Woman Fights for Equal Access
Turns out it was an Equalizer.
Carolyn Schwebel, a retired guidance counselor
from the Leonardo section of Middletown, is the
co-chairwoman of the Equalizers, a loosely knit
group of advocates for people with disabilities.
"I don't know why they couldn't figure out it
was me," said Schwebel, 59. "I had been talking to
them about these issues for a long time."
In addition to her efforts in Red Bank, she's
served for a decade on the Monmouth County Human
Relations Commission and worked to correct
violations of the ADA -- the wide-ranging civil
rights legislation signed into law by President
George H. Bush in 1990 -- in Middletown,
Shrewsbury and Little Silver.
Her Red Bank victory started with a complaint
about paving stones on Broad Street and ended up
with a host of violations around the borough. Now
she says a complaint about Middletown is ready to
be sent to the Justice Department.
As far as advocates for the rights of people
with disabilities go, Schwebel sees herself as a
moderate, but one who sticks to her principles.
When some of her friends see someone parked
illegally in an wheelchair accessible spot, they
will slap a sticker on the car that says "This
Jerk Violates Accessible Parking Spaces."
Schwebel -- who went to college in the '60s and
exudes an Earth Mother kind of cheery serenity --
will just place the sticker or a flyer that says
"Parking here 'For Just a Minute' is 60 seconds
too long," under the windshield wiper.
She has lived with John, her husband of 30
years, in Middletown since the early '70s and has
dealt with cerebral palsy since she was diagnosed
with it as a child growing up in Vermont.
Her motivations for tackling accessibility
problems across the county are many.
She uses a "rollator," a walker with wheels to
get around and said she encounters violations of
the ADA almost daily, whether she's voting or
shopping or getting a cup of coffee with a friend.
The second reason, she said, is that the law is
the law. She said she can't and won't tolerate
those who believe the ADA should be less binding
than any other statute.
The third, she said, is that her nearly 30
years experience in education, coupled with her
experiences growing up, make her want to ensure
the best possible world for children growing up
with disabilities today.
"There is a little Carolyn inside me someplace,
and she is remembering the past and other things
she's seen in the schools, and she wants to make
it better for children," she said.
When Keansburg's acting Police Chief Michael
Kennedy was caught on tape using a racial slur to
refer to a group of black people and some people
complained that it was only black people making an
issue of the racial slur, Schwebel came to a
Keansburg meeting to demonstrate the power of
words.
When she was a child, some children teased her
about her condition by singing the lyrics to the
novelty song "One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple
People Eater." So she brought a toy modeled after
the song's lyrics and pressed a button on it that
launched the monster into a rendition of its
eponymous song.
"I wanted people to realize the power of
words," Schwebel said. "This was something that
happened to me nearly 50 years ago, yet it stayed
with me till this day."
It is similar failures of imagination that stop
local officials from understanding how important
the details -- even if it's just a matter of
inches -- are in the Americans With Disabilities
Act, she said.
When asked to describe why inches -- in a curb
cut or other modification -- are so vital,
Schwebel held up depiction of stick figure who was
in a wheelchair but is laying face first on the
ground and said: "This is why. One inch might as
well be one foot. It can keep people from going
somewhere."
After the Red Bank decision came out, Schwebel
and Red Bank Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. exchanged
letters in local papers about the importance of
those very issues.
McKenna and other borough officials said they
were stunned by the Justice Department
investigation because Red Bank had made great
strides, build-ing a new senior center and moving
borough hall and police headquarters to its new
more accessible location.
Borough Administrator Stanley J. Sickels said
Schwebel's origi-nal complaint was based on the
paving stones used in the rede-sign of Broad
Street. Schwebel said the grooves in the pavers
made it more difficult for peo-ple who use
wheelchairs or oth-er aids to get around.
Traffic engineers advised the borough that
paving stones made it clear to motorists that they
were driving over a cross-walk, thereby making
things safer for the pedestrian, Sickels said.
Sickels said the Justice Depart-ment settlement
focused on smaller details in newer struc-tures,
such as the library and the senior center, and
found major problems with old struc-tures, such as
the Count Basie Stadium and the Red Bank Public
Library, which were built more than 60 years ago.
"We've spent millions of dollars making Red
Bank more accessi-ble to all people, that was was
the main impetus for moving our buildings,"
Sickels said. "She doesn't want to give us credit
for that."
Middletown officials said they have been
working toward greater accessibility.
"We've been pretty pro-active, working with her
on a number of issues," Township Commit-teeman
Raymond J. O'Grady said. "It's an important issue
for us one that we have not shirked off."
Schwebel, who recently spent thousands of
dollars making her own home more accessible, said
she does give credit for past efforts. But she
points to the beautification program in the
Lincroft section of Middle-town as evidence that
new im-pediments to accessibility are sprouting up
regularly. She said benches and garbage cans added
to the sidewalk along Route 520 make it tougher to
maneuver.
Officials "have the conception that you can be
a little preg-nant. It is the same way with the
ADA. Either you are com-pliant or you are not,"
Schwebel said.
Michael Clancy: (732) 643-4076 or
mclancy@app.com
Equalizers equalizers.org U.S.
Department of Justice Department's ADA homepage
www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm