I am an unabashed foodie! I love food. I love going to restaurants and I love trying new dishes. Because of this love, I read tons of restaurant reviews so that I can find new and interesting places to go to. I even plan my vacations around food. For many year's, there would be no mention of the accessibility of the establishment. Today it is much more common to see accessibility addressed in the article. This is a step in the right direction and I applaud the writer's who take the time to include this information in their work.
Here is where my question comes in. It is 2014 and I still see many reviews where the answer to the accessibility question is a resounding ...NO! Why is this OK? I understand that The Americans with Disabilities Act as many exceptions and loopholes that allow places of business to operate without actually being accessible. These include the size of the business, number of employees, historical impact of the building and even the cost of the renovations themselves. All these exceptions aside, what this comes down to is a basic case of discrimination. A business choosing not to serve people with disabilities, whatever the reason, simply boils down to discrimination.
Imagine a restaurant refusing to serve any other group. Would that be acceptable? Obviously not! A Steakhouse not serving Asians. A Sushi Bar not serving women. A Tapas place refusing to seat Black people. None of these would fly in the face of public opinion. I also doubt that these policies would be allowed to continue for very long. A restaurant that chooses to be inaccessible, faces very little public criticism and is usually allowed to continue this policy indefinitely.
Along the same line, would newspapers publish a review of a restaurant that refused to serve Black people? Not only would they refuse to do this, but they would probably write an expose' of the situation that would put the place out of business.
We don't have the power to change the ADA, but Newspapers, Magazines and Websites like yelp.com could help the situation by refusing to publish reviews of restaurants that are not accessible to people with disabilities. Lets see if it ever happens.
