[Virginia Ridgerunner]

This is a classic case of an embittered, disabled woman who has nothing better to do than to harass local businesses and file frivolous complaints misusing ADA. She doesn't even live in the community and won't be satisfied until she destroys every remaining business there that does not bow down before her. And this is a community that has just lost around 2,000 jobs over the past month.

Pathetic and disgusting.

[ottbmare]

She’s nuts. There are ramps and other accommodations for the disabled everywhere in Gburg.

[SECURE AMERICA]

This women sounds as if she allows hate to direct her life.
Then of course the courts are a perfect place for her to go.
I am not sure I know every ADA law but I have a feeling that certain things such as National Historic Areas may have some exemptions simply because altering then or changing them would destroy the historical significance.

[WildcatClan]

If she will have her representation call the jury ignorant rednecks, she will need a wheelbarrow to carry all her money.

[devane617]

I am a disabled person. Been in a wheelchair almost my entire 54 year life. The ADA has been in place for more than twenty years, and most businesses should be accessible other than those with an exemption because of age, or history. I live in a big city and have never filed an ADA complaint, mainly because I do live in a big city and can always find an accessible place to shop/dine. I certainly understand that people exist that take advantage of the ADA, but I need to know more about this before I say the women is wrong. Remember, the ADA was signed into law many, many, many years ago.

[lmc12]

The Codori House of Gifts is as I recall one small step up. If she had a friend to tilt her back it would be easy to surmount. This one is looking for a fight, couple of very nice older Russian ladies run the shop, please patronize, it’s right on Lincoln Square.

[WakeUpAndVote]

Looks like she may be an attention whore.

Here’s an article form 1992 on her efforts and those like her.

http://www.empowermentzone.com/onepower.txt

[Venturer]

The ADA is one of the biggest rip-offs that ever came down the pike. Millions of dollars are spent by businesses to meet requirements of a few people, many of whom wil never enter the business who has to spend this money.

I am not anti-handicapped persons, many of the ADA required additions are just fine , but there are some handicaped persons who use their handicap as an entitlement, and no I wouldnt want to trade places with them.

[thecabal]

Everytime I hear someone self-describe as an "activist", I want to puke. It means they don't have a real job, just bloodsucking off of others. There's a guy like this in our area, who likes to go after stores if they don't have the requisite amount of handicapped parking spaces.

Phillips - who uses a wheelchair because of post-polio syndrome and severe osteoporosis - alleges she was discriminated against in August and September of last year when she attempted to enter Codori House of Gifts, 2 York St., Wentz Stained Glass Studio, 48 York St., and the Spirited Ladies Shoppe, 45 Chambersburg St. Each shop lacks an accessible wheelchair entrance, according to Phillips' lawsuits.

So she's going to run a bunch of small businesses out of work. Bravo, activist.

[longtermmemmory]

here is how the ADA suit scam works.

the activist is the “expert” for the testimony in the lawsuit.

A law firm as a lawyer who only does these cases (or just a solo that focuses).

They create a shell (straw man / fake) entity which is the plaintif.

Under the ADA a plaintiff MAY NOT recieve money damages. They can only get their LAWYER FEES, and EXPERT fees.

IOW that activist in the begining gets PAID for being a pain.

The ADA does not give warning, no notice to cure NOTHING.

Just the law using lawyers as bounty hunters funded by lawsuit targets.

ONE MILIMEETER off and costs and fees are awarded.

[Netizen]

More from the link that you left out.

Phillips - who uses a wheelchair because of post-polio syndrome and severe osteoporosis - alleges she was discriminated against in August and September of last year when she attempted to enter Codori House of Gifts, 2 York St., Wentz Stained Glass Studio, 48 York St., and the Spirited Ladies Shoppe, 45 Chambersburg St. Each shop lacks an accessible wheelchair entrance, according to Phillips’ lawsuits. Representatives of those businesses could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

Phillips has been a disability-rights activist since 1987, when she filed her first complaint against Morgan State University in Baltimore for not providing a wheelchair-accessible restroom on the building floor where she worked. The complaint led to the restroom being renovated, along with a majority of the campus.

Since then, Phillips - a Hampstead, Md. resident - has filed numerous complaints throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania. Her first complaint in Gettysburg was filed in 2006 against the Majestic Theater, which is owned by Gettysburg College. Phillips alleged the theater lacked accessible emergency exits. College officials later addressed the issue.

The ADA prohibits discrimination against individuals on the basis of disability and requires public accommodations - such as businesses - to meet accessibility requirements. In some cases, that means providing a ramp for wheelchair accessibility.

[cptpjnii]

I have spent the past seventeen years of my life serving this nation in uniform...like all the male members of my family have since we arrived in this country. And for all of the sacrifices we have made for the rights and liberties of our fellow countrymen, sometimes I feel it is all for naught, because they just don't get what America is all about.

For businesses of Gettysburg, the place where the high tide of the Confederacy began to ebb, the place where arguably the civil rights movement began, and where the ideals of inclusion that were written about in the preamble to our constitution were reinforced by the emancipation proclamation, to be resistant to the ideals of inclusion and failing to uphold the Americans with Disabilities Act is disgraceful. They render themselves to the level of a cheap tourist trap, parasitically earning a buck off of the people that come to visit those hallowed battlefields.

Disabled people want the same access that any able bodied person wants, the same level of dignity. To date this woman has made no personal gain from this; no punitive damages have been awarded to her...she is simply asking for the right thing to be done, to be treated like a citizen, and an equal human being as the rest of us.

That a disabled veteran cannot enter these places infuriates me as a veteran. I would think that in a time of economic downturn, that a business would be willing to do what it takes to maximize the number of patrons that could enter and spend at its establishment. That a small business can accept low interest government loans and not be forced to comply with all laws like the ADA is certainly curious.

I would echo many of the comments posted; pathetic and disgusting...shame on the Gettysburg community.

[longtermmemmory]

this is a classic ADA shakedown case.

Find a token “expert” some named plaintiff organization.

ONE MILLIMETER off on something and presto you get attorney fees, expert fees (the activist in this case) and move on to the next one.

ADA suits are now a scam for attorney fees.

An unfunded mandate that the feds outsourced to the ambulance class.