[3] Why are we doing this?

Because it needed to be done.

Some of us here at BFC still remember the "good old days" when many people with disabilities were outcasts, isolated from "polite society" by well-meaning families seeking to protect them from the prejudice, ridicule, marginalization, condescension and abuse that was often endured in those days by people with disabilities, just because they might happen to be a little "different".

In today's world, advancements in medicine, technology, social awareness, and accessibility standards have made it possible for those of us with disabilities to more fully participate in much of what 21st century America has to offer ...

Participate? Well, yes ... that is, IF we can find accessible places where someone with a disability can actually go and be accepted as a "real" person.

It's been almost two decades now since the Americans With Disabilities Act became Law. Yet despite the best efforts of government at all levels, a multitude of activists (both groups and individuals), and those in the independent living movement, much of America is still not yet nearly barrier-free.

Slightly over half of all retail businesses, restaurants and professional offices in America are currently estimated to be "reasonably" barrier-free (architecturally, at least). Almost half of America's churches are currently physically accessible. The rest are NOT, and may never become, truly accessible. Consequently, every visit to an unfamiliar place can be a fearful and risky gamble for someone with a disability.

The ADA and related legislative efforts have helped considerably by creating a basic framework to establish a minimum standard for accessibility. However, as with any Civil Rights legislation, "you can't legislate morality." And we've visited numerous places that, while the facility itself might have been physically accessible, the humans running it seemed annoyed at the prospect of doing business with customers, clients, or patients who might need a little extra assistance, and hence, who might require a little extra time and effort to serve. And even good laws can't change bad attitudes — or eliminate rudeness and insensitivity.

Regardless of the law, there are still too many people purporting to serve the public who:
• Insult us by asking those with us what we want, rather than addressing us directly;
• Object to customers bringing Service Animals into their stores or restaurants;
• Yell at deaf customers, as if that could make a deaf person hear them better;
• Ignore customers in wheelchairs waiting for service at their sales counters; or
• Pretend to not notice a mobility-impaired customer struggling with a heavy door.

Maybe it's true that you can't always legislate morality. And maybe it's true that you can't always fully eliminate prejudice. But it is also true that, as a consumer with money to spend, you can choose to only patronize accessible businesses and professional services run by sincere people who are fully committed to serving all of their prospective customers, patients or clients, regardless of whether or not such individuals might happen to have a "disability" — or be perceived as "marginalized" in any other way.

We created BarrierFreeChoices to empower Americans with disabilities to avoid still-existing architectural barriers, as well as to transcend the social barriers caused by negative attitudes. We're here to facilitate the full participation of each individual human, disabled or not, as a valued member of 21st Century America.

Anything less, and the entire Nation suffers for it.