Regal Cinemas Bridgeport Improves Accessibility

Access advocacy works!

Many thanks to everyone who contributed constructive comments regarding the need for ADA automatic front door openers at Regal Cinemas. After my original post (Where are the ADA automatic front door openers at Regal Cinemas?) and other collaborative calls for action, this critical accessibility feature was added in Fall 2018 at Regal Cinemas Bridgeport Village (Tigard, Oregon) both inside and outside of the theater complex.

To enter the cinema on my own accord while seated on a powerchair makes the entertainment experience far, far more enjoyable, not only for me but also for my husband-caregiver. The ADA automatic front door openers take the struggle out of entry and egress, ensure safety, and demonstrate corporate responsibility for the welcome and welfare of all patrons.

What remains a question is why ADA automatic front door openers at all such public venues are not required by law yet. Oftentimes corporations, including the Regal Cinemas representatives with whom I talked, quickly point to outdated legislation in response to requests for this basic accessibility feature, mind boggling so. You would think such businesses would want people to get in the door as easily as possible, especially in this heyday of Netflix, Hulu, and Acorn?! When a corporation (eventually) positively responds to an outpouring of access advocacy, it doesn’t feel so much a victory for those of us with mobility issues as it does a simple sigh of relief.

Ahh. On with the show.

“The social model of disability says that disability is caused by the way society is organized, rather than by a person’s impairment or difference. It looks at ways of removing barriers that restrict life choices for disabled people. When barriers are removed, disabled people can be independent and equal in society, with choice and control over their own lives.” (By Scope, an organization based in the UK).