Push for ADA compliance at Pulaski County Courthouse continues as county adopts new compliance plan

PULASKI COUNTY, Ind.-- Accessibility concerns at the Pulaski County Courthouse continue. 

Both the County Council and the County Commissioners accepted a plan Monday night to begin the process of transitioning all county buildings up to code with ADA compliance. 

A big reason for this decision came from the number of residents who have voiced their concerns about their struggles when trying to conduct business or attend meetings at the Pulaski County Courthouse. 

Lifelong resident of Pulaski County, Emily Hizer, is just one of those residents who have voiced those struggles. 

Hizer was diagnosed with MS at age 14, and her fight for ADA accessibility began not long after her diagnosis. 

"It's a law and we're bypassing the laws that have been passed," explains Hizer. "We're always just eking by, I don't want to eke by anymore." 

Even the newly renovated courthouse still has some problems, even though Hizer has been told it has passed ADA inspections. 

"In case of a fire, elevators are out of service, use exit, and the meeting room is on the third floor," Hizer shows. "And I don't know if they still have the stair chairs for people that are disabled that can't walk down, I don't know if those still exist." 

Hizer even brought forth a lawsuit back in 2017, after suing the county with the ACLU for its lack of ADA compliance. 

"We went to the federal court and the judge looked at us like 'Why hasn't this been done? This has been ongoing for a long time," explains Hizer. 

Fast forward to now: county leaders came together in a meeting Monday night to adopt a transition plan to begin the process of making all county buildings ADA compliant. 

"Because we've had the change at the courthouse and we're looking at changes with some other county buildings, that probably it would be in our best interest to have a company come in and get a baseline for the county with where all our buildings are and where we stand with ADA compliance," explains Pulaski County Commissioner Jennifer Knebel. 

In Monday's meeting, it was said that it could take up to twenty or thirty years to complete all the necessary changes to get county buildings up to code. 

Commissioner Knebel hopes that this project can be made a priority. 

"Of course, not all of that is going to be done immediately; it would take years to probably get that done," Knebel says. "So long as we can get started, I think we just kind of felt like we didn't have a direction at that point and we just really needed to start fresh to make sure we dotted all of our I's and crossed all of our T's." 

Hizer says she's going to keep on the fight, not just for fellow disabled residents, but for everyone. 

"This is one disability group that anyone can join," says Hizer. "People have found out the hard way by having their knee surgeries and that kind of stuff. They're like 'I don't know how you do it', you just have to persevere through it." 

For the first time in years, Hizer has some hope that change will be made. 

"It's been an uphill battle and I'm hoping we're going to get to the peak of it, then go downhill, so we don't have to stress too much on it," hopes Hizer. 

There will be a public meeting at the courthouse on Monday the 15th regarding ADA compliance, where members of the community can come and vocalize their concerns -- which will be considered as the county and the a-d-a company come up with the transition plan.