Changes planned for two Christmas markets in Philadelphia will help to make the events compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The booths at the Christmas Village and Made in Philadelphia markets in Center City previously allowed people to enter the sales area. That layout did not provide ample room for people using wheelchairs and others with mobility issues. Changes this year will place a sales counter at the front of the booth, providing equitable access for all shoppers.
Thomas Bauer, CEO of German American Marketing, told vendors that the sales counter is the “only option left” for the event, according to PhillyVoice.com.
In his email, he wrote, “a very small group of people do not like that they need assistance to enter booths which able bodied don’t need to ask for.”
Vicki Landers, founder of the advocacy group Disability Pride Pennsylvania, has called on the event to provide equitable access for people with disabilities.
“These are not minor oversights, these are barriers, literal and figurative, that prevent people with disabilities from participating fully in city life,” Landers said at a city hearing last year, according to PhillyVoice.
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