Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), the only paraplegic member of Congress, is expected to preside over the House for the first time in September after the House rostrum is made wheelchair accessible.
Langevin’s first session as Speaker pro tempore is a turning point for the Capitol, which has not always been a welcoming place for disabled members, staff or visitors.
Complaints from disability groups range from automated doors that can be difficult to open to a paucity of parking spaces reserved for the handicapped.
{mosads}Nancy Starnes, who uses a wheelchair, often takes cabs to the Capitol for a day’s work because there are no handicapped public parking spots near the House office buildings.
“You have to park off campus, and it’s uphill. I’ve made that push myself in a wheelchair and it’s a real struggle,” said Starnes, senior vice president of the National Organization on Disability.
“I’m having to take taxis … and it’s $18 every time I want to go up to Capitol Hill. And I’ve got a car.”
A report released by the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) on Wednesday highlighted multiple areas in need of improvement. Among its assessments: committee daises should be made accessible to disabled members; a second ramp on the east side of the Longworth cafeteria should be installed to function as an additional evacuation path; and parking spaces for the handicapped should be placed closer to offices.
Over the past decade the House has made significant improvements in accessibility for the disabled, but much more work needs to be done, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said at a Wednesday press conference that highlighted the CAO report.
Capitol officials are responding to the needs with an ongoing initiative by CAO Dan Beard and acting Architect of the Capitol Stephen Ayers to make the House office buildings more accessible to people with disabilities and more easily evacuated in the event of an emergency.
Starnes’s group has been working with the CAO on its report, and she said Capitol officials are headed in the right direction.
“It’s a huge project and there are going to be a lot more people with a lot of different types of disabilities [traveling to visit the Capitol]. And with each type comes a different set of needs,” she said.
A key issue the CAO highlighted was the need to lessen the pressure used to automatically close doors throughout the Capitol. The automatic doors can be difficult to open for disabled people, the report found.
“Currently, the disabled do not have adequate access to fire stairs and other safe haven locations because excessive door closure pressure makes it difficult to open the doors, creating a potentially dangerous situation,” the report states.
Officials did not give a timeline for the project, but Hoyer said he thought the revamping of the House rostrum for Langevin would be completed during the August recess.
A key advocate of the CAO’s proposed changes, Langevin said he was not certain where funds for the projects would come from. He suggested a “stimulus project.”
{mosads}“We haven’t really talked about the funding of it, but I know the support will be there,” Langevin said in an interview. “There are always budget constraints, but I think this would be a great stimulus project in and of itself, for the economy to put the right amount of money in to complete all of the accessibility improvements that need to be taken care of.”
Hoyer stressed that the needed improvements throughout the House were not aimed solely at helping those with permanent disabilities, but also staff and members who may have a temporary injury or be recuperating from a surgical operation.
About two dozen members with disabilities have served in the House, according to the Office of the House Historian. They include former Senate GOP Leader Bob Dole (Kan.), who lost the use of his right arm in World War II, and former Rep. Morris Udall (D-Ariz.), who was blind in one eye.
Langevin is not the first paraplegic House member. That distinction belongs to Rep. David McKee Hall (D-N.C.), who served in the 86th Congress, according to the Office of the House Historian.
Neither will Langevin be the first disabled member to preside over the House chamber. Former House Speaker David Bremner Henderson (R-Iowa) lost his leg while serving in the Civil War, but climbed the rostrum with the aid of a wooden leg.