LGBT Center Lacks Easy Disabled Access

A gay disabled senior is pressing the San Francisco LGBT Community Center to install an electronic door opener so that he and others can independently access the building.

Robby Cruz-DeCastro, 66, uses a wheelchair. DeCastro has been participating in programs at Openhouse, an agency that works with LGBT seniors, since October 2013. Openhouse maintains its offices in the LGBT Community Center at 1800 Market Street. According to Cruz-DeCastro, center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe promised him that the building would install electronic automatic doors. Those doors have yet to be installed.

Easy access to the building is critical for the disabled if they are to participate in center programs, Cruz-DeCastro said. Right now there is a sign outside the main entrance that instructs disabled people to call if they need assistance entering the building.

"It was a surprise to me that a community center building in San Francisco in this century wouldn't be supporting accessibility technology that has been commonly around for a couple of decades now," Cruz-DeCastro said. "Especially at the front entrance that first greets you on arrival."

Cruz-DeCastro is a regular attendee at the Monday evening men's group run by Openhouse. He said that he stopped going in October because he has lost so much upper body mobility.

"Many people with disabilities don't find it too welcoming to run into barriers from the moment of getting somewhere," Cruz-DeCastro said. "We regard them as psychological as well as physical barriers, for reasons that should be apparent to anyone who doesn't like to be unwelcome somewhere they need to be."

Cruz-DeCastro claimed that Carla Johnson of the Mayor's Office on Disability informed him via email that her office would fund the installation of the electronic door.

"The Mayor's Office on Disability offered to help the center obtain the funds to make the entrance more accessible," Johnson said. "The Mayor's Office on Housing and Community Development came through and provided the money to pay for the power door operator."

Rolfe said that Cruz-DeCastro made his concerns known in July. "We worked with the Mayor's Office on Disability to identify the potential solutions and costs associated with installation of an electric door opener," she said.

The installation would cost $16,000, according to Rolfe.

Rolfe maintained the center is in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. Johnson, in an email to Cruz-DeCastro, Rolfe, and others that Rolfe shared with the B.A.R. , also said the center is in compliance with the ADA. Johnson also said that the center "operates in a highly regulated environment" and that providing power to the doors was a "relatively small job that has some complexity built in."

She added that Rolfe has had difficulty finding a contractor in part because of all the construction going on in the city.

"We are committed to ensuring that our building is as accessible as possible and to maintaining the full independence of people with a broad range of physical disabilities," Rolfe said.

Rolfe and Openhouse Executive Director Seth Kilbourn said that the situation was frustrating and that they understood Cruz-DeCastro's concern.

"The center, Openhouse, and the seniors are all in agreement that installing the door opener is the best and the right solution to make the center more accessible," said Kilbourn.

He said that he agreed with Cruz-DeCastro's statements about why the doors were critical to the disabled.

"We will continue to work with Robby and the center to eliminate any barriers that seniors and people with disabilities face in accessing the programs they need," Kilbourn said.

Rolfe said that it took time to obtain the funding, which was an additional frustration for her office.

"In the meantime, we have taken steps to increase our accessibility," she said. "Including training of our volunteers and staff, posting of notices, and leaving the doors fully open for events like the recent Senior and Disability Action Center fundraiser that we hosted at the center."

Rolfe said that the installation date had not yet been set pending approval of the bidding contractor by the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development. The administrative process takes time, she said.

"Openhouse is a key part of the city and community's overall strategy for enabling and empowering LGBTQ baby boomers entering retirement to continue living happy, healthy, secure, fulfilling lives," Cruz-DeCastro said. "This is a significant segment of the community."

Cruz-DeCastro described his condition as "free fall deterioration." He suffers from post-polio syndrome. "In the last year I have already lost range of motion in my arms," he said. "In my power wheelchair I can no longer negotiate those steel and glass doors without a door opener."