Jean Ryan testifies on locked grocery gate and CCHR delay
Jean Ryan, president of Disabled in Action, says a Bay Ridge grocery store locked a gate during business hours, blocking wheelchair and walker users. She says CCHR took her case almost four years ago but nothing has legally stopped the store, and her emails to the commissioner have gone unanswered.
Thank you, Monique.
We're moving on to Jean Ryan.
Hi, I'm Jean Ryan, wheelchair user and president of Disabled in Action in Metropolitan New York.
Are you going to the grocery store today after work?
I bet you know that you can go right in and you won't be locked out by a gate.
25 and 30 years ago, that used to be a common occurrence for wheelchair users, that we'd be locked out and upright people could get into grocery stores with no problem.
Then the NYC Human Rights Commission helped us get our civil rights and have access to grocery stores without the gates being locked.
Now it's happening again in some stores, and we can forget about getting any help from the commission.
Four years ago, next month, so it's like in two weeks, it's going to be four years, a grocery store in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Harvest Market, started locking a gate during business hours.
That kept out wheelchair and walker users, people who use strollers, and people with their own large shopping carts.
Upright people could walk right in.
Sometimes I was able to gain access by waiting outside and asking a stranger to ask them to come out and unlock the gate.
But walking people didn't have to do that.
They could walk right in.
I talked with the manager and he didn't
I complained to the Human Rights Commission, and they took my case.
But in almost four years, nothing has happened on their end to legally stop Brooklyn Harvest Market.
Now the gate is unlocked, but there is nothing preventing them from locking the gate whenever they want.
And recently, another grocery store in Bay Ridge had a locked gate.
For months, my case has not been assigned to anyone, and my emails to the commissioner have gone unanswered.
I emailed her six weeks ago.
go on September 4th and have not gotten an answer.
I asked Moped to intervene and nothing changed.
They did try.
Why is nothing happening?
Why is this case dragging on for four years?
Everyone has the right to shop in a grocery store.
The Human Rights Commission has become irrelevant to most people with disabilities.
They aren't there for us to protect our rights.
We don't even think of them as a resource.
That needs to change.