Connecticut locks all train bathrooms because half are not ADA compliant
The coming dark age: Because of a complaint, Hartford officials have locked all bathrooms on a new train line because half are not ADA compliant.
Restrooms on half of the Hartford Line trains — those operated by the state as opposed to Amtrak — will remain closed until they are made accessible to individuals with disabilities in early 2019, the state Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. The closure comes in response to a reversed decision from the Federal Railroad Administration, which had previously granted the state a temporary exemption from the Americans for Disabilities Act, according to the DOT.
Disability Rights Connecticut, a nonprofit advocacy group for state residents with disabilities, said it filed an ADA complaint with the FRA on June 8 regarding the new commuter line, which is scheduled to open June 16.
In other words, because a small number of people are unhappy, no one can be happy. They rule, and if they don’t get what they want then no one will get anything.
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The coming dark age: Because of a complaint, Hartford officials have locked all bathrooms on a new train line because half are not ADA compliant.
Restrooms on half of the Hartford Line trains — those operated by the state as opposed to Amtrak — will remain closed until they are made accessible to individuals with disabilities in early 2019, the state Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. The closure comes in response to a reversed decision from the Federal Railroad Administration, which had previously granted the state a temporary exemption from the Americans for Disabilities Act, according to the DOT.
Disability Rights Connecticut, a nonprofit advocacy group for state residents with disabilities, said it filed an ADA complaint with the FRA on June 8 regarding the new commuter line, which is scheduled to open June 16.
In other words, because a small number of people are unhappy, no one can be happy. They rule, and if they don’t get what they want then no one will get anything.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Robert,
You make it sound like the kid who says, “if I can’t have it my way, then I’m taking my baseball home with me.”
Wait. That is exactly what it is like.
Welcome to the bureaucracy, where brains get thrown out the window (defenestrated).
It reminds me of a popular burger joint near me, which had been built on a small odd-sized lot. There was barely any parking, and none that could be converted into an accessible space. Someone complained, so the little restaurant had to close down due to lack of ability to comply with the ADA. One disabled person was inconvenienced a bit when he went for a burger, so now no one can have a burger.
It reminds me of the unsuccessful lawsuit against Clint Eastwood’s Mission Ranch restaurant. A member of the disability community thought that it was unfair that to get to the only accessible restroom was to go 10 meters outside, but the courts agreed that the restaurant had made a restroom accessible, even if getting to it required going outside, so the Mission Ranch still exists. Come to think of it, I have been to plenty of fast food places and gas stations where the restroom was outside and around the corner.
Due to unreasonable complaints and lawsuits such as these, I am not as much of a fan of the ADA as I was when it was signed into law. It seems to me that there are lawyers just out for a buck and “children” who take their baseball home and leave the rest of us disappointed.
Or, in the case of the Hartford Line’s CTrail trains, leaving us hoping that we can make it to the next station with a restroom. (Is that a trickle down my leg, or did I just become an Obama fan, like Chris Matthews?)
… “because a small number of people are unhappy, no one can be happy.” That so well sums up how socialism turns out, always.
Related legal query for our Connecticut brethren – please cite the specific legal authority allowing the closure of public bathrooms. I suspect there isn’t any so no action should have been taken.
Does urinary or rectal incontinence qualify for ADA protection? Asking for a large class of people who I hope will sue the state of Connecticut into bankruptcy.
B.E. Blue wrote: “Related legal query for our Connecticut brethren – please cite the specific legal authority allowing the closure of public bathrooms. I suspect there isn’t any so no action should have been taken.”
The United States works differently than the rest of the world. American liberty allows us to do things unless they are expressly forbidden. The up side is an amazing amount of freedom; the down side is that there has to be a law for virtually every action that harms another, such as mail fraud, wire fraud, etc. rather than just making fraud in general illegal. It can take the legislature a while to catch up with new ways to harm other people’s rights.
Rather than needing an authority to allow the closure of a restroom, we need a law that prevents the closure of a restroom.
The restrooms on the trains are not exactly open to the public, as access to them requires the purchase of a ticket. It is similar to a restroom aboard a passenger plane, it is not open to members of the general public who are not ticketed to be on the airplane, even when the plane is at the gate.
There may not be a legal requirement for restrooms on commuter trains. There are no restrooms on my local commuter train.