This week I have been finalizing meeting requests to members of the North Carolina Congressional Delegation for the Society’s Public Policy Conference. Making Hill visits on behalf of the Society is one of my favorite job duties. This will be my ninth year and by the far the visits and volunteers have been exceptional. However, the one part of these visits that always concerns me as I ask ten volunteers of varying abilities to visit fifteen different congressional offices is accessibility. In the rush from one meeting to the next, I wonder will we find the accessible entrance to the building and will a scooter or wheelchair be able to maneuver thru the member’s office to get to the conference space.
Certainly, Members and their staffs are always gracious and accommodating to constituents using mobility devices and service animals, but when I read this article about the improvements the Architect of the Capitol’s (AoC) office, the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, and the Office of the Superintendent have made to improve OSHA violations among Congressional offices, I have some hope that accessibility may be improving as well. I will let you know next week.
