”

Correcting physical access issues at polling places is often complicated by the fact that the many facilities used as polling places, such as churches and private homes aren't covered by the ADA. While accessible buildings would benefit all, the reality is that many cash-strapped counties, cities, and states are not willing to spend thousands of dollars on building-entry changes to cover the few days when access is mandatory.

Inclusion Solutions offers a range of low-cost products that address physical barriers at polling sites, from temporary ramps to parking signs, to matting for unpaved lots, to alert systems. By offering numerous products aimed at voting, Inclusion Solutions has helped election officials nationwide comply with HAVA. For example, the popular BigBell™ Ballot Call works on a wireless alert system and allows voters with disabilities to request assistance with building entry or curbside voting. The company's line of products is designed to be owned by the election officials, set up temporarily on Election Day, to make sites accessible and stored after the election.

A Teachable Spirit

Polling place accessibility is only one issue that Inclusion Solutions tackles. The firm is committed to the idea of finding pragmatic solutions within the original spirit of the ADA—dignified solutions--to include people with disabilities without imposing unreasonable burdens on businesses. These solutions affect all aspects of American life, from fueling their own cars to shopping and eating in the mom-and-pop establishments that make up much of our economic fabric. “We've made an impact on elections. Now we want to make that same impact on business,” says Bundy, who is also an attorney.

Founded in 2000, Inclusion Solutions has a unique approach to finding problems and creating solutions. The company polls the disability community to help set its goals as to which access problems it will tackle. When the disability community highlights an access issue, Inclusion Solutions works to find or develop equipment that can help to accomplish access in those situations. Then they work to introduce those solutions to the community.

When it comes to making the products themselves, Bundy notes that “we do a little bit of everything from designing a product and sourcing it, to making it ourselves on site or adapting existing products (like portable ramps) to new uses.” (The complete product line can be found online at www.InclusionSolutions.com.)

For Inclusion Solutions founder and CEO Patrick Hughes, the commitment to inclusion for people with disabilities had its start in the early 1990s. At that time, Hughes was having what he describes as a “typical fraternity” student experience at the University of Kansas. One day, he met a fellow student named Jay who was waiting for a workout session from one of Hughes' fraternity brothers. After talking with him, Hughes discovered that the young man, who was autistic, felt very isolated. Hughes arranged to meet with the boy three times a week—but soon felt burned out from the experience. After meetings with the boy's family, Hughes realized that what Jay really needed was not “special” times but normal times: everyday experiences around campus. So after more consultation with Jay's family, Patrick began simply taking Jay with him—to classes, to sporting events, to fraternity events.

“There was some opposition,” Hughes says, “but after a bit, people began to come up and tell me about people with disabilities in their own families. Some students said they'd like to work with autistic people too.”

A local paper did an article on the relationship, and Hughes got a call form a nearby residential facility. There were 250 adults and children in the facility who wanted similar “buddies.” So, Hughes founded Natural Ties, an organization dedicated to building partnerships between people in the disability community and college students without disabilities. “We worked to build a sustainable connection between people,” Hughes says. At a point when the group had developed chapters on 14 campuses, but not long after his own graduation, Hughes realized that like many organization founders, he needed to “get out of the way” of the growth, so he left.

The Lucky Platter—A New Start

Working against the isolation that people with disabilities had become the purpose of Hughes' life. But now he was looking for other ways to fulfill that vision.

Eric Singer, the chef/owner of the Lucky Platter in Evanston Illinois, was one of the first successes in Hughes' new direction of inclusion. Singer's restaurant is in a historic building that had a six-inch high front step, preventing wheelchair users from entering. Although Singer was willing to do whatever was needed to provide access, he does not own the building.

Hughes worked with Singer to get money to fund the changes in the doorway and step and to work with the landlord. “Then just as we were about to get down to setting a time to do the structural renovation,” Singer reports, “we realized that in addition to the high cost, the restaurant would have to be closed for two weeks, and that would have killed us and our employees—all fifteen of them. We could not pay them for those two weeks, and they could not afford to take the time off.”

“We wanted to be available to people with disabilities in our community,” Singer continues. “We had no idea how much business might be out there, but we see ourselves as a community restaurant and as such we wanted to serve and include all members of the community. At the time we had a few customers with visual impairments, but no wheelchair users came in. They couldn't because of the steps!”

When the big renovation plan fell through, Hughes came back with another solution to the structural problem, a way to still meet zoning and fire code regulations: a ramp and a bell!

Reports Hughes, “I saw the problem with Lucky Platter's access and went to my friend Mary Friedl to help find a solution.” Friedl, an Evanston-based disability activist and herself a wheelchair user, says, “When Pat talked to me about the Lucky Platter, I said I'd eat there if I could. We worked on a plan. When the plan for permanent changes turned out to be unworkable, we met again and came up with another solution. I own a portable ramp, so we took it to the restaurant and tried it.”

For a few hundred dollars and less than a day of installation work, the Lucky Platter purchased a portable ramp and installed a BigBell™. Singer says of the installation, “It's a solution that a small independent restaurant or store can put into place. We don't have deep pockets like chains. Hughes' devices allowed us to accomplish something, not just wish for it.”

Friedl, who now can eat at the Lucky Platter whenever she wishes, says of these small, practical efforts, “It's a good first solution to things. Pat's are solutions that make sense.”

Friedl continues, “It seems to me that a lot of places could become accessible if only a few small things were done.”

Singer adds, “We know we are not perfect with the bell and the temporary ramp, but if someday we can do the perfect solution, we will. What we have now allows us to enjoy the company of a neighborhood guy who has become a regular: a quadriplegic who comes in regularly with his aide. We don't have many other customers in chairs, but inclusion is not about numbers of customers who might come in—it's about the ability to be open to all. In a family restaurant like ours, each customer is important.”

The Bigger Picture

Hughes credits the successful installation at the Lucky Platter with piquing the interest of other area businesses that have since found ways to make their businesses more accessible. Shop by shop, restaurant by restaurant, these small steps are making inclusion into community life a reality for people with disabilities. Adding it all up, the efforts are creating an economic impact as well.

According to the US Bureau of the Census , small businesses generate fifty percent of this country's non-farm, private gross domestic product and employ half of the total US private payroll. This economic juggernaut includes mom-and-pop stores, funky art galleries, gift shops, artists, small manufacturers, restaurants—places we all like to frequent.

The ADA recognizes that many small businesses may not be able to afford costly doorway remodels, and that historic buildings often cannot install ramps or change certain structural elements even if they pose barriers. But businesses do not want to be merely told about problems—they want solutions. Inclusion Solutions provides ways in which small businesses can help people with disabilities get around these hurdles. “We try to apply simple, pragmatic, low-affordable solutions to the challenges experienced by people with disabilities,” says cofounder Bundy. “The ADA is about inclusion—not litigation.”

Heeding the Call

Part of Inclusion Solutions' success comes from their strategy of listening to the needs of the disability community to find out what to market. For instance, the company interviewed more than 450 people before developing their FuelCall™ device. This product is a simple retrofit to a gas pump that provides customers with disabilities the means to request assistance at the pump with the touch of a button. “We found out the things that the community saw as problems, analyzed federal legal requirements, and asked how they thought the situation could be remedied,” Bundy says.

Inclusion Solutions used to research a device to assist the over 28 million Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing. Because drive-through businesses such as fast-food chains, banks, and pharmacies are becoming a bigger part of the American landscape, Inclusion Solutions contacted over 6,500 people with hearing impairments to determine their experiences and preferences in drive-thru restaurants. Of those polled, 78% reported that it was difficult to use drive-thrus and 42% reported that because of these difficulties, they had to leave the drive- thru without placing an order. And, for those businesses that closed the main dining room at night, customers who could not use drive-thrus were being discriminated against.

The inclusion solution? OrderAssist, a device that works with the telecoil of a hearing aid to allow the person to hear the drive–thru speaker through their hearing aid. The 10 million hearing aid users who can now use drive-thru can represent a substantial increase in drive-thru product sales.

The Future

Chicago disability activist Jo Holzer, founder of Council for Disability Rights (www.disabilityrights.org) says, “Patrick Hughes makes access issues his personal quest. Inclusion Solutions is much more than a business.”

“I met Pat when he was still working with Natural Ties, mainly with people with developmental disabilities,” Holzer continues. “We helped him understand that there were also many isolation issues for people with physical disabilities. Some of the people in our office plopped him into a wheelchair and took off for downtown Evanston with him. It was a wild ride! But Patrick was so willing to learn! He has made it his business to canvas every disability rights group and leader. And the best thing about it is what he does, works!” Holzer hastens to add that “Pat creates practical pragmatic solutions to access problems. The solutions are not perfect, but life is not perfect. He has done a remarkable job.”

Patrick Hughes is a man with a vision. He sees a world in which people with disabilities can participate in everyday life activities such as shopping, eating in small restaurants, voting, fueling their cars, and using drive-through windows without impediment. “We create solutions that meet the spirit of the Americans for Disabilities Act—dignified access for people with disabilities.” That is the company's purpose, goal and future vision.

Inclusions Solutions can be found on the web at www.InclusionSolutions.com

Edited by Mary-Louise Piner.

Copyright © 2006 The Solutions Marketing Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved