In the middle 1960's wheelchair access to stores and restaurants was still a dream. Going to your local store was an adventure, a wondrous trip. Growing up in able-bodied world, the person in the wheelchair had to make compromises. WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY BABY! Most of the major department stores and the local Five and Dime Stores did not have elevators inside their stores. If you wanted to travel down stairs or upstairs, the journey took you to places no able-bodied shopper has ever been: THE DREADED FREIGHT ELEVATOR.

This was the elevator nobody else saw except the store or restaurant employees One would travel all the way through the store to a back storage area, passing dark back alleys, cold wind beating on your back, backdoors, and many storage bins filled with new materials to sell. The disabled patron had to call the manager for assistance. Assistance to travel up or down store floors. The art of patience really paid off. If you were in hurry forget it.

The manager had to help all the customers in the store first; the disabled had to wait. And sitting there waiting for this woman or man, your mind would begin to wonder. What if this store had an accident in the freight elevator? Would the store's insurance company pay for the hospital costs? Would they pay for the ambulance to the hospital? Are they covered for the disabled patron who was in a restricted area of the store?

Yes, ladies and gentleman, those were the good old days. With the passing of Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the earlier passing of 504 Laws, these stores were made accessible to all disabled people. Restrooms and bathrooms were also an adventure in the sixties.

The disabled either had to go to the restroom before you left, or wait until you arrived home hours later. Bladder control was a must. I can still remember the many times I rolled fast to the bathroom in Burlington, after a long night of shopping. It was a race one does not want to lose. Some bathrooms were just too small to fit any size wheelchair into.

I can still remember getting stuck in a Moorestown Mall bathroom, in New Jersey. My wheels had caught a doorframe and would not release from the frame. Sitting there thinking how am I going to exit this stall? Finally, a nice young man helped me by pulling the chair straight back and then out of the stall. I thought I was going to die there in the Moorestown Shopping Center. Also in the good old days restaurants had a very special place for most disabled patrons: far back out of the way, out of sight of other patrons, waiters, and waitresses.

Most restaurants claimed the wheelchair was a fire hazard. The disabled became a non-person in their eyes and a problem that most restaurants wanted to not deal with.

I can still recall the many times that I would roll into a established eating place and the first words out of the waiters' mouths would be, We have a table for you. This meant the disabled table and that was where you were seated. Whether you wanted it or not, that would be true in most restaurant as a policy.

In 1979, Berkeley, California struck a blow against disabled discrimination. The issue of full access to restaurants would be challenged that year. Two Berkeley disabled residents were denied service because they would not go to the assigned disabled table. They sued a very famous restaurant in the Berkeley Marina on grounds of discrimination and limited access to the restaurant. Restaurant owners across the country watched this epic court battle in Oakland Federal Court.

The court at the end of 1979 awarded these two disabled individuals damages. And the court made it clear that the restaurant had to make it accessible to all people. They could no-longer have a designated table saying it was like the old civil rights days of letting African Americans eat in one spot of the restaurant and all others dine elsewhere. Stores, gas stations, and malls all got the message and changes started all over the country.

The fun is over, and I feel like a normal person now going to any mall. The elevators are now inside most stores, not in the back or outside of the building. No more back alleys trips, no more cold windy breezeways, no more waiting for managers to help go to store floors.

Yes, those were the good old days. But I'll take the present any day.
THAT IS THE GRAYLINE . []