Imagine for a moment that you are a person with a visual impairment who is venturing out into your community for the first time in three days after a snowstorm, only to realize that there is no way for you to get to the bus stop that is less than a mile from your house because piles of snow have been plowed onto the sidewalk.

Now take a moment to imagine you are a person in a wheelchair who doesn’t drive, so you take the time to schedule transportation to get to a medical appointment. You arrive only to realize there is no way you can get inside the building because a huge pile of snow has been plowed directly onto the accessible ramp.

Unfortunately, scenarios like these are not uncommon.  I lived through the second scenario and reported a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC). The case was dismissed about a year later before I could advocate for myself and others like me in court. I was surprised while going through the experience.  The OCRC seemed more concerned about the fact that a staff member of the medical practice was rude to me than they were about the snowplow that caused the problem initially. The more similar scenarios I hear, the more I realize I should not have been surprised.

An article in the Dayton Daily News on January 9th found here describes how some local school districts were forced to cancel school even after the roads were cleared following the first snowstorm of 2025 because the sidewalks were not. The article details while cities understand that the condition of sidewalks is a concern for school districts and families, many cities and municipalities including Hamilton, Oakwood, Kettering, and Vandalia require their residents to clear sidewalks and walkways in front of their homes and/or businesses. The article also says that according to city ordinances residents of Centerville may be guilty of a minor misdemeanor if their sidewalks are not cleared. Unsurprisingly, people with disabilities and the problems that snow filled sidewalks cause us are not mentioned in the article at all.

An article published in Washington, DC newspaper, Greater Greater Washington in 2019 found here details how snow removal in cities prioritizes cars and often ignores people with disabilities. Just like the Dayton Daily News article, it discusses how residents are required by law to clear their own sidewalks. Unlike the Dayton Daily News article, the Greater Greater Washington article offers practical solutions to the problem such as having maintenance trucks follow snowplows during snowstorms to clear snow before it is piled up on sidewalks.

So how do we bring awareness to this issue and help cities and municipalities see that there are solutions? Jason Riley, a veteran and board member of ACIL who has low vision due to Retinitis Pigmentosa, lived through the scenario described in the opening of this article and recently brought it to the attention of the Centerville City Council and plans to bring it to the attention of Washington Township Trustees at a future meeting.    

“I honestly expect more empathy and action from a community that claims to be inclusive, accessible, welcoming to military veterans, a Purple Heart City, and age-friendly. We can and must do better for our friends and neighbors,” he said.

ACIL encourages other advocates to bring this issue to the attention of legislators. Attend a meeting of your city or county officials and tell them how you have been impacted by snowstorm clean up or write a letter to them describing your experiences and the resulting frustrations.  The more voices that bring attention to this problem, the better. The beauty of living in a democracy is that if we do not like the law, we can change it.  This problem and the laws regarding snow removal that do not take people with disabilities into consideration will not change until advocates prove to legislators that changes need to be made and can be made because people with disabilities matter.

To look up government officials by county, city, village or township, visit https://ohioroster.ohiosos.gov/LocalGov.aspx

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *