For city's new ADA coordinator, passion for accessibility hits home

Feb. 24—As a boy, Daniel Lopez collected eyeglasses for the Lions Club. It was the just the beginning of what's become a lifelong effort to make the world more accessible for people with disabilities.

Lopez joined the city of Santa Fe as its new Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator in October after decades working on accessibility issues in both the public and private sectors. The El Paso native has ambitious plans for Santa Fe, which he believes can become a more accessible city for both residents and visitors.

As ADA coordinator, Lopez, 59, is responsible for ensuring the city's activities, programs and infrastructure are provided in a manner that doesn't discriminate and allows people with disabilities to fully participate in government in an equal and integrated way.

He said his goal is to ensure the needs of people with disabilities are considered before problems arise.

"These are the kinds of things you want to make sure are in the forefront, not an afterthought," he said. "You don't go to design a building, and say, 'Oh, let's add some accessibility.' "

That ethos is drawn from experience. During the 1990s, Lopez served as ADA coordinator for the city of Brownsville, Texas, and later his hometown of El Paso. In 2000 he left government to run his own business before returning to work as an ADA coordinator for the city of Philadelphia in 2018. He has served as an accessibility consultant through his business, Barrier Free Consulting Group, on and off for several decades and also worked in the civil rights division of FEMA.

But the question of accessibility is more than just a professional issue for Lopez. In college he met Rebecca Vera-Lopez, the woman who would become his wife. Several years earlier, she had suffered a spinal cord injury in a car crash that left her quadriplegic. The date of the incident was June 2, which always brought back sad memories.

Four years after the crash, the couple chose June 2 as their wedding date so they could remember it as a "a new beginning," Lopez said.

His journey to life in Santa Fe began with a vacation here: Lopez said he and his wife liked to visit the city "in spite of some of the inaccessibility" they had to navigate.

But now that he works here, Lopez thinks that can change.

Asked how a city with buildings and streets that are hundreds of years old can comply with modern regulations, Lopez didn't appear daunted. He worked in historic buildings in Brownsville and Philadelphia, but said both structures managed to be accessible. There's no reason Santa Fe can't accomplish the same thing, he noted.

"You're going to always hear someone say, 'Well, my building was built before ADA, so it's grandfathered in,' " he said. "There is no such language in the ADA. All buildings must comply."

He described the disabilities act, passed in 1990, as a law designed to give protections to everyone — individuals with disabilities, governments and businesses — and said he has respect for the city's historic architecture.

"I'm not worried about how we're going to achieve compliance," he said. "We'll find a way to make sure that people have what they need. And that's what I'm in the process of doing."

Among his first goals is to make certain the city's handicapped-accessible parking spaces are in the sun. Right now many of them are on the shaded side of streets, which in the winter can be challenging because they become icy and are difficult for people in wheelchairs to navigate.

In the longer term, he said he's in the process of conducting an accessibility audit of the city's 150 properties, including parks and buildings.

He said he's come across "some interesting stuff" so far.

Lopez is currently a department of one, though he hopes that may change at some point. One of his goals is to meet with people in departments across the city to educate them about ADA requirements "so that everyone is vested in achieving the goal of providing equal access to governance" instead of it feeling like an additional burden.

His work includes updating the city's transition plan, which documents the compliance of facilities with ADA requirements. Lopez said he hopes to eventually make this a live document on the city's website, so people will be able to see what progress is being made on bringing things into compliance in real time.

Though he acknowledged the coronavirus pandemic has changed the dynamics of society, Lopez said he is unwilling to view remote options by themself as acceptable disability accommodations.

"Government is required to be readily accessible to the public, and that means in all facets," he said.

A hearing loop, a device that helps make sound more accessible, was installed last year at City Hall, and there are other things Lopez wants to do to improve the City Council chambers — including easing the navigation for people in wheelchairs.

Some people see accessibility requirements as bureaucratic inconveniences. Lopez said he sees them as a barometer of a community's values.

"In essence, what the civil rights of people with disabilities is about is, how are we going to be better to each other?" he said. "Our country is in somewhat challenging times when it comes to civil rights. But it's everyone's responsibility to protect and be good to each other, in spite of our differences."

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