It kind of says something when a person in a wheelchair goes to a county commission meeting with complaints about disability access in this town, and has to testify from the back row because the public podium is only accessible by stairs.
That’s the situation that Lisa Vayda, a pharmacist and small business owner, faced Wednesday when she went before the commission representing the Wichita/Sedgwick County Access Advisory Board, the joint body requesting accessibility improvements from the commission and the City Council.
Vayda can walk some, with a cane, but decided not to try to negotiate the stairs to the podium. “I thought about it,” she told me after addressing the commission. “But if I fell, it’s not going to be a good situation for anyone.”…