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McD's sued for "discrimination" against blind people at drive-thru
Topic Started: May 31 2016, 07:23 PM (1,218 Views)
lucash
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#NeverTrump
So, I'm curious (and maybe i missed it in the article)...but is this person 'legally' blind, or full on blind (as in, accident, birth, etc)? Because the first thing that I was concerned about was someone who is *blind* driving a car. Either way, hope this pans out for all parties involved.
"...a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is detrimental...having lost the will..to demand...good..." - Rachel Carson
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lucash
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Coast2coast
Jun 2 2016, 03:11 PM
Opinionated
Jun 2 2016, 07:21 AM
Coast2coast
Jun 2 2016, 12:06 AM
The level of compassion in here has been to give it a rating been measured at underwhelming. My guess is when wheelchair access was considered as law it met with this exact resistance.

This isn't a tough accommodation one way or the other. And although some find such considerations to be a mental disorder I will maintain that its the right thing to do and regardless of the solution; "tough to bad, you're blind" is not the answer.
Wheel chair access is considered the law, it falls under the same ADA "reasonable accommodation" category.

And more than one business has been forced to go out of business because the "reasonable accommodation" they were being expected to provide cost more than they could afford and stay financially viable.
It wasn't always the law.

Nor is it always enforced. I know of at least a couple places where they should, per law, have wheel chair access, but do not.
"...a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is detrimental...having lost the will..to demand...good..." - Rachel Carson
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lucash
Jun 2 2016, 03:37 PM
Coast2coast
Jun 2 2016, 03:11 PM
Opinionated
Jun 2 2016, 07:21 AM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deeptough to bad, you're blind
It wasn't always the law.

Nor is it always enforced. I know of at least a couple places where they should, per law, have wheel chair access, but do not.
Here is what typically happens in my state. The business goes about doing their thing without wheelchair access until, one day, someone in a wheelchair comes along and sees that they don't have wheelchair access. They then contact their lawyer, the lawyer sends out a letter threatening to sue unless the business either a) provides wheelchair access which can be quite expensive, or b) pays a "settlement" to make the law suit go away. Many times the business pays the "settlement". My understanding is that there are a small number of handicapped individuals who manage to make a decent living this way, by hunting up businesses without wheelchair access. One story I read, I found particularly striking, was about a tack and saddle store that was being sued because their counters weren't low enough. Like those in wheelchairs are big customers of horse riding equipment.
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Robertr2000
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Demagogue
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Coast2coast
Jun 2 2016, 03:01 PM
Demagogue
Jun 2 2016, 08:51 AM
Coast2coast
Jun 2 2016, 12:06 AM
The level of compassion in here has been to give it a rating been measured at underwhelming. My guess is when wheelchair access was considered as law it met with this exact resistance.

This isn't a tough accommodation one way or the other. And although some find such considerations to be a mental disorder I will maintain that its the right thing to do and regardless of the solution; "tough to bad, you're blind" is not the answer.
Wheelchair access is apples to oranges when compared to this.

Every business had to build in wheelchair access, every business had to put in hand rails in bathrooms etc. In this case you would only be punishing businesses that chose to keep their drive thru open after lobby hours.

You suggest that it would not be a costly accommodation but in fact it would be thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars to add a walk up window at each location. In addition to the structural costs you would add personnel costs due to having to staff a second check out point and pass though window. The insurance for the site would probably increase due to the increased liability of allowing walk up customers at night.

Frankly, with the exception of certain locations that would have to be doing massive 12AM to 5AM business I can not see any path to profitability here so the most likely result of a ruling for the blind guy here would be a closure of 90% or more of the stores during non-lobby hours.

I am aware of some McDonald's locations where the entire store is 24hours. These are rare and usually only exist in large cities, airports and the like. An example of this would be in the Peachtree Rd, Atlanta GA location.

Other than locations such as that one in ATL and some in large hospitals and things most locations close their lobby but keep the drive thru open more as a courtesy to their customers rather than due to any massive profits being made.
You don't need extra staff for a window that is simply an access point for a blind or otherwise handicapped 'walk-up'. If it turns out you do then it's because there is enough business to justify it.

Why would a walk up window increase the insurance over a walk up counter. Both operate at some point at night.


I stand firm that a solution is easier and more decent then just turning your business's back on select individuals.

The walk up window would cost more from an insurance point of view due to the fact that it is an opening where you will hand food through to someone on foot. When you are in a car you can not easily exit the car to get at the person in the drive through window. If you were on foot outside the window you could. Possibly if you installed some kind of bullet proof setup with a very small drawer type opening as seen in high risk gas stations it would not effect your insurance. The exterior walk up would cause the increase as opposed to the standard interior one because it is open at 2AM in the morning and the standard lobby stations are not.

You would need extra staff because typically there are only 2-4 staff on that shift. More often than not it is only 2 or 3. Somebody makes the food and the order taker is also the person who bags the food and accepts payment from the customer. If you added a new exterior walk up window it could not be in the same location as the drive through window. This would necessitate it being either on the complete opposite side of the kitchen or out in the lobby somewhere. One person could not take order, accept payment for orders and fill orders at both locations. Not without doubling or tripling the time it takes to fill each order.

You can stand firm on the solution being easy all you want but the real world of profits and losses the easiest solution will be to cease post lobby hour operation on all locations that are not already open 24 hours per day in the lobby or profitable enough in the early AM to justify opening the lobby 24/7.

.

Edited by Demagogue, Jun 2 2016, 05:01 PM.
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm.
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Demagogue
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Jun 2 2016, 04:54 PM
lucash
Jun 2 2016, 03:37 PM
Coast2coast
Jun 2 2016, 03:11 PM

Quoting limited to 3 levels deeptough to bad, you're blind
Nor is it always enforced. I know of at least a couple places where they should, per law, have wheel chair access, but do not.
Here is what typically happens in my state. The business goes about doing their thing without wheelchair access until, one day, someone in a wheelchair comes along and sees that they don't have wheelchair access. They then contact their lawyer, the lawyer sends out a letter threatening to sue unless the business either a) provides wheelchair access which can be quite expensive, or b) pays a "settlement" to make the law suit go away. Many times the business pays the "settlement". My understanding is that there are a small number of handicapped individuals who manage to make a decent living this way, by hunting up businesses without wheelchair access. One story I read, I found particularly striking, was about a tack and saddle store that was being sued because their counters weren't low enough. Like those in wheelchairs are big customers of horse riding equipment.
Here is a really good, recent example of what you are talking about.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/st-augustine-inn-owner-sued-by-serial-ada-lawsuit-filer/197564987

The kicker on this one is that they guy suing is not really handicapped as far as anyone can tell but the owner of the business actually is physically handicapped. Go figure.
People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would do them harm.
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