Electric Wheelchair Service

Probably a lawyer question. Tonight I went to a restaurant / bar that has Happy Hour specials to par take in those specials advertised on their website. I sat at a table in the restaurant area because there are 4 steps up to the bar inside the restaurant. After a waitress took my order, a partner/owner (I think), came over to my table and told me I could not be served Happy Hour specials in the restaurant area (which is in plain view of the bar, only separated by a walk area and the four steps). I suggested he was welcome to recruit 3 other men to carry me up the stairs to the bar area, informing him that the electric wheelchair weighs about 250 lbs, and that I weigh about 200 lbs.. There after he consulted a gentleman (another partner/owner I think), perhaps in the general area for such purpose. The gentleman came back to my table and stated that they would serve me Happy Hour specials in the restaurant area tonight, but not on any occasion in the future. Can the restaurant legally deny me service due to my disability?
"They denied it because the liquor licensing laws did not allow then to serve you in that area." Reply - The restaurant does in fact serve liquor in the restaurant area. They have no problem serving me liquor with my meal, they however will refuse me Happy Hour prices. I am not after a lawsuit, I just want to benift from the lower Happy Hour prices that able bodied patrons do.
"unless you were overly rude and disrespected the owners and disturbed other patrons by shouting you suggestion littered with obscenties". Reply - Absolutley not, I am fairly low key and one of the most polite persons you would ever come across.
"There are laws that say that everything has to be handicapped accessible." I do not expect the business to spend thousand of dollars to make the bar area accessible so I could socialize with other patrons, but I do think it is only fair to be included in the specials.
Forgot the "Reply" above.
Thank you to everyone who took the time and effort to reply.

Under the law a place of public accommodation - which includes a bar and/or restaurant - must make "reasonable accommodation" for disabled customers or employees.

What exactly is a "reasonable accommodation" depends on the circumstances. It may well be, depending on the layout of the place, that building a wheelchair ramp up those steps would be found to be unreasonable. I cannot, however, think of ANY circumstance under which refusing to serve a disabled customer a "bar special" in the restaurant area when he can't get into the bar area would be considered unreasonable.

Were I you, and you visit this bar regularly, I'd tell the owner that you're asking to be served the bar specials in the restaurant area as a 'reasonable accommodation" for your disability, as required by the law. If he says he won't serve you, then tell him you'll have a disability lawyer discuss the punitive damages clauses of the act with him.... that should do the job.

Richard

2008-08-29 19:09:24 by WayneUSA

Motivation is a British based development organisation that work internationally. The scale of the global need for wheelchairs, particularly in ...

My mom had heart & lung failure a few years back. She had to have a tracheotomy tube put in and sleeps on a vent machine at night to assist her lungs under her body's weight. She also has degenerative osteoarthritis. If she lost some weight she could lose the tube and probably would feel better, and would at least be able to use the lift bus service with her electric wheelchair. We don't have a lot of money for a weight loss program & our exercise options are limited. Any ideas?

go on youtubne

2009-04-06 07:27:25 by Dawn B

Price: $59.00

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Some poeple need Electric wheelchairs to give them a real quality of life, just so they can live a proper life yet family and friends need to do fund raising to get them! I saw a programme abaout a boy who needs one and it will cost £ 1300. this goverment would rather give money to themsekves in pay rises and give it away to other countries rather than give to our own disabled or ex service personel!

My brother has been severly physically disabled from birth - can't walk, talk, feed himself etc and we have battled for the whole of his life over wheelchairs and aid provision. If you do manage to get a chair provided by your local authority it is a nightmare to try and get the correct seating inserts to enable the correct support for the individual and even worse is trying to get a chair repaired. A disabled person can be left for months without their chair dur to a small part not being 'available' or they will just take months and provide nothing in it's place. The chairs are badly built, liable to breakdown and a nightmare to keep going. Trying to get help for disable people is just a nightmare - particularly when children become adults and then become ignored - it's always young wheelchair users who are portrayed and campaigns etc but as soon they turn 16 or 18 they get forgotten and shoved to the very back of anyone's minds. You have to fight tooth and nail to get basic provision for anyone with a disablement and people need to fight for those who are unable to do it themselves. Keep fighting keep putting the pressure on so that everyone who needs one has a right to a wheelchair suitable for them or whatever aids they require to have even a basic quality of life.

2006-10-25 14:46:09 by jocksherry2001

Price: $55.00

It is hard for a person who has chronic pain to find transportation that does not inflect more pain. I use an electric wheelchair and that makes transportation extremely difficult. Two of the transportation services here are so bumpy that my body is in so much pain by the time I get to the doctor I am in tears. The third transportation has denied me for unjust reasons. My question is, would a shrink think that I just did not want help if I refused to use the transportation that is availbale? Ouch.

I know the feeling. I sometimes am in tears by the time I get where I need to go. Fortunately I am still driving but will not be able in a few years. I would think they would have no reason to question the pain you suffer getting there. Those buses ride horribley most of the time. About the answer asking about your med. marijuana card. First I'm sure they must mean Maine but can't spell it. My state, Vermont, has this too and I will be signing up soon as they are now in the process of expanding the list of diseases covered and will now include mine. It brings me much relief.

2007-03-26 23:00:02 by grannywinkie

I hope someone can help me with this. My friend lives in Orange Co California, she has been on disability for years but is now going on Medicaid and will be in a Long Term Nursing Home for the rest of her life. She just moved out of her HUD apartment and they will finish up all her paperwork soon to get her care paid for through medicaid. She has $3750.00 in her checking account, that is all she owns, no other assets. Once she is on Medicaid she will get $36.00 a month for personal expenses. Will they take all of the money from her checking account or is she allowed to have up to a certain amount in there. She does still owe some outstanding debts, one friend loaned her the co-pay she needed for an electric wheelchair, and another friend paid for a cleaning service and moving service to close down her HUD apartment and she would like to repay her as well. Thanks for your help.


L

Medicaid will take all of her money except $2,000.

So tell her to repay her friends while she can. If she has money left - tell her to buy a TV and other things that will make her life comfortable in the long term care facility asap.

2008-09-03 19:29:17 by LSBN