Our city is charming, but for the disabled it is wildly inaccessible

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Friday, Oct. 28, 2022

With its brick facades, historic architecture and grand trees, Charlottesville is a charming place. But if you look closely, it’s not particularly accessible for people with disabilities. And India Sims has no choice but to look closely.

India Sims can do everything you can do — just sitting down

As she wheels along the Downtown Mall, she can’t get into many stores. “The Downtown Mall has bricks and small entryways to stores,” India wrote in her First Person Cville article, published this week. “Many stores have a step to get in.”

It’s not just the Downtown Mall — she’s excluded from other places, too. Recently, she and her husband tried to purchase a home. India showed up to her first viewing only to discover there was no way for her to get inside. The couple tried again and again to find a handicap accessible house, and could not. Eventually, they gave up looking in Charlottesville.

“In Charlottesville, racism is recognized as needing action to change,” India wrote. “Discrimination against those who are disabled, though, might be seen as wrong, but our community does not want to do anything to fix it.”

On Wednesday, Rep. Bob Good and his Democratic challenger Josh Throneburg faced off in the only debate the two will participate in before the Nov. 8 election. Hundreds of people turned out to hear the candidates for Virginia’s 5th District Congressional seat. If you missed it, Cardinal News published a thorough story recounting the debate that you can read here.

If you’d prefer to watch the debate in its entirety, the full video is available on the Josh for Virginia Facebook page here.

In Charlottesville and most of Albemarle County, this is the only race on the ballot this year. (Scottsville residents have a town council race to vote in, and there’s a sliver of Albemarle voting in the 7th Congressional District.) But, there are many local elections in surrounding counties, for town councils, boards of supervisors, school boards and more.

We are compiling a list of local races in Central Virginia and have reached out to the candidates for those seats with questions about their position on local policies. We will be updating our 2022 Voter Guide in the coming days as answers come in, so stay tuned!

And, finally, Virginia’s children are experiencing a surge of respiratory illness right now. Schools across the state are reporting high absences, pediatricians are being inundated with sick kids, parents are struggling to reach doctors, emergency departments are backed up, and — perhaps most troubling of all — pediatric intensive care units across the state are full.

We will have a full story on what is happening in the Charlottesville area early next week. If you have questions you’d like us to answer in that story, or you’ve had an experience you’d like to share, hit reply to this email and let us know!

Thanks for reading,

Jessie Higgins, managing editor