ADA Insights: Oakland County Team Shares Accessibility Stories, Resources for Businesses

(Terry Lakins. June 16, 2025)

Oakland County, MI – Oakland County recently held a Planner’s Gathering focused on accessibility. The goal of this meeting was to inform about ADA’s (Americans with Disabilities Act) role in creating an environment that is more inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities, with a heavy emphasis on public spaces.

Erica Coulston, president and co-owner of Walk the Line recovery therapy, described these types of discussions as necessary to move forward for accessibility. She was quick to define this as having equal access to work, life, and play through the ease of mobility. This also means public buildings, spaces, and transit accommodating to a universal design which benefits all.

While ADA violations are punishable by law, Coulston was quick to add that this is not the goal. It’s about “the desire to just to move with ease just as everyone else. This is not about special privileges or accommodations.” Coulston said. “It’s all about having a level playing field for all of us to have access to the community. And universal design benefits all.”

Coulston brings a unique background to accessibility. From an advocacy standpoint she serves on the Oakland County Accessibility Initiative and the Michigan Statewide Independent Living Council. Walk the Line therapy, the company she helped co-founded, specializes in physical and occupational therapy with people who have neurological disabilities. She has also worked with the city of Birmingham to improve their accessibility with parking and downtown navigation.

Her perspective comes even more directly from her own personal experiences. More than two decades ago a car accident made her quadriplegic, requiring the use of a power wheelchair. This life change altered her mindset and how she navigates everyday life.

Coulston learned quickly that being disabled requires thinking ahead about how to navigate in all aspects of life. Because of this extra layer of work most disabled people will tend to stick to places or communities that are easier to navigate, something she has done herself.

Pathways, signage, door widths, corridor widths, access to restrooms or different levels of a building, are just a few of the possible trouble areas. Even the condition of a door itself, such as hardware on a door, how easy it is to grab, or how much force it takes to open, are all possible issues.

Coulston also added that people with disabilities are consumers, but they can be easily deterred or forgotten because they will avoid certain places if they aren’t accessible. They will stick to the most convenient solution. According to Coulston most big box or corporate locations are ADA compliant, so ease of access typically is smooth. Smaller businesses and historical public spaces, however, are a bit tricky.

To address this, Coulston suggested that owners of these buildings should fill out an ADA checklist or get an ADA consultant on site to help identify any trouble areas. Once identified, the issues should be addressed based on priorities.

Coulston sees this as an opportunity to grow and improve, not to reprimand or punish.

Addressing ADA is not a one and done solution either. As technology and laws evolve, it is recommended to reevaluate the situation.

Coulston also added that people who are disabled are likely to do research on a new place they want to visit, so providing information about accessibility on a website is one of the most important and easiest things that can be done.

Ron Campbell, a preservation architect with Oakland County Economic Development, said that the lack of ramps or bathroom accessibility are the two most common issues from building code perspective. This is followed by parking and lack of signage, with uninformed staff, outdated policies or protocols being less obvious issues.

Campbell said this addressed from the “two laws, one goal” structure. One law refers to building codes for all new construction to be accessible and with modifications to existing structures (with some exceptions). The other law is the ADA, which is a civil rights law. The goal is to make structures accessible going forward.

“Accessibility is more than structures,” Campbell said. “It’s to allow people with disabilities to participate in everyday life with dignity and no discrimination.”

Justin Wilcock, a department aid from Oakland County Economic Development, talked about tips on assisting a lesser-known element in the conversation of accessibility: visual impairment. Wilcock has Usher Syndrome, which is a combination of hearing and vision loss. This started with the loss of hearing at age 5 (requiring the use of hearing aids), and then later developed as he got older until he was legally blind at age 28.

He explained that there is a spectrum of blindness, which ranges from shadow recognition, light detection, tunnel vision, and reverse tunnel vision. Only about 15% percent of people suffering from visual impairment experience total blindness. When it comes to assisting the visually impaired it can be less obvious because it isn’t readily seen or talked about compared to other disabilities.

Learning guide dog etiquette should be at the top of the list. He said that learning to ignore a guide dog is one of the best things anyone can do because distracting the dog can possibly cause harm or discomfort to its handler.

Wilcock, who uses a guide dog himself, knows It often happens. Usually, it’s because so many people get excited seeing a dog, or kids who haven’t been educated on it, they touch the animal without thinking.

Another tip for businesses was to make sure aisles have full clearance for moving around. An example that Wilcock ran into was he was at a hardware store and down one aisle there were snow shovels sticking out of a barrel. The shovels were above his guide dog’s eyesight but below his visible eyesight, so it was missed, and he bumped into them.

Even while most businesses known to have a certain amount of space allowance, some things can still be forgotten.

Wilcock added that people should extremely descriptive when describing where something is if assisting a person with visual impairment. They will need to rely on those directions to guide themselves. If physically taking somebody to something, he suggested it is best practice to guide them by placing their hand on your elbow. This method gives a physical indication of where your body is moving, making it easier for someone visually impaired to follow you by your body language.

Another recent development is digital accessibility. Digital accessibility means that websites and apps are accessible to everyone, including people who are blind and deaf, as well as those with lesser-known challenges like ADHD and Dyslexia. Wilcock said this is important because of people with disabilites, one and four may not have a condition that is obvious.

While Wilcock uses screen reader software (which makes navigating the web easier for people suffering from blindness), it can still be hindered by barriers. Common issues with digital websites can be poor structure of a website, links or images not labeled correctly, poor contrasting colors, or buttons not readily visible.

As of April 2024, a new ADA law has been put forward which requires all government offices have to be ADA compliant with their websites. Public entities have until April 26th , 2026, to have ADA complaint websites. Public entities with under 50,000 residents have until April 26th, 2027.

Oakland County has resources to help businesses become ADA compliant. Learn more at https://www.oakgov.com/community/community-development/historic-preservation/accessibility-initiative

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