Gov. Josh Shapiro last week took the next step to assess the state Capitol building’s accessibility to visitors with disabilities — answering years-long calls for change from disability advocacy groups and following up on an executive order he issued in May.

The governor’s office announced the hiring of Voith & Mactavish Architects to conduct the study and reported that stakeholders are already being contacted for input. That’s a key point for the disabled community, who want a voice in influencing how the assessment is conducted.

Pam Auer, the director of advocacy for the Center for Independent Living of Central Pennsylvania (CILCP), said she found out on August 9 that she was invited to join the stakeholder group that will oversee the accessibility study. She said she knows little else, including when the group will meet.

Shapiro’s announcement came three months after he issued an executive orderinstructing the Department of General Services to study how to create a more inclusive Capitol and expand Pennsylvania’s public service workforce. The order also called for more single-use restrooms, child care services for state employees and menstrual products in Capitol bathrooms.

It also came one month after LNP | LancasterOnline reported on the concerns of disability advocates like Auer, who lives with spina bifida and gets around in a mobility scooter.

Theo Braddy, executive director of the National Council on Independent Living, wasn’t made aware of Shapiro’s order in advance. Before the announcement, he said he wasn’t confident any meaningful steps would be taken to include the disability community in addressing concerns about the capitol building.

“Are they going to be so cautious that they’re going to include people with diverse disabilities in the conversation? Probably not,” Braddy said. “That’s not something they’ve done well in the past, right?

Vicki Landers, the founder and executive director of Disability Pride Pennsylvania, said the group was excited for the study but worried that an inclusive cross section of disabled communities won’t be invited to weigh in on the assessment.

“There should be disabled folks along the entire process,” Landers said. “Sometimes you get this list of department names that are all going to be part of it, but do they involve disabled people?”

Why a study is needed

The study is expected to “identify and suggest actions to improve access and mobility” in five of the Capitol’s main buildings, according to a press release from the governor’s office. As reported by LNP last month, several parts of the Capitol complex — the front entrance, parking problems and a braille shortage — pose challenges for people with disabilities.

Voith & Mactavish is asked to make recommendations about fixing public access issues in both the exterior and interior of the Capitol complex, including parking areas, sidewalks, restrooms and signage. The study is set to conclude by spring 2025.

“The need for this study came out of years of hosting Disability Awareness Days in the Capitol, which brought together dozens of organizations along with Pennsylvanians living with disabilities to discuss the important work of accessibility and inclusion both in Harrisburg and across the Commonwealth,” state Sen. Christine Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia, wrote in a statement to LNP this week.

Tartaglione, the only wheelchair user in the Legislature, said she looks forward to working with Shapiro and stakeholders to help people fully access “the People’s House.” Last month, LNP reported how some of the Capitol’s accessibility failures impact the eight-term incumbent, including a parking spot too narrow to access her car from her wheelchair.

Auer, who received a personal invitation to the stakeholder group, said she hopes the stakeholder group meets in-person so she can truly show the physical limitations faced by people with disabilities inside the Capitol complex. She said she told the study project manager she would try to find someone with a visual disability to participate.

Braddy said he believes the state government is well-intentioned with the study, but said the study’s authors won’t be able to predict exactly what disabled visitors need, such as including adult changing tables in restrooms, if they don’t cast a wide net for input.

“You can’t get that from an able-bodied person, I’m sorry. They haven’t lived the life,” he said.

Shapiro’s announcement did not name the “various agencies, commissions, and stakeholder groups” that would be included in the process, but Department of General Services spokesperson Eric Veronikis said communities with disabilities would have a voice, including the CILCP and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania, the union of nurses, health care workers and caregivers.

Several state agencies are also expected to advise the study, Veronikis said, including the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation’s Allied Health Services Division, the Bureau of Blindness and Visual Services and the Office for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Balancing access with history

The Americans with Disabilities Act does not always require buildings constructed before 1990 to meet all their guidelines, especially those that hold a place in the National Register of Historic Places, which the Pennsylvania Capitol complex does.

Even so, the Department of General Services has made changes over the past ten years, including adding some accessible restrooms, new elevators, raised crosswalks and several digital monitors to direct visitors where to go. The newest addition was completed in June – two single-use, accessible bathrooms in the East Wing.

More renovations are on the way, but planning and construction take time.

Some projects, like the addition of a 20-person passenger elevator, will conclude by next summer. Other safety fixes, like making fire pull stations within the reach of mobility aid users in 14 Capitol buildings, will take another year to start and at least four more years to finish.

The Department of General Services has yet to solve one of advocates’ biggest complaints – the fact that there’s only one way in and out of the building for wheelchair users.

The front entrance, where many press conferences and events take place throughout the year, requires visitors to climb more than 60 steps.

Landers, who is hard of hearing and often struggles to listen to outdoor events, said they had not heard about the study previously but making the front entrance accessible to all should be a top priority.

Nearly 150 Pennsylvanians with disabilities protested the state Capitol’s inaccessibility in May in an event hosted by Disability Pride PA. They left their mobility aids at the base and climbed as many steps as they could to put the inequity on display.

In last week’s press release, Shapiro said, “I believe there should be no wrong door for accessing state government.”

Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro, declined to comment on whether renovations to make the front entrance accessible would be considered.

Read more from our partners, LNP | LancasterOnline.